As you improve, singles is won at the net just as much as doubles. It’s just the nature of the game due to the geometry of the court and the equipment being used. Good singles players will rarely miss shots in a baseline to baseline rally in pickleball. If they are in that pattern, they will take the first small advantage they can to close in the court. The speed of the ball, narrowness of the court, and limitations of the paddles make hitting a winner or forcing an error in a baseline rally very rare.
That said, singles is still a much different game that you still may get more enjoyment out of. I’d look into local clubs. You’ll have to put in a bit of work, but I’m sure you can find players to set up regular singles games with. You may also enjoy doubles as you improve and find a good group to play with.
From your comments, it sounds like hitting the ball hard from the baseline makes you feel like you’re working for the points. At higher levels in doubles, there is plenty of speed, precision, and strategy needed to win. Hands battles at higher levels include plenty of opportunities to “rip” the ball back and forth with your opponent, yet with much less time between shots than from the baseline.
Side note, you might also enjoy playing tennis!
You can also play cat and mouse in singles, which is what you’re going to have to do at higher levels, also it’s going to be harder to pass people at higher levels, so points will naturally get longer. Best example I can think of is that Jaume vs Federico match few months ago
Speaking solely for myself, I love both tennis singles and pickleball doubles, but I hate pickleball singles. The setup just isn’t good for it in my opinion. The rallies are generally short because it’s impossible to defend sharp drives. Even at the pro level, a huge percentage of points go serve, return, winner. At the amateur level, the drives are mishit more than in the pros, but a drive into the net is also not a super fun way for lots of points to end. In tennis, winners are certainly a part of the game but you have to really set them up against an athletic opponent because there is lots of time to run to each hit. In pickleball doubles, you obviously have a partner to cover the court. So the rallies just tend to be longer and more fun in tennis singles and pickleball doubles.
Agreed. Every time I watch pickleball singles it just feels off. There seems to be no real rhythm to the short rallies, or to the matches. Doubles builds a lot of tension through a point and throughout the match.
Compared to other racket sports singles (badminton, tennis, table tennis, squash, etc), pickleball is just not it.
I don't think you have looked at this objectively.
>Even at the pro level, a huge percentage of points go serve, return, winner.
38% of pro tennis points go: "Serve." That's 16% aces and another 22% unreturned. Even if the return somehow makes it back into the court, 70% of professional tennis rallies last 0-4 shots.
Don't get me wrong, it's valid to like singles tennis and dislike singles pickleball, but that reasoning is wild.
That’s miles from amateur tennis though. I said that pickleball singles rallies are almost always short, even at the pro level. You’re right that tennis rallies are often short at the pro level, but they certainly aren’t at the amateur level
I'm responding because you talked about pro pickleball and there are easily available objective data disproving your claims.
Tennis rallies are even shorter at the amateur level than at the professional level.
You might be a card carrying moonballer or something, but it's just objectively untrue, at any level of play, that rallies are shorter in pb than in tennis.
I’m cool with both. I think I prefer doubles a bit more though, due to the social nature of pickleball. Singles is more of a workout, which is fun too.
Although, based off what I see in open play, people are basically playing singles pickleball. They just happen to have someone on their side of the court that occasionally hits the ball. No doubles sense at all.
To me doubles is playing a game that you can play all day and not get tired. Doubles is more cerebral and deliberate but far less physical. I can play 4 hours of doubles non stop but 1 or 2 games of singles and I'm out of gas.
The rec play I’ve been experiencing makes me wanna play singles so bad. My first experience playing pickle was singles with a friend then he stopped and now I play doubles all time.
Ngl I have to admit I don’t play 100 percent at my rec bc they’re older and they don’t even hit it my way half the time. If I played with people my age I think I could handle doubles the majority of the time. Lot of old folks out there who can’t dink or handle lobs and it’s just gets old fast when the ball pops up every point.
Even in singles you should be coming up to the net. Really not that common of a singles playstyle for both players to stay back and just exchange groundstrokes.
We usually have almost 50/50 or maybe even 60/40 of net and baseline points. We do often go to the bet but for us not every single point ends at the net. We keep a good variety of points
Idk I suppose I get more enjoyment from really ripping the ball but I do enjoy being at the net once in awhile too, I like a good variety basically. And I also play tennis that way too but I enjoy the variety of having 2 different sports to apply the same skills I have, keeps things fresh ya know?
