"Same number of division one wins as my daughter, she's 11": James Blake scorches pickleball pro over tennis comparison

James Blake recently responded to Christian Alshon's claim, a professional pickleball player, who compared his sport to tennis. The 31-year-old athlete played tennis for the University of Chicago but switched to pickleball in 2021 when he won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II championship.

On the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) tour, he currently holds the fifth position in the rankings. He recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to compare tennis and pickleball and asserted that the latter has made him a better athlete as it is more demanding.

"Pickleball has made me a much better athlete than Tennis ever did. Faster reaction time and speed are needed since the ball is only coming from 10 feet away. Point for point, pickleball requires more skill than tennis," he wrote.

Former world No. 4 James Blake disagreed with Alshon and criticized him for his performance as a tennis player in the past: "Haha. That might be because you were playing a pretty low level of tennis. Maybe if you were familiar with the athleticism it takes to excel at the sport you would realize how ridiculous this statement is," Blake wrote in a reply to the pickleball professional's tweet.

Another user responded to Blake, highlighting that Alshon was seventh-ranked: "I like James a lot but Alshon was the seventh ranked recruit in the 2019 class. Low level of tennis? Good lord"

"He has the same number of division 1 college wins as my daughter. (She's 11)," Blake responded.

"The sarcastic comment from the current director of the Miami Open prompted a response from the world No. 5 Jessica Pegula, who left a short tweet with three skull emojis."