Major League Soccer has always had a nice influx of high-quality players that are ending their careers in Europe come to the league.

If you’re a player, it’s nice to know that there’s somewhere you can play where they can pay you decent and still do the thing you love.

Major League Soccer came to mind as soon as I heard ex-tennis pros John Isner and Jack Sock are taking their tennis talents and giving pro pickleball a shot. 

My first thought was, “Will they dominate?” then I thought, “If they don’t dominate will it be embarrassing to tennis?!”

Part of me wants them to dominate because of my perception of Pickleball’s professionalism. Is it really a pro sport? If it’s an amateur passtime, wouldn’t tennis pros just dominate? However, the more I see ex-tennis players against random pickleball pros, the more respect I’m starting to give the pickleball pros. Right now it seems that the ex-tennis player pros are adjusting to a learning curve, and are not necessarily dominating. At least not yet! In my opinion, this is mostly because the pickleball players know the strategy of their game, and combine that with experience. Tennis players seem to come with the sheer racket-wielding raw talent that comes from years on a tennis court.

Unfortunately for tennis players, the pickleball court is tiny, and you can’t push anybody around with your fantastic groundstrokes. That’s why Grandpa and Grandma can dominate here!

Seems to me like pickleball is a little bit of an equalizer when it comes to the athleticism and powerful groundstrokes that dominate the game of professional tennis. What does this all mean for tennis player pros who want to end their careers in pickleball? 

This means it’s not going to be as easy as many likely would think. There’s definitely an adjustment period. How long is that period? Who knows. I have been trying to find some stats from ex-tennis player pros in the pickleball tour and I have come up short every time. So, Pickleball Pro League, if you’re reading this, send over some stats so that we can confirm some of the assumptions I’m making in this blog!

Like always, don’t forget to jump on to the TennisPAL app to stay up to date on tennis news, find groups of friends to play with, and get a virtual coach to help with your tennis game.