Top 10 Pickleball Year in Review 2022

After an exhilarating 12 months, it’s finally in the rearview mirror. So much happened during 2022 on the pickleball courts that impacted both amateurs and professionals. Here is just a sampling of the year in review.

1.  An Unlikely PPA/MLP Partnership

In 2022, PPA-contracted players were prohibited from playing MLP events. This was a huge disappointment for these PPA players. Afterall, MLP events have been a favorite of the professional players – in part because of the team concept and atmosphere – and, in part, because of the large prize purse for the winning team.

In late 2022, the PPA and MLP set aside their difference and merged – thus, paving the way for PPA-contracted players to play MLP and, arguably, unifying the sport so that the best players will now be competing against the best players during the 6 scheduled MLP events in 2023.

2.  Joola Entry into the Pickleball Market

In April 2022, Joola – in partnership with Ben Johns – launched a series of paddles that has since taken the pickleball paddle market by storm. Although, at the time, known more for its table tennis paddle prowess, Joola pickleball paddles are now seen virtually everywhere.

From pros to amateurs, players seem to be gravitating to Joola. It doesn’t hurt that the best player in the world – who, by the way, has a Material Sciences & Engineering degree from the University of Maryland – helped design them!

3.  Anna Leigh Waters Domination

At 15 years old, Anna Leigh Waters was absolutely dominant on the pickleball court throughout 2022. Whether it was playing singles, women’s doubles with her mom, Leigh Waters, or mixed doubles with Ben Johns, she rarely lost. You want proof? In 2022, Anna Leigh won 8 triple crowns.

Her year also consisted of being the first player (man or woman) selected in the December 2022 MLP draft. Oh yeah. Anna Leigh also made the Forbes 30 Under 30 List. Not too shabby. Did we mention she’s only 15 years old?

4.  Ban of the One-Handed Pre-Spin Serve

Those who use it are, no doubt, disappointed with the ruling. Those who have a hard time returning it are delighted. In an effort to make the game “more like it was intended,” USAP banned, as of January 1, 2023, the act of adding pre-serve spin or manipulation on the release of the ball immediately prior to the serve.

5.  MLP Ownership Groups

Making huge headlines in 2022 were the announcements of MLP ownership groups. Perhaps you’ve heard of Lebron James, Tom Brady, Mark Cuban, and Kim Clijsters, to name a few.

6.  CRBN Paddles Banned by USA Pickleball

In April 2022 – in the middle of the US Open – USA Pickleball informed paddle manufacturer, CRBN, that a few of their paddles tested outside the standards for surface roughness (grit). Just a day later, CRBN paddles were temporarily banned from the USAP-approved paddles list. In response, CRBN did its customers right by honoring its customer satisfaction guarantee with free exchanges/refunds, and, in relatively short order, its new batches of paddles were once again approved.

In 2023, CRBN is poised for bigger and better things with its newly released CRBN Power Series of carbon fiber pickleball paddles.

7.  DUPR

DUPR made a huge splash in 2022. DUPR (Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating) was developed in 2021 by Steve Kuhn, founder of Major League Pickleball (MLP). DUPR is simply a rating system that strives to rate skill levels of players, regardless of age or gender. DUPR has been embraced by the PPA, MLP, and the Life Time clubs across the country. What’s your DUPR rating?

8.  Pickleball on TV

2022 was the year of pickleball on television. We’ve all likely seen pickleball streamed to our favorite devices from YouTube or Facebook. In 2022, however, we saw pickleball televised on ESPN, ESPN Plus, CBS Sports, Tennis Channel, ABC, NBC, and CBS.

9.  Expanding Footprint of Pickleball Venues

Wherever you are located in the country, you’ve no doubt, witnessed tremendous growth of pickleball venues. A new and exciting pickleball/entertainment concept is popping up seemingly everywhere. Locally in the Cincinnati area, Sawyer Point (18-dedicated outdoor courts) was renovated, and final touches are currently being done on state-of-the-art pickleball complexes, Aces Pickleball, and The Pickle Lodge – both of which are slated to open in early 2023.

10.  Our Launch of Pickleball User Reviews

We developed the website, www.PickleballUserReviews.com, to be a destination site where you, as a pickleball addict, can find exciting listings (with user reviews) all in one place. Whether you want to review a tournament, a camp, or a venue, www.PickleballUserReviews.com will be your source for unbiased user reviews.

Final Thoughts

2022 was certainly an action-packed year in pickleball. So much has changed. Yet, with all these changes, pickleball is still a sport that, most importantly, kindles new friendships and a common passion – all while getting physical, social, and mental exercise.

See you on the courts!

The State of Pickleball in 2022

February 2022: Whew! So much has changed in the sport of pickleball during the last year – professional player contracts, exclusivity agreements, escalating prize pools, and rule changes (of course!) to name just a few.

