Noah Rubin succumbs to the Pickleball charm
The hottest trend in racquet sports? At least in the US, this is Pickleball.
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
Oct 11, 2022, 11:31 pm
In 2014, Noah Rubin won the junior title at Wimbledon. No guarantee of a great career in professional men's tennis. But a sign that there is enough potential to earn his merits in the adult class as well. With Noah Rubin, it worked reasonably well, but it wasn't enough for more than 125th place in the ATP charts. The 26-year-old American is currently ranked 545 in the world. Also due to the break that Rubin takes from the tennis circus.
However, a return seems to have been postponed indefinitely. Because Noah Rubin has discovered a new love: Pickleball. No racquet sport is booming in the USA like playing with the hard, almost pressureless plastic ball, which only requires a slightly larger parking lot to play. If in doubt, an asphalt driveway will also do.
Ruby fearful of pickleball contact
"A tennis court is way too big and you have to cover way too much field," says Rubin in a video on Instagram. I recently passed a pickleball court. And it clicked. This is where I belong, this is my home now. And in this sport, your size doesn't matter.” Apparently a sore point for Rubin, who is listed on the ATP side with a height of 175 cm.
Initially, however, there would have been reservations. "I'm not a tennis traditionalist, but there is a love for the sport. And then when you see something like Pickleball, the first thing you think is, 'Leave me alone with that,'" Rubin told ESPN. “There is no chance that this sport will become something. No chance for me to take a closer look. But then I put my ego aside. And I thought: Wow, now I get it. So it all makes sense.”
Pickleball should also soon make sense professionally for Noah Rubin. And in the USA he also has the opportunity to do so: there are already three professional leagues in which you can sometimes earn good money. So good money that basketball icon LeBron James has even bought a team in the Major League Pickleball.