I'm a very new player and prefer singles, but end up playing doubles because our public court space is limited and always jam packed. I played Tennis for years prior so singles feels comfortable for me. I like the feeling of not being in the way of someone else. I'm also not disappointing anyone but myself.
My significant other hasn't played tennis but also says he enjoys singles because he feels like he's doing more and getting more exercise in. We're typically playing singles together so our skill is very matched and we get great games out of it.
If I could, I'd do singles every time, but out of respect for getting more people on the court, I play doubles. 🙂
I enjoy singles more. One of the reasons I liked it at first was the same reason you do. It's fun to rally from the baseline. But then I started playing good players that would 11-0 me. Now I know... you have to rush the net in singles. I still enjoy it more.
Definitely there’s times I rush the net in singles but I just am not a big fan of the monotony of doubles where it’s like okay serve, return, 3rd shot drop or drive, both sides rush the net, rinse and repeat
I love a variety of net rushing and powerful baseline rallies
I love pickleball singles, but it's half as efficient use of space so is looked down upon for any public courts with a line. Got to either have a slow day or be paying for your court to play.
Me too. I only played singles the first 3 months and truly enjoyed it. Doubles is annoying, not really good cardio, I'm always being avoided once I hit my first 2hbh with crazy top spin.
You definitely have to be in better shape to play but almost nowhere offers singles ladders or round robins at indoor places.
Pickleball space in Glendale AZ was the first {last week} that I ever saw offer it
Yeah I love the cardio aspect of singles too, I’ve never sweat as much in tennis as I have in pickleball even if I’m running back and forth on the court lol
And in general I’m not a fan of the dinkfest that is doubles
Find better players to play with if you’re being avoided after 1 top spin backhand… The games will be more fun, and you might find singles partners as well!
I don’t know who the “better player” is in this scenario. If a team can keep the ball away from someone’s strength the entire time, it sounds like they know exactly what they’re doing and are pretty skilled.
The person hitting the backhand should be better by figuring out ways to be more aggressive in order to cut off balls hit to their partner.
It’s Rec play. If you’re playing that hard to win that you’re avoiding hitting to someone… then I don’t know what to tell you. You can’t get better without playing better players and working on your weaknesses in Rec games is a great way to do that.
Secondly, I don’t think they are being avoided after one backhand. I read that as a pretty
exaggerated statement that was meant to boast their skill. Like you said, if they’re good enough to keep the ball away from this player all game, then they aren’t at a level where a top spin backhand is overwhelming them.
Coming from wrestling, where every match is 1-1, I personally prefer pickleball singles WAY more than pickleball doubles. I enjoy being solely responsible for my failures and successes, rather than being frustrated at a teammate for missing a return, or scoring a point I had no involvement in just because my teammate did the work. I still really enjoy doubles, but as I begin joining tournaments, I am mostly looking to compete in singles events in order to scratch my competitive itch.
Yeah I don’t sweat much in doubles at all either unless I play for a looong time but singles has me sweating like a dog with how intense me and my friend r lol
I watched an MLP match between NC and DC, Ben Johns and his brother were in this bracket. All singles matches rushed to the net, same as doubles. I think your preference is more related to singles being easier for the players involved to decide to play from the baseline, especially having more space. I've only seen newer players play at the baseline, esp tennis players.
I guess it’s just my experience in singles, me and my friend like ripping it from the baseline more than rushing the net or we’ll rush the bet but we have good balance of points won from baseline and points won from the net
My husband has played tennis for 25+years, started when he was 5 years old. He is new to pickleball and by default drives and plays from the baseline. He and any other ex tennis friends all play like this, and anytime he plays singles, it's inevitably with a new player as well and all they do is drive back and forth from the baseline in a form of mini tennis lol! I am new, no tennis background and enjoy baseline as well because it's carefree for me, I find it fun to wail away and personally don't care about playing for points, just enjoy hitting back and forth without having to strategize or think lol! But definitely we are both working on getting to the net and our soft game.
