24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic has shared his thoughts on how racket sports like padel and pickleball are becoming increasingly intertwined with tennis.
`I believe that in the future, at least at the amateur level, tennis clubs will honestly transform into racket sports clubs. Seeing the growing popularity of pickleball in this country, and especially padel tennis worldwide… I think that, for example, padel tennis is a great sport for amateurs who may have never held a racket before. It`s easier to teach and play than tennis, and it`s fun, it`s a social activity.`
`I think the future of clubs is a hybrid of all these sports. At the professional and competitive level, I`m not sure. It will be interesting to see the future of these sports, including at the professional level. We need to understand if people are interested in watching tournaments or not, but padel tennis is developing very quickly; they held tournaments on the central court of Roland Garros, on the Philippe Chatrier court. Of course, I believe that tennis should remain the king or queen of racket sports; it attracts more people, and we have great tournaments. But the development of padel tennis is interesting.`
`It would be great to organize something like mixed competitions where we could all try ourselves in different sports and see what we can do. Furthermore, I`ve seen, as I think everyone has, a doctor`s statement that people who play racket sports live the longest. So yes, we definitely need to do this,` Djokovic said at a press conference at the Miami Masters.
Marcus Prine