The Big Pickle

India's inaugural professional pickleball league is set to commence this January. Can this game take brands out of their high-spends, low-ROI pickle? Gaurav Natekar gives us perspective.

- Gaurav Natekar

In an attempt to strike a balance between a sedentary lifestyle and health consciousness, the pickleball hype was born. Invented in the 1960s, pickleball has really started to pick up in popularity. It was named the fastest-growing sport in the US for three years in a row—2021, 2022 and 2023—owing to its ease of learning, community-centricity and low space requirements.

Worldwide, tennis and badminton courts are being adapted to pickleball courts with new dimensions being painted over them. Gaurav Natekar, Co-Founder and CEO of the World Pickleball League (WPBL) and seven-time Indian National Tennis Champion, tells us what the state of the sport looks like and the future it holds.

During Covid-19 while pickleball went on a professional hiatus, it really was the pandemic that drew more people into the sport. The world was in search of an active lifestyle and pickleball's low-impact, no-contact offering was a perfect fit. Undoubtedly, India does follow in the footsteps of the West. So when pickleball became all the hype in the US, it was only a matter of time before the well-travelled and erudite people of India brought it in. Natekar and his wife, who work in sports consulting, started to hear from different individuals that they wanted pickleball courts to be built. "That's when I realised that pickleball was here to stay."

The All India Pickleball Association (AIPA) was set up in 2008. And from 2015 onwards, they did a lot of work for the promotion of the sport. Natekar realised that having a league in the country would help further the mission of the AIPA. The league would help increase the popularity of pickleball, expose Indian players to international talent and attract sponsorships.