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What is Pop Tennis?
POP Tennis is very similar to regular tennis, but on a smaller scale. The courts are shorter, racquets are shorter, and POP tennis balls are lower compression tennis balls (green dot balls) for adults and (orange dot balls) for juniors. POP Tennis has the same scoring and rules as tennis, with the exception of serving. (POP Tennis players are allowed one underhand serve).
POP is mostly doubles; singles is very challenging, most people adopt doubles and enjoy the camaraderie.
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WHERE CAN I PLAY POP TENNIS ON THE TREASURE COAST??
Benefits of Playing POP Tennis
• Easy to learn: The paddle is shorter than a tennis racquet therefore, closer to the contact point so it’s easy to connect.
• No vibration on the arm: The density foam inside the paddles, absorbs most (if not all) the vibration of the impact. It’s easy on the arm and the underhand serve makes it easy to save your shoulder!
• It can be played on soft clay courts; this is my preferred method, as it strains less your knees and back!
• Great cardio: The points are a bit longer faster.
• Easy to incorporate into any facility, no need to build a dedicated court to get started! Just draw a line (may use tape, spray paint, twine, or just a regular court liner)
• Improves your reflexes and your volleys for tennis; it’s super complementary to tennis.
I play both on a regular basis.
~ Aldo Burga
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POP Tennis Racquets
According to the International POP Tennis Association, POP Racquets should be a maximum of 18.5 inches in length and 38 millimeters thickness. Width of the paddle face cannot exceed 10″ The solid racquet, sometimes called a paddle, should be made from carbon fiber with a memory foam core. POP Tennis racquets do not have any strings on the striking area.
POP Tennis Balls
POP tennis balls may look identical to traditional tennis balls but POP tennis balls have 25% less compression than a tennis ball. They don’t bounce high, but when hit cleanly with a POP tennis racquet, it makes a solid POP sound – hence the name. For juniors the orange balls used for POP have 50% less compression.
POP Tennis Courts
The sport is played officially on a smaller court than a tennis court (50’x20’), However, in 2015 when POP Tennis organizers realized that there was great potential to expand the game, they united with the USTA and allowed flexibility on court size. As a result, POP Tennis can be played on already striped 60’ junior tennis courts in existence. Many clay court facilities now in The Treasure Coast are adopting a 50’ court baseline, with a singles court (omitting the doubles alleys). The USTA/TIA estimates there are over 30,000 60′ courts at over 2500 locations across the US.
Benefits for your facility
- Increases traffic on non-peak tennis POP is introduced as complementary to tennis in so many ways.
- More people playing on your courts means that you will incur more business for your shop, lunch/ dinner facility, resulting in a more vibrant vibe for your club!
- Minimum investment: A few paddles and some green dot balls is all you need. You already have the courts…so why not!
- I went big and purchased 24 paddles. We have a sold out weekly event Sunday afternoons at my facility!
- The POP community is helpful, you may start with a demo and many of us tennis professionals are willing to show and provide equipment on your first event!
- More lessons: I run my POP clinics on high charge-fast paced mode! It’s mostly competitive drills and I recommend no more than 6 per clinic.
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Our Story
I began playing POP Tennis around 20 years ago. I was introduced to this great game on St Augustine Florida during Nationals which is played there yearly at the very beach!
I felt in love with a game that to me it was so similar to tennis, yet faster and more volley oriented. The fact that the event in St Augustine Florida was so intriguing (they make makeshift courts at the flat beach shores), made me love it even more! The shaky elements of bad bounces and saggy nets, make the game yet more challenging and that’s not even including sometimes windy conditions! They also play on regular hard courts and soft clay courts in St Augustine, but the beach is tradition there.
Since then, I have had the privilege of winning a total of 4 national championships and a finalist 3 times. POP has been in many ways my second career in sports after competitive tennis. However, most importantly, I have come full circle and decide to give back to the sport by promoting and growing the game in the Treasure Coast.
Late in 2020 we began weekly Sunday POP at Legacy, my winter home as a tennis director. Since we have run successfully weekly sold out events.
We continue to grow and more tennis and pickleball players are discovering how enjoyable and easy on the body POP is!
Lately I have been working on growing the game locally. We already have POP on board at 4 local communities in our area.
I have plans to bring POP Tennis to the Ausable club this summer and share this wonderful sport with our members in New York.
~ Aldo Burga
History of POP Tennis
Pop Tennis was formerly known as Paddle tennis and has been played for over 100 years! Perhaps the Mecca of POP Tennis is Venice California and its surrounding neighborhoods. Other prominent areas are St Augustine Florida which hosts Nationals at the beach, and New York City and vicinity. Other hot spots are Florida, Texas and The Carolinas are emerging fast!
The sport is played officially on a smaller than a tennis court (50’x20’), However, in 2015 when POP Tennis organizers realized that there was great potential to expand the game, they united with the United States Tennis Association and allowed flexibility on court size.
As a result, POP Tennis can be played on already stripped 60’ junior tennis courts in existence. Many clay court facilities now in The Treasure Coast are adopting a 50’ court baseline, with a singles court (omitting the doubles alleys).
POP Tennis – Newport, RI Photo Credit