And yet, the popularity and growth of the sport continue to explode as evidenced by an increase in participation numbers and club memberships. Heck, even “Google Trends” can confirm the steady growth in the sport we all love!

So as we embark on a new year, allow me just a moment to present a “State of the Union,” if you will, for the sport of pickleball.

Professional Pickleball Tours

While the professional tours goings-on don’t directly affect the average rec player, it does nevertheless affect those who are trying to earn a living playing pickleball. And as a viewer of the professional tournament live streams, it is (the drama) certainly interesting.

News out of the professional pickleball tours in 2021 and the beginning of 2022 was plentiful:

• Both the APP and the PPA completed their first full tournament season in 2021. 2022 looks to be equally busy with approximately 32 tour stops scheduled for the APP and 19 tour stops scheduled for the PPA.
• Both tours experimented with a “Championship Sunday” concept – with the PPA opting to play gold medal matches on Sunday and the APP experimenting with all (both bronze and gold) medal matches being played on Sunday.
• In January 2022, it was announced that Tom Dundon, majority owner of NHL’s, The Carolina Hurricanes, purchased the PPA Tour, Pickleball Central, and tournament software, PickleballTournaments.com.
• With new ownership, the PPA Tour has presented its top players with new (3-year) contracts which include strict exclusivity agreements that would prohibit signed players – unless granted written consent from the PPA – from playing non-PPA events.
• In January 2022, the APP announced a partnership with Intersport, a global leader in sports marketing. This partnership will result in an effort for larger prize pools, appearance fees, and “an enhanced tour structure that elevates the prestige and stature of the APP.”
• MLP (Major League Pickleball) launched in September 2021. This team event (which included a drafting of players by various teams) was widely recognized as a favorite event for the pros.
• In January 2022, the APP and MLP entered into a strategic partnership.

Rule Changes in 2022

As is the case in any year, there were several rule changes that took effect on January 1. The biggest rule changes for 2022 included an elimination (it is now illegal) of the “chainsaw” serve and removing the “provisional” status of the drop serve.

Pickleball Continues to Grow!

It likely doesn’t require a study of averages and standard deviations to realize that pickleball is growing – sometimes despite the drama from the professional tours and the controversy of rule changes implemented. My guess is, like ours, your local club is rapidly growing in numbers.

Participation Numbers

Participation numbers tell the unbiased story of pickleball’s growth curve. According to the 2022 Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) Participant Report, the sport of pickleball is comprised of approximately 4.8 million players in the United States. That represented a 39.3% increase in pickleball participants over the past 2 years!

New Venues – More Places to Play!

More courts and exciting venues are sprouting up all across the pickleball landscape. Chicken N Pickle now boasts 6 locations with two additional locations planned for 2022. Bell Bank Park, powered by Legacy Sports USA, just opened in January 2022 and has 41 courts, including a stadium court that seats 2,000.

In my neck of the woods – Cincinnati, OH – a friend, in October 2022, will be opening an $8 million private pickleball facility that will have 6 indoor and 5 outdoor courts. It will be a similar food & entertainment concept to that of Chicken N Pickle.

Also in Cincinnati – at Sawyer Point – plans are in place to invest $500,000 from the Cincinnati Park’s infrastructure fund and build 12 dedicated courts (as well as 8 courts superimposed on the four existing tennis courts). The anticipated completion date for this project is summer, 2022.

These are just some of the venues sprouting up. What about near you?

Google Trends for the Term, “Pickleball”

If one wants information about a certain topic, the majority of people will navigate to their favorite search engine (predominantly Google, no doubt) and execute a search. Google Trends allows one to determine the relative popularity of a search term over a given period of time.

Populating Google Trends with the word, “pickleball,” resulted in the following 5-year graph. You will notice that “pickleball” is definitely trending upwards.

(A note about Google Trends:  “Numbers represent search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for the given region and time. A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. “)

Final Thoughts

Even with seemingly never-ending drama coming from the professional tour scene, the controversy over various rule changes, and other things that may drive you crazy on the court, it is still a great time to be involved in this great sport. Ladies and Gentlemen, The “State of the Union” in pickleball is strong!!!

Kerry Berman says:
February 4, 2022 at 11:22 am

Pickleball is my mental and physical therapy. What a blessing. Started playing 10 years ago. I had three objectives:

1. Exercise
2. Fellowship
3. Cream the opponent

Today’s objectives: 1 & 2 remain. #3. Have fun

To avoid better player doesn’t work for me. Love playing with higher level players because it ups my skills.

Thanks for your great articles.

Kerry Berman
Sun City Palm Desert

Reply
PickleballMAX says:
February 4, 2022 at 12:15 pm Edit
Thanks, Kerry!