Wave of pickleball court conversions frustrate northern Palm Beach County tennis players

TEQUESTA — Northern Palm Beach County communities are converting some of their tennis courts for pickleball, capitalizing on the newly popular sport's boom but leaving some tennis players with less access to courts and feeling ignored.

Over the past two years, three tennis courts at Jupiter Community Park have been converted into eight pickleball courts. Two at Tequesta Park have become six pickleball courts, and two tennis courts at Kelsey Park in Lake Park have been converted into four for pickleball.

Other courts in the area have been re-striped to host both tennis and pickleball, including four courts at Lighthouse Park in Jupiter and two at Anchorage Park in North Palm Beach.

Palm Beach Gardens is the outlier. The city has not converted any of its 28 public tennis courts to pickleball courts, according to Candice Temple, the city's communications director. Instead, the city has built pickleball courts elsewhere. Temple said its staff is considering building even more tennis courts.

"Tennis is booming," Temple said. "Pickleball isn't taking over here."

For many tennis players, what used to be a leisurely visit to the courts most mornings has become a race to secure one. Curtis Shenkman knows it firsthand at Tequesta Park, where only one court is available when the village's pickleball instruction group plays on the other.

“I am not an anti-pickleball and I want it to flourish,” said Shenkman, a real estate attorney who said he's been playing tennis for 60 years. “But it is flourishing at the expense of tennis courts.”

To local officials, he asks, “Please grow pickleball without making tennis extinct.”

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Pickleball courts are smaller than tennis courts. Four can fit into one tennis court, depending on the layout.

To convert the Lake Park tennis courts for pickleball courts, for example, crews removed the existing nets and posts and used a resurfacer to cover the existing striping and level out the court, a town spokesperson said. Then they cut in new net post sleeves, coated and striped the court with new colors, and installed net posts and nets.

It cost Lake Park nearly $30,000 to create its four pickleball courts. Conversion costs vary based on whether the courts are simply repainted or also resurfaced.

In May 2022, tennis legend Martina Navratilova tweeted , "I say if pickleball is that popular, let them build their own courts." The Florida chapter of the United States Tennis Association agrees. The Orlando-based group recommends that local officials build pickleball courts on separate sites, rather than convert courts.

“We echo the concerns of our tennis players that courts are being converted in Palm Beach County,” wrote USTA Florida Executive Director Laura Bowen in a prepared statement. “Removing, converting or adding lines to tennis courts for pickleball creates unnecessary conflict and limits the growth of both activities in the area.”

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Bowen said that tennis demand in Florida is at a record high and the sport has grown by more than 500,000 players since 2018.

Spokespeople for Jupiter, Lake Park and Tequesta said they have not received complaints about the court conversions from tennis players.

“Mostly, I have only heard from the pickleball community,” wrote Tequesta’s Parks and Recreation Director Greg Corbitt. “However, the folks that play tennis are good with the two remaining tennis (courts).”

A manager at Centerline Pickleball in Jupiter, one of two shops dedicated to the sport in Palm Beach County, said he's heard from about six tennis players upset about losing their courts since the store opened in December in the Jupiter Square Shopping Center at Indiantown Road and U.S. 1.

Still, he said he has heard more positive feedback than negative from tennis players when it comes to pickleball’s growth. The manager, who declined to be identified, credits its popularity to its age inclusivity, saying it is easier on the body than tennis because it involves less running and jumping and players don’t have to hit the ball as hard.

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Shenkman and Paige Jack, his fiancée, said they try to play at least five times each week at Tequesta Park on Countyline Road. Since the court conversions, however, they said they often either wait an hour to play tennis or they leave for Carlin Park in Jupiter instead, where the courts remain untouched.

Rebecca Seelig, a tennis player since the age of 5, questions the staying power of pickleball. She called it a “fad” and worries that its courts will lie in waste if people stop playing the sport.

“As supply and demand changes, I bet (pickleball courts) will be converted back,” said Seelig, 49, a public relations specialist who lives in Palm Beach Gardens and plays at its tennis and pickleball center at The Gardens North County District Park.

Joelle Sweigart also frequents Tequesta Park, but no longer to play tennis. She made the switch to pickleball when she found its games to be quicker and more social.

“The tennis courts are not always taken here and pickleball is always full,” said Sweigart, who lives in Jupiter, as she peered at the packed courts. “I feel like there are still not enough pickleball courts."

Maya Washburn covers northern Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at mwashburn@pbpost.com . Support local journalism: Subscribe today .

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Wave of pickleball court conversions frustrate northern Palm Beach County tennis players