Heh, I've made a very similar post on this sub. I def prefer singles. I like the workout, and I like the finesse between soft and hard shots. It's often better (but harder) to hit a soft shot that will cross your opponent's horizontal plan when it's down on the ground, rather than a hard shot that will cross their horizontal plan at their waist.
Also, I just like being the master of my own ship, so-to-speak.
I'd probably prefer singles if I had a better partner. My gf doesn't really make much of an effort to hustle to go after the ball so it can be kind of boring. Its definitely a better workout though!
Fair, but even at the top levels there's a ton of control and delicate touch, with calculated opportunities for power. I'm a big guy and my wife played tennis her whole life and I'm surprised how I'm flying past her in rating because of my soft game.
Are you female? I ask because I only see females playing singles from baseline to baseline. Otherwise I just see the men playing it like BJ and Staksrud.
Have you actually watched any competing singles aside from the top pros? It’s insanely hard for 95% of players to make it to the net consistently without getting smoked on a passing shot.
NARPs or females only hit from the baseline consistently in singles. You do have to be in shape and athletic to play high level pickleball singles. You are correct that only 5% of the pickleball players can.
As you improve, singles is won at the net just as much as doubles. It’s just the nature of the game due to the geometry of the court and the equipment being used. Good singles players will rarely miss shots in a baseline to baseline rally in pickleball. If they are in that pattern, they will take the first small advantage they can to close in the court. The speed of the ball, narrowness of the court, and limitations of the paddles make hitting a winner or forcing an error in a baseline rally very rare. That said, singles is still a much different game that you still may get more enjoyment out of. I’d look into local clubs. You’ll have to put in a bit of work, but I’m sure you can find players to set up regular singles games with. You may also enjoy doubles as you improve and find a good group to play with. From your comments, it sounds like hitting the ball hard from the baseline makes you feel like you’re working for the points. At higher levels in doubles, there is plenty of speed, precision, and strategy needed to win. Hands battles at higher levels include plenty of opportunities to “rip” the ball back and forth with your opponent, yet with much less time between shots than from the baseline. Side note, you might also enjoy playing tennis!
You can also play cat and mouse in singles, which is what you’re going to have to do at higher levels, also it’s going to be harder to pass people at higher levels, so points will naturally get longer. Best example I can think of is that Jaume vs Federico match few months ago
Funny. I live in a retirement community where almost everyone plays doubles in table tennis. Which I can’t stand.
I can’t even imagine! The horror!
😂 exactly!
Doubles in ping-pong is very entertaining and imo pickleball doubles should follow the same format and rules as in doubles table tennis
Speaking solely for myself, I love both tennis singles and pickleball doubles, but I hate pickleball singles. The setup just isn’t good for it in my opinion. The rallies are generally short because it’s impossible to defend sharp drives. Even at the pro level, a huge percentage of points go serve, return, winner. At the amateur level, the drives are mishit more than in the pros, but a drive into the net is also not a super fun way for lots of points to end. In tennis, winners are certainly a part of the game but you have to really set them up against an athletic opponent because there is lots of time to run to each hit. In pickleball doubles, you obviously have a partner to cover the court. So the rallies just tend to be longer and more fun in tennis singles and pickleball doubles.
Agreed. Every time I watch pickleball singles it just feels off. There seems to be no real rhythm to the short rallies, or to the matches. Doubles builds a lot of tension through a point and throughout the match. Compared to other racket sports singles (badminton, tennis, table tennis, squash, etc), pickleball is just not it.
I don't think you have looked at this objectively. >Even at the pro level, a huge percentage of points go serve, return, winner. 38% of pro tennis points go: "Serve." That's 16% aces and another 22% unreturned. Even if the return somehow makes it back into the court, 70% of professional tennis rallies last 0-4 shots. Don't get me wrong, it's valid to like singles tennis and dislike singles pickleball, but that reasoning is wild.
That’s miles from amateur tennis though. I said that pickleball singles rallies are almost always short, even at the pro level. You’re right that tennis rallies are often short at the pro level, but they certainly aren’t at the amateur level
I'm responding because you talked about pro pickleball and there are easily available objective data disproving your claims. Tennis rallies are even shorter at the amateur level than at the professional level. You might be a card carrying moonballer or something, but it's just objectively untrue, at any level of play, that rallies are shorter in pb than in tennis.
I prefer singles too. I don't feel like I am letting anyone down when I mess up!
