Tennis is among the most popular games in the world. It has got a rich history and a wide range of interested countries. The viewership they generate is amazing as well. In the past few years, we have seen the rising popularity of the game. Star players like Roger Federer and Serena Williams played an important role in making it popular worldwide.

However, there’s always a risk of a similar-looking sport taking over the game in popularity. Earlier this year, a few tennis players retired to play pickleball, a sport similar to tennis. Similarly, padel is also gaining good popularity. Padel is a game that is a cross between tennis and squash. With the rising popularity of sports, ITF planned to get into the governing of the game. However, the Padel governing body has warned of strict legal action against it.

The conflict between the governing body of Padel and the ITF

International Tennis Federation prepares to vote at its AGM in Glasgow on Monday on a proposal to broaden its scope to develop and govern Padel on behalf of its members. However, the governing body of Padel has shown strict resistance against the same.

The governing body of the sport, FIP, had filed a case against ITF, terming their attempt to get the governance of padel as a “hostile attempt to take over the governance of padel without the consent of FIP or its members.” 

Read more: Stan Wawrinka Painfully Recalls ‘Unbearable’ Roger Federer’s Wife’s Tantrums During Their Peak Rivalry in 2014 – ‘She Yells..’

Padel originated in Mexico back in 1960. The game has gained immense popularity in Sweden, Argentina, Spain, and Italy and now Britain is also embracing it. It will be interesting to see how the court rules in this case.

Tennis players are leaving for pickleball

Tennis is a pretty popular game. Due to its popularity, the chances of making it to the top reduce significantly for any player. One has to put in extraordinary efforts to become one of the elite tennis players today. The physical effort and pain they have to endure is also high compared to other racket games.

This is the reason a few ATP players are choosing to shift to pickleball. The game is like tennis but requires far less physical effort. Recently, former Wimbledon Juniors champion Noah Rubin announced his retirement in order to try his luck in pickleball. It seems like a matter of concern for tennis, as a few failures might provoke tennis players to look at other options like pickleball.

WATCH THIS STORY: Novak Djokovic’s epic finals against Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Andy Murray, and Wilfried Tsonga at the Australian Open

Recently, former American tennis star Sam Querrey also followed Rubin into pickleball. While it is understandable that tennis is a hard sport to master, the way players are giving it up for another easier sport is extremely concerning for the future of the sport.