The discord between pickleball and tennis players continues to grow, as professional pickleball player Christian Alshon intensified his social media beef with tennis pros James Blake, Andy Roddick and Nick Kyrgios.
Currently ranked 12th on the Pickleball tour, Alshon is a former tennis player who decided to switch sports in June 2021, opting to pick up a pickleball racket. Subsequently, he recently spoke out against tennis, claiming pickleball had increased his athleticism more than tennis ever did.
Blake, other tennis pros fire back
"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," wrote Alshon on Twitter.
This prompted Blake, a former World No.4 to respond to Alshon's statements. Andy Roddick and Nick Kyrgios followed suit soon afterwards.
"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," wrote Blake.
"Yeah. Let's hide under the bed after this statement hahahaha bro get me the best pickleball player and compare his talent to Roger Federer. Wild tweet, wild thought. Delete right now I love pickle. But you had too many tequilas," responded Kyrgios on Twitter.
Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi at a pickleball event
"Tell you what. If anyone pickle person ever ranks higher in tennis than what [Jack] Sock will be at end of this year in his new paid pickle hobby, I’ll commentate a pickle match standing on my head," wrote Roddick.
Undeterred, Alshon fired back, inviting the tennis trio for pickleball duels with $100,000 on the line per match.
"@NickKyrgios @JRBlake @andyroddick how about this. I challenge you three to back to back singles matches for 100K each. I’ll give you 2/1 odds which in your minds should be crazy good odds. You have 6 months to train. Don’t worry, I’ll donate my winnings to charity," wrote Alshon on Twitter.