The Pickleball popularity is nowhere near close to ending. The sport’s reach keeps increasing day by day, particularly in the US. It increased so much that some players want to convert tennis courts into pickleball courts. The news received mixed reactions. But most tennis legends do not want to see their favored courts being turned into something else. However, the deed is close to fruition. The Mayor of Washington, DC, has planned to allocate funds of a whopping $750,000 to convert tennis courts into pickleball courts.

Martina Navratilova is someone who has been open with her opinion on the matter. She is steadfastly against converting tennis courts into pickleball courts. The Czech-American is not against the sport. But she does not want it to take over tennis.

Pickleball taking over tennis courts?

As per NBC Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has proposed the construction of four new pickleball courts. The new courts will be made on tennis courts that have broken-down or overused. The Mayor of DC has allocated a whopping sum of $750,000 for the renovation. They reasoned that hundreds of tennis courts exist in DC to only 10 full-time pickleball courts.

Sharing of the courts caused conflicts quite often between players of the two sports. The proposed plan will see the number of courts for pickleball players going up to 50 overall. Unsurprisingly, local players are happy with the news.

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The plan originally considered using basketball courts as well. But they are only focusing on tennis courts for now. The DC Council received the proposal and has yet to make a decision.

Martina Navratilova is not for the conversion of courts

The Czech-American tennis legend has been open about her disdain for the sport. More specifically, she does not want pickleball courts to be built where tennis courts used to be. A court battle took place in October 2022, which saw local pickleball players of a small town fighting to build over tennis courts. Navratilova wasn’t happy and said that they should build their own courts.

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The 50-year-old sport’s popularity is undeniable. But the backlash against the sport has also been intense. Where do you stand in this debate?