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"Pickleball has made me a much better athlete than tennis ever did," wrote Christian Alshon, a former college tennis player who now competes on the PPA Tour, sparking a wave of debate on X.
ByStephanie Livaudais
Published Apr 04, 2024
© Getty Images/X
Some people wake up and choose violence. Or in the case of pickleball athlete Christian Alshon, some people wake up and choose to poke a hornets’ nest with a single controversial tweet.
A day after April Fools, the former college tennis player turned PPA Tour pro ruffled feathers when he shared a post stating that pickleball “requires more skill” than his former sport. Alshon cited his Division III-level experience playing for the University of Chicago and the fact that he once “played practice sets against Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Steve Johnson, and more when I was 17 and ranked (No. 1) in the country” as reasons why he “understand(s) the level of the top tennis pros.”
“Pickleball has made me a much better athlete than tennis ever did,” he wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Faster reaction time and speed are needed since the ball is only coming from 10 feet away.
“Point for point, pickleball requires more skill than tennis.”
Pickleball has made me a much better athlete than Tennis ever did. Faster reaction time and speed are needed since the ball is only coming from 10 feet away. Point for point, pickleball requires more skill than tennis.
— Christian Alshon (@TweenerKing) April 2, 2024
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Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios was among the first tennis players to weigh in, urging Ashlon to “delete right now” and telling the 23-year-old he'd had “too many tequilas”.
“Let’s hide under the bed after this statement hahahaha,” Kyrgios replied. “Bro, get me the best pickleball player and compare his talent to Roger Federer. Wild tweet, wild thought. Delete right now… 😂
“I love pickle. But you had too many tequilas.”
Retired Grand Slam champion turned coach and commentator Rennae Stubbs agreed, adding: “Dude you really need to delete this tweet.” Within hours, a laundry list of current and former tennis stars were flooding the American's replies and quote tweets to take issue with the statement.
It’s pretty hard to say one of the most ridiculous things on Twitter in a given day. Tell you what. If anyone pickle person ever ranks higher in tennis than what Sock will be at end of this year in his new paid pickle hobby, I’ll commentate a pickle match standing on my head.…
— andyroddick (@andyroddick) April 3, 2024
Former world No. 4 James Blake took to X to highlight the different physical requirements between the two sports, while 2003 US Open champion Andy Roddick—who participated in last year’s inaugural Pickleball Slam alongside pickle evangelist Andre Agassi—emphasized that tennis “requires running and matches that last an hour or more.”
“Maybe if you were familiar with the athleticism it takes to excel at the sport you would realize how ridiculous this statement is,” wrote Blake, who is currently the tournament director of the Miami Open which was supposed to host a pro pickleball event last week.
Tennis fans and players including Tara Moore also pointed out the trend of tennis players succeeding in these early days of pro pickleball thanks to the skills they picked through years of training in the full-court sport.
“You could take any professional tennis player and put them in pickleball and they’d hold up,” Moore replied. “I don’t think you could say the same for the opposite way around…”
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My goodness… he’s doubling down on it lol 🤦🏾♂️
— Christopher Eubanks (@chris_eubanks96) April 3, 2024
Indeed, a growing number of former high-ranked tennis players have already switched to professional pickleball, like Jack Sock, Eugenie Bouchard, Sam Querrey and more. Most of them have been quick to enjoy success in what Roddick called their “paid pickle hobby” alongside dedicated pros.
Despite the backlash his post received, Alshon didn’t back down from his opinion. In fact, he doubled down by pinning the tweet to his profile, debating skeptics in the replies, and then challenging Kyrgios, Blake and Roddick to a pickleball showdown:
“I challenge you three to back to back singles matches for 100K each. I’ll give you 2/1 odds which in your minds should be crazy good odds. You have 6 months to train. Don’t worry, I’ll donate my winnings to charity.”
All three tennis players declined, with Blake who said he’s “(40) and on a surgically repaired knee” issuing a multi-part tweet thread and Roddick dismissing the whole thing as just an attention grab.
— Corentin Moutet (@moutet99) April 4, 2024If tennis isn’t that hard how did you never passed futures qualies at 18 yo 🤣
Pickleball court is half long and half large of a tennis court
But I agree that pickleball looks so intense
5 sets in a slam is nothing compare to it
Here is a video 👀 https://t.co/PTdO1rywdi pic.twitter.com/x2d1zFwpI3
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Alshon closed out his social media rant with an ominous message for Kyrgios and the rest of the tennis world, reminding everyone that the fastest growing sport in the United States is only in its infancy and inviting the Aussie to “come to pickleball”:
“We’ve barely scratched the surface of pickleball’s potential. Imagine if pickleball had more athletes like Federer, Djokovic, and Alcaraz. Then we could compare. Come to pickleball, you might be able to break the Top 10.”
While the 23-year-old made a good point, most tennis fans and players still find it hard to agree with the whole idea. Where do you fall in the pickleball vs tennis athleticism debate?
