Sarah Burr plays a game of Pickleball. ( Source: Instagram)
Pickleball is gaining momentum worldwide, and with that, the sport is also evolving in different ways. This, in turn, is reshaping its equipment, court setups, and even sustainability approaches. Australian pickleball star Sarah Burr, who is actively involved in the sport’s development, shared her insights into these exciting changes and what they mean for the future of pickleball.
Faster Gameplay and Advances in Paddle Technology
According to Burr, Pickleball, where players traditionally employ strategic drops and dinks, is now making a shift towards a faster, more aggressive style of play. Burr noted how the evolution in paddle technology has led to increased power and spin, allowing players to hit the ball with much more intensity.
“At this point, it’s getting faster. So, I think the paddle technology is making the ball spin a lot more with a lot more power. So you’re finding fewer third-shot drops and things like that and a lot more third-shot drives and attacking sort of poaching play. So I think we will probably continue to see that. About the court, at the moment, in a lot of places, we’re dealing with different surfaces, so we’re going to Australia in particular. We have some that are indoors or like hardwood floors,” she told Pickleball Now in an exclusive chat.
“Then we’ve got other venues, and there are tennis courts. We’ve got their pickle roll kind of format. Like we have here (PWR Masters in Delhi). So adjusting to different surfaces is something that we’re dealing with now. But I envisage that in the future, it’ll all be purpose-built. Permanent pickleball courts are where most tournaments and competitive play are played, so I think that’ll be something that we’ll see. I think we’ll also see a lot more sort of camera technology coming into play, like replay systems and challenging lines. We will probably not be calling our own lines anymore. I’d say that almost all matches will be referred to in full, including all the line calls. So I think that’s something that I’m looking forward to seeing in the future,” she added.
Changing Landscape of Courts
Currently, pickleball is played on a variety of surfaces, from hardwood indoor courts to outdoor tennis courts and even purpose-built pickleball courts. This variation requires players to adapt their styles based on court grip and ball bounce.
“Yeah, so in Australia. It’s largely an outdoor tennis court surface and a hardcourt surface. Whereas in America, where they build a lot more permanent pickleball courts, they’ve got a lot more grip on the surface. So they’re much more abrasive, and they actually play a lot slower. So, in the US, they often play with faster balls to counteract the abrasive surface kind. In Australia, we often use quite a softball, and then you’ve got things to consider as well, like the heat. So, in Australia, it’s very warm, so the balls heat up, and they go really soft. So, yeah, we’ll probably find it in time. We’ll be switching out the balls quite regularly throughout matches as well to keep them nice and hard and true. In Asia, we’ve had quite an acrylic like a smoother acrylic finish.
“So the ball is faster, and it seems to skid a lot more. And here on the pickle roll, it’s probably even slower again, more like the permanent pickleball courts of America. It’s quite abrasive out there. So it does slow the ball down, and we’re using quite a softball here. So it’ll make points a little bit harder for players to finish. So when you say smash a ball away. It actually slows through the air, and then it hits the ball, which is quite slow. Give your opponent a little bit of time to actually get that ball back. So you probably find some long rallies,” explained Burr while speaking at length.
Climate and Environmental Considerations
The impact of climate change is pushing sports like pickleball to consider new adaptations. In countries like Australia, where outdoor play is popular, rising temperatures have led to plans for shaded courts and, eventually, more air-conditioned indoor venues to combat extreme heat, rain, and wind disruptions.
“I think we’ll see covered courts, so like in Australia, they’ll still be outdoor, but they’ll put shade sails. I would say over a lot of the venues. And then well into the future. I’d say we’d have a lot of indoor venues. You know, we don’t have to worry about rain or wind or that extreme heat. So I think we’ll see a lot of purpose-built indoor air-conditioned venues.
“I think we will definitely see a lot of recycled balls. We’ll see paddles made out of sustainable materials. I’d imagine they come to a point where they could be 3d printed. I’m actually working with a company. It’s making grips out of sustainable materials, and eventually, they want to get to the point where they are fully recyclable. And you’ll actually hand back in your pickleball grips and have them reused,” she concluded.
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