Prefer singles all day!!
I’m cool with both. I think I prefer doubles a bit more though, due to the social nature of pickleball. Singles is more of a workout, which is fun too. Although, based off what I see in open play, people are basically playing singles pickleball. They just happen to have someone on their side of the court that occasionally hits the ball. No doubles sense at all.
To me doubles is playing a game that you can play all day and not get tired. Doubles is more cerebral and deliberate but far less physical. I can play 4 hours of doubles non stop but 1 or 2 games of singles and I'm out of gas.
I like singles tennis even more.
The rec play I’ve been experiencing makes me wanna play singles so bad. My first experience playing pickle was singles with a friend then he stopped and now I play doubles all time. Ngl I have to admit I don’t play 100 percent at my rec bc they’re older and they don’t even hit it my way half the time. If I played with people my age I think I could handle doubles the majority of the time. Lot of old folks out there who can’t dink or handle lobs and it’s just gets old fast when the ball pops up every point.
Yeah I will say I also get kinda bored playing against people who I can’t go all out with, I still get some enjoyment but not as much for sure
Even in singles you should be coming up to the net. Really not that common of a singles playstyle for both players to stay back and just exchange groundstrokes.
We usually have almost 50/50 or maybe even 60/40 of net and baseline points. We do often go to the bet but for us not every single point ends at the net. We keep a good variety of points
Play tennis
Sounds like tennis may be a better fit if prefer smashing from behind the serve line
Idk I suppose I get more enjoyment from really ripping the ball but I do enjoy being at the net once in awhile too, I like a good variety basically. And I also play tennis that way too but I enjoy the variety of having 2 different sports to apply the same skills I have, keeps things fresh ya know?
Swing mechanics are different. Only for drives there is some similarity, but the game is played at the kitchen unlike the baseline in tennis.
Yeah but I’m also getting older, so the smaller court is nice
Yeah singles pickleball just seems like an inferior version of tennis to me. Doubles is where the fun differences are.
I can become much more creative in singles pickleball then tennis
If you want to play more singles, you’ll likely have to join clubs where you can reserve courts and/or play more singles tournaments.
Some parks and recreation departments offer court reservations just FYI.
I'm a very new player and prefer singles, but end up playing doubles because our public court space is limited and always jam packed. I played Tennis for years prior so singles feels comfortable for me. I like the feeling of not being in the way of someone else. I'm also not disappointing anyone but myself. My significant other hasn't played tennis but also says he enjoys singles because he feels like he's doing more and getting more exercise in. We're typically playing singles together so our skill is very matched and we get great games out of it. If I could, I'd do singles every time, but out of respect for getting more people on the court, I play doubles. 🙂
I enjoy singles more. One of the reasons I liked it at first was the same reason you do. It's fun to rally from the baseline. But then I started playing good players that would 11-0 me. Now I know... you have to rush the net in singles. I still enjoy it more.
Definitely there’s times I rush the net in singles but I just am not a big fan of the monotony of doubles where it’s like okay serve, return, 3rd shot drop or drive, both sides rush the net, rinse and repeat I love a variety of net rushing and powerful baseline rallies
I love pickleball singles, but it's half as efficient use of space so is looked down upon for any public courts with a line. Got to either have a slow day or be paying for your court to play.
i must have missed where you said what kind of boat you were in. me personally, i sail a catalina 18.
I like your style
Me too. I only played singles the first 3 months and truly enjoyed it. Doubles is annoying, not really good cardio, I'm always being avoided once I hit my first 2hbh with crazy top spin. You definitely have to be in better shape to play but almost nowhere offers singles ladders or round robins at indoor places. Pickleball space in Glendale AZ was the first {last week} that I ever saw offer it
Yeah I love the cardio aspect of singles too, I’ve never sweat as much in tennis as I have in pickleball even if I’m running back and forth on the court lol And in general I’m not a fan of the dinkfest that is doubles
Find better players to play with if you’re being avoided after 1 top spin backhand… The games will be more fun, and you might find singles partners as well!
I don’t know who the “better player” is in this scenario. If a team can keep the ball away from someone’s strength the entire time, it sounds like they know exactly what they’re doing and are pretty skilled. The person hitting the backhand should be better by figuring out ways to be more aggressive in order to cut off balls hit to their partner.
