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VIDEO: Hollywood Star Jamie Foxx Joins the Pickleball Fan Base

Published 02/26/2023, 11:00 AM EST

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Pickleball has recently skyrocketed in popularity. The sport, which has existed for over 50 years now, is recently gaining recognition. Various celebrities are investing in the sport including Tom Brady, Nick Kyrgios, Will Smith, Ellen DeGeneres, and more. People have invested hundreds of millions into the sport. Players are banding together to form teams. Various famous personalities are indulging in the sport themselves. Jamie Foxx is one person who recently played and enjoyed the racquet sport.

There are several reasons the sport recently became famous. The ease of access, the few requirements, and the small amount of physical activity make Pickleball a desirable sport.

Jamie Foxx was seen playing Pickleball

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In a recent video on Instagram, Jamie Foxx was enjoying Pickleball, along with his friends. The video, uploaded by a Pickleball news account, tagged model Reece Knupp in the video, as he was enjoying the game as well. The account captioned the video, “POV: You’re the unemployed friend doing crazy random shit at 1 pm on a Monday.

 

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The video first showed a short moment of Reece Knupp, then the camera turns around to Jamie Foxx, who was holding a Pickleball paddle. He was looking around the court, waiting for the ball to come to him. The video also had Foxx’s song Gold Digger, which he made with Kanye West, playing in the background.

Read more – Don’t Have Pickleball on Tennis Courts’- American Doubles Veteran’s Innocent Question Turns Into ‘World War III’ Mode as Tennis Purists Lash Out

However, some tennis players have shared their concerns over the growing popularity of Pickleball and the game being an existential threat to the game of tennis.

 Martina Navratilova shares concern over Pickleball’s popularity

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Sports professionals and celebrities alike have been investing in and promoting the sport. However, not everyone is in line to jump on the Pickleball train. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova recently spoke about the rising popularity of the racquet sport. She took a dig at the sport, speaking about it taking over the world and possibly being more popular than tennis.

On Twitter, Navratilova shared her worry that tennis courts will be removed in order to make space for Pickleball courts. She is aware of the similarities between the sport and fears that Pickleball will replace tennis. “I just don’t want to lose tennis courts to pickleball courts.

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Navratilova has spoken about Pickleball more than once. She said that if the sport was rising in popularity this much, then they should build their own courts in place of taking over the tennis courts. She said this in response to a court case in October 2022.

Pickleball’s rise in popularity is certain ever since the Covid pandemic. Will it actually overtake tennis in popularity as Navratilova fears?

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Written by:

Ripunjay Gaba

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Ripunjay is a Tennis Writer at EssentiallySports. He completed his bachelor’s in Economics at Ambedkar University, New Delhi and worked as a freelance writer for a renowned sports publication, covering various social media personalities. Ripunjay is a diehard Roger Federer fan, whose dominance on the ATP Tour made him fall in love with tennis.
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Edited by:

Arijit Saha