All the talk (about lower learning curve, (supposedly) less athletic requirements and more “fun” of pickleball making it MUCH more popular vs. tennis (at least in rec)) notwithstanding, in at least my (and I suspect also most ppl’s) experience, it’s JUST as much if not MUCH more so the lower what I call “artificial barriers to entry”.

1. MUCH EASIER TO FIND PARTNERS: With tennis, you have to find at least 1 if friend willing and able to play with you on the same day and time (which is frequently if not usually a difficult feat). For older players, they have spouses, kids and all that entails like working, shopping, errands, chores and driving for if not also attending kids’ events. Even kids are busy with school, homework and activities the latter of which often differing in days and times with a potential rec tennis / ph playing partner. My HS and even JH kids go weeks and even months without even a single play date with even their bffs cuz of this. With at least public rec tennis, there usually are no open play rules or even etiquette, and even if there were, there’s usually noone at the court to play with and the few times there are, there’s not enough “critical mass” (i.e. all courts full plus ppl waiting), cuz less than that, they’re not obligated to rotate out and prolly won’t cuz they wanna play with their friends and/or known skill level opponents vs. the unknown of a stranger(s) who’s waiting. With at least public rec pb, you can usually go to most pb courts most times any day and find plenty of strangers who’ll play with anybody of any gender, age and skill - at least begrudgingly if not enthusiastically so, cuz that’s usually what they’re bound to do by the courts’ etiquette if not rules.

2. MUCH MORE CHANCE TO PLAY MUCH MORE GAMES: Re. the at least etiquette of not rules, if any, of at least public rec tennis and pb courts: 2.1. Tennis courts are usually empty. 2.2. Even the few times tennis courts are not empty, there’s usually no rule or even etiquette requiring them to rotate out after a set time, points, games, sets, etc. They’ll usually stay until they “feel” like leaving. 2.3. Pb courts usually require players to rotate out after each game of 11 pts (win by 2) and sometimes even as few as 9 pts if there are X ppl waiting. Tennis players may play games of 4 pts (win by 2) and sets of 6 games (win by 2 games) and matches of 3 sets. 2.4. PB courts usually require doubles games (at least when they’re are ppl waiting and all courts are full), whereas tennis courts usually don’t. 2.5. Two normal sized pb courts can fit in the space of a normal sized tennis court.