Seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic is out with a dire warning for the future of the sport that made him a household name.
The world’s No. 2 player says other racket sports rising in popularity, like padel and pickleball, endanger the future of club tennis.
“Tennis is a very global sport and it’s loved by millions of children that pick up a racket and want to play, but we don’t make it accessible. We don’t make it so affordable,” the Djokovic said this weekend, according to The Guardian.
Djokovic wants to create a “foundation to protect tennis at the club level,” according to The Guardian. While pickleball, a cross between tennis, badminton and ping pong, is rising in popularity in America, Djokovic took aim at another racket sport, padel.
“Now we have the padel … that is growing and emerging. People kind of have fun with it and say: ‘Yeah, but tennis is tennis.’ Tennis is the king or queen of all the racket sports, that’s true. But on a club level, tennis is endangered.
“If we don’t do something about it, as I said, globally or collectively, padel, pickleball in [the] States, they’re going to convert all the tennis clubs into padel and pickleball because it’s just more economical.”
