Over the last few years, pickleball has gone from being a relatively unfamiliar backyard sport to a competitive sport in India that is finding space in clubs, residential complexes and even dedicated arenas.
As reported by the Picklebase, according to IBEF (India Brand Equity Foundation) India had close to 200 operational pickleball courts in early 2024. Eventually, by mid-2025, the number had jumped to nearly 1,200 new courts appearing every few weeks in major cities.
Pickleball’s rise in India traces back to Mumbai, as the sport first caught on in upscale neighborhoods such as Bandra, Andheri and Goregaon before spreading citywide.
One such venue in Mumbai is The CourtRoom, which currently has two locations in Ghatkopar and Chembur, offering both pickleball and padel facilities.
RevSportz spoke to Jeet Shah, Co-Founder of The CourtRoom, to understand what has driven pickleball’s growth in Mumbai and how the sport must continue its rise in India.
In this exclusive conversation, Shah shared that he began playing pickleball shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he noticed that there were limited places in the city where players could access a pickleball court.
Q: Can you take us through the kind of age-group among whom Pickleball is popular?
Shah: At our venue, we have a very diverse group of people playing pickleball.
At around 5 pm, you will see kids, teenagers and young adults coming in with their friends after school or college.
Then, post-work, around 9 pm to midnight, you see the office-going crowd. We have also seen families coming in, with parents playing pickleball with their children.
The demographic is very broad.
Q: What do you think is the biggest reason pickleball is working so well in Mumbai?
Shah: I would attribute it mostly to the fact that it is not very hard to learn.
Anyone can pick up a paddle, and within two games, you will at least understand the sport well enough to start playing.
Secondly, it is really fun and not extremely taxing on your body.
It also gives you an opportunity to connect with your friends. You see a lot of people becoming part of the community, meeting their friends, playing and spending time together.
Apart from that, the sport is growing exponentially because it is something fresh and new.
Q: Are people regularly coming back to play, or do you mostly see first-time players?
Shah: We have people who have been coming back since the day we started. Especially now, because we host a lot of tournaments at our space, we have a retention rate of over 65 to 70 per cent, where the customer is a repeat customer.
Around 30 per cent of our customers every month are either first-time players or are coming to our spaces for the first time.
Q: Do you think Mumbai currently has enough pickleball courts to meet the demand?
Shah: I think demand is dynamic. As and when more first-time players come in, the demand increases and the supply will also increase.
I think there is enough supply for now. We are broadly matching the demand.
But there could definitely be more supply in the city, especially now that apartment complexes are also opening pickleball courts.
Q: If you compare pickleball in India today to where it was two or three years ago, what has changed the most?
Shah: I would say the seriousness of the players.
Three years ago, I would mainly see amateurs playing. The game was very relaxed. Now, I see people going at it competitively.
I know a lot of former professional squash and tennis players who have moved to pickleball.
People are very serious about the sport now.
Q: What do you think pickleball in India needs next to sustain this growth?
Shah: We need a very serious tournament on a global scale, where we can attract talent from across the world to come and play in India.
That would show that India’s sporting community has the talent as well as the audience for a sport like this.
The post The Rise of Pickleball in India: From a Backyard Sport to a Growing Competitive Game appeared first on Sports News Portal | Revsportz.
