COURTS: Tennis players in a pickle

I’ve always heard pickleball is a fun, social game, and one that I may be interested in after playing tennis for 40 years. So, I was glad to arrive at the new McEuen Park tennis courts last Thursday to play tennis and find a group of pickleball players on one of the courts. The other court was not being used, and I inquired from two of the players if the court was, indeed, free, and told it was. They asked if I would be interested in rotating into their pickleball game. Since I had a foursome scheduled and expected to play tennis, I politely declined.

My tennis group convened on the court, and before we began our first serve, the questioning and rude behavior from a few pickleball players began. During the hour and a half we attempted to play a fun game of tennis, we were continually harassed and bullied by these players. They walked onto our court to tell us we were talking too much (among ourselves), and not playing fast enough; our score couldn’t be the correct score that the server stated; we weren’t playing with the correct partners; we could only play one set, etc. All of their rude comments were directed to, and about, us, even though they weren’t playing with us nor on our court. One of our players, feeling threatened, asked for the harassment to stop, and stated all she was trying to do was play tennis. It continued for an hour and half, while we attempted to play.

After we ended our match and were leaving the court, one of the pickleball players approached us, stating he is the ambassador for the game, and inquired if we were interested in learning how to play. After being heckled and harassed by players in his pickleball group, I couldn’t comprehend his invitation.

In my many years of playing tennis, whether it was on public, private, club or resort courts, I have never experienced this type of behavior. If a player is behaving in an inappropriate way, they would be given a warning, then asked to leave, if necessary. The behavior was not only disrespectful, but disturbing and threatening.

Based on my recent experience, I have a different view of pickleball now and my interest in learning the game. I’m not sure if harassment is part of the game — I hope not. However, I won’t be learning, or interested in playing, anytime soon.

MARILYN CALI

Coeur d’Alene