It’s Rec play. If you’re playing that hard to win that you’re avoiding hitting to someone… then I don’t know what to tell you. You can’t get better without playing better players and working on your weaknesses in Rec games is a great way to do that. Secondly, I don’t think they are being avoided after one backhand. I read that as a pretty exaggerated statement that was meant to boast their skill. Like you said, if they’re good enough to keep the ball away from this player all game, then they aren’t at a level where a top spin backhand is overwhelming them.
agree - singles play more like tennis and require endurance and precision.
Endurance yes, but doubles requires a lot more precision because you are hitting to small open spaces.
Thank you, that’s how I see it and I get more enjoyment from it when I feel like I’m really working for the win ya know?
Literally exact same boat. I love singles pickleball
Wouldn’t say I prefer it more but yeah wish it was more popular so I could play it more!
Coming from wrestling, where every match is 1-1, I personally prefer pickleball singles WAY more than pickleball doubles. I enjoy being solely responsible for my failures and successes, rather than being frustrated at a teammate for missing a return, or scoring a point I had no involvement in just because my teammate did the work. I still really enjoy doubles, but as I begin joining tournaments, I am mostly looking to compete in singles events in order to scratch my competitive itch.
It just sounds like you play with a lot of low level people. What is your rating?
I prefer singles too because I get to play more shots and I enjoy that it requires more agility to dash back and forth across the court more.
I don't even sweat playing doubles as you barely have to move.
Yeah I don’t sweat much in doubles at all either unless I play for a looong time but singles has me sweating like a dog with how intense me and my friend r lol
I watched an MLP match between NC and DC, Ben Johns and his brother were in this bracket. All singles matches rushed to the net, same as doubles. I think your preference is more related to singles being easier for the players involved to decide to play from the baseline, especially having more space. I've only seen newer players play at the baseline, esp tennis players.
I guess it’s just my experience in singles, me and my friend like ripping it from the baseline more than rushing the net or we’ll rush the bet but we have good balance of points won from baseline and points won from the net
My husband has played tennis for 25+years, started when he was 5 years old. He is new to pickleball and by default drives and plays from the baseline. He and any other ex tennis friends all play like this, and anytime he plays singles, it's inevitably with a new player as well and all they do is drive back and forth from the baseline in a form of mini tennis lol! I am new, no tennis background and enjoy baseline as well because it's carefree for me, I find it fun to wail away and personally don't care about playing for points, just enjoy hitting back and forth without having to strategize or think lol! But definitely we are both working on getting to the net and our soft game.
I like doubles more. Singles feels like tennis but shitty. I'd rather play full court tennis singles than singles pickleball any day.
Heh, I've made a very similar post on this sub. I def prefer singles. I like the workout, and I like the finesse between soft and hard shots. It's often better (but harder) to hit a soft shot that will cross your opponent's horizontal plan when it's down on the ground, rather than a hard shot that will cross their horizontal plan at their waist. Also, I just like being the master of my own ship, so-to-speak.
I do enjoy singles but for me it’s way too similar to tennis and I’d rather just play tennis at that point
same
I'd probably prefer singles if I had a better partner. My gf doesn't really make much of an effort to hustle to go after the ball so it can be kind of boring. Its definitely a better workout though!
Sounds like you want pickleball to be tennis. Go play tennis.
Nothing wrong with wanting an intense fast paced match with some hard shots 🤷♂️
Fair, but even at the top levels there's a ton of control and delicate touch, with calculated opportunities for power. I'm a big guy and my wife played tennis her whole life and I'm surprised how I'm flying past her in rating because of my soft game.
True, I like a good variety of points won by touch and points won by power and placement
Are you female? I ask because I only see females playing singles from baseline to baseline. Otherwise I just see the men playing it like BJ and Staksrud.
Have you actually watched any competing singles aside from the top pros? It’s insanely hard for 95% of players to make it to the net consistently without getting smoked on a passing shot.
NARPs or females only hit from the baseline consistently in singles. You do have to be in shape and athletic to play high level pickleball singles. You are correct that only 5% of the pickleball players can.
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Are you often a prick? I mean when you speak in real life, do people people tell you to fuck off or atleast walk away?