12 Months After Openly Bashing Pickleball, Tennis Legend Martina Navratilova Backtracks to Embrace a ‘Merrier’ Take on the Fastest Growing Racquet Sport in America

Time is a funny thing. It makes people and their stances change. Take women’s tennis luminary Martina Navratilova for example. A year ago, the 18-time singles Grand Slam winner had a negative opinion about pickleball. However, now, things seem to have changed. Both public and private tennis clubs are aiming to develop facilities for pickleball players, and this is a development worthy of praise, according to Navratilova.

The tennis legend recently shared a New York Times article via her official Twitter handle. She also added her two cents regarding the opinion, which was certainly way more positive compared to her feelings about pickleball a year back.

Martina Navratilova feels good about the growing popularity of pickleball and other racquet sports

The New York Times article Navratilova shared was about the blurring lines between tennis, pickleball, and padel. Right now, tennis is undoubtedly the most popular sport among the three. However, the popularity of both pickleball and padel is soaring. As a result, predominantly tennis-oriented facilities are scrambling to add pickleball and padel courts to their existing infrastructure.

In Navratilova’s Twitter post, she shared the article and wrote, “via @NYTimes- the more racquet sports the merrier:)”.

Navratilova’s statement is certainly a far cry from her opinion on the matter a year ago. Back in 2022, Navratilova commented on the war between tennis and pickleball. At the time, she wrote, “I say if pickleball is that popular let them build their own courts:)”.

It’s safe to say that the burgeoning popularity of pickleball has certainly had a telling effect on the Czech-American tennis legend.

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Navratilova’s pickleball stance in 2022

The critical tweet wasn’t the only thing that showcased Navratilova’s views against pickleball in 2022. She questioned pickleball on several other occasions, as well. For instance, on one occasion, Navratilova questioned the sport’s name.

She also opined that players pick pickleball over tennis, owing to the chances of becoming successful in pickleball quickly. According to the tennis legend, achieving success in tennis takes a much longer time. However, now that her stance towards the game seems to have changed, pickleball players are likely to feel a whole lot better about themselves.

What are your views on pickleball? Have you tried playing the sport?

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