What percentage of pro pickleball players play tennis? 

Pickleball popularity has skyrocketed over the last few years, with the PPA Tour solidifying its place in professional sports four years ago. The pickle boom—accelerated in part by the COVID-19 pandemic—has also brought upon many comparisons to tennis, from shot-types to scoring to the outfits and beyond.

Another connection is how many pro pickleball players play tennis. According to tour records, 90% of registered PPA players have played tennis before, whether recreationally, collegiately or professionally, or have coached the sports.

With the official launch of the Pickleballtv app, it’s the perfect time to breakdown how far these tennis roots go.

Starting at the very top of the sport's food chain, both Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters played tennis prior to discovering pickleball. Although Johns attributes most of his success to table tennis and Waters turned pickle pro at age 12, it counts!

• 16.67% of pro pickleball players have a similar story to Johns and Waters, playing recreationally or on their high school teams.

The smallest percentage of tennis-related picklers is the coaching group. Just twelve pickleballers, or 8.3%, have a background in tennis coaching. However, these coaches also competed collegiately and professionally, making up part of the two largest groups of pro pickleball player backgrounds.

• Fun fact: Tyson McGuffin, whose series Making McGuffins can be streamed on PickleballTV, is one of two players who fills all three tennis background categories: coach, collegiate, and professional.

Out of the 90% of pro pickleball players that played tennis, 47% of them were collegiately competitive—some even going on to win NCAA championships and All-American status. The next largest group, dropping down to 18%, is those who made professional runs on the ATP and WTA tours.

Now, 90% is a great majority, but it still means there are a group of players who have no tennis background at all. The remaining 10% of PPA players came from either other sports, or began their court sports career in the kitchen.

At the end of the day, it’s clear why tennis and pickleball are so commonly associated. But the roots may run deeper than you think.