It’s all so confusing: platform tennis vs pickleball? Are they the same game? And how can I tell the difference?
In the last decade, pickleball, padel, paddle tennis, and platform tennis have all seen an increase in popularity.
It can be difficult to decipher between all of the various paddle sports.
How are you supposed to make sense of it all?
In this guide, we will explore the differences and similarities of two of those popular sport: platform tennis vs pickleball.
Platform Tennis vs. Pickleball: What is the difference?
Pickleball and platform tennis are both paddle sports, and to the naked eye, they may seem very similar.
But as you look deeper, the two sports have major differences.
One started on the East coast. The other on an island off the West coast.
One paddle is circular while the other sport’s paddle is a more rectangular shape.
One ball is rubber, the other plastic.
The two sports are different.
So let’s dive into the crazy worlds of both sports, starting where any great journey begins…
The origin stories.
Platform Tennis: How It All Began
Platform tennis was born in a northern suburb of New York City in 1928.
As the autumn leaves were starting to come down that year, two neighbors were dreading the oncoming New York winter.
Jimmy Cogswell and Fess Blanchard were looking for a sport they could play outdoors during the winter months in Scarsdale, New York.
By November, the two men had built a wooden platform on Cogswell’s property that would allow them to play badminton and deck tennis throughout the winter months.
The raised platform was 48-feet-long by 20-feet-wide and became the forerunner of future paddle tennis courts.
In time, Cogswell and Blanchard added fencing around the outside of the court to keep the ball from rolling away.
And this change proved pivotal to the development of the game, as players began to hit the ball off the walls after it bounced.
The game morphed from paddle tennis into something new: a paddle sport played on a raised platform with walls.
In 1934, the American Platform Tennis Association began, and platform tennis was born.
And it has continued to grow in popularity.
What is Platform Tennis?
Platform tennis is a combination of squash and regular tennis on a smaller court.
During the game, you use a round-headed paddle to hit a rubber ball over a tennis-style net.
And a screen encloses the court.
But players can hit the ball off the screen and return it over the net.
In platform tennis, players often play a doubles game, and the gameplay can become very fast-paced, with the ball flying off the screen in all directions.
But games are scored like traditional tennis (15, 30, 40, etc.).
Platform Tennis Court: What is a platform tennis court?
The modern platform tennis court is 44 feet long and 20 feet wide, much smaller than the size of a tennis court.
The court is surrounded by a 1-inch thick wire mesh screen.
And the screen, which is 12 feet tall, has become part of the strategy, with players hitting angled shots and spin-shots off the fencing to win points.
The screen is, certainly, a unique aspect of the court.
But it’s nothing compared to the uniqueness of the court surface.
The platform tennis court (44′ x 20′) is on an elevated platform that is 60 feet long by 30 feet wide.
Cogswell and Blanchard created the sport so that they could play throughout the winter months.
While traditional badminton and tennis courts are covered in snow or moisture, the platform tennis court is raised off the ground (hence the name: “platform”).
And heaters are placed under the floorboards to heat it, keeping it dry and snow-free.
Platform tennis is regularly played in colder weather.
Platform Tennis Net
The height of the net starts at 37 inches high at the posts.
As the net gets to the center of the court, it stands 34 inches high.
Platform Tennis Paddle
In platform tennis, the paddle used to be made of wood.
But in the modern day game, platform tennis paddles are made of materials like titanium, graphite, polymer.
Platform tennis paddles are flat, solid paddles, but they are rounded on the head.
And they range in size to be as big as 18 inches in length and 12 inches in width.
These paddles don’t have the strings that are found on tennis racquets. Instead, platform tennis paddles are covered with small holes to reduce air resistance–as many as 87 holes!
And the face of the paddle is often gritty.
Platform Tennis Ball
The ball is made of rubber, but it is covered by a fuzzy fabric (called flocking).
It is spongy in feel and comes in a number of colors, including green, yellow, and pink.
And while it is squishy in feel, it’s actually heavier than a standard tennis ball (and with less pressure inside).
Interestingly, platform tennis balls go bald during games (I know the feeling), and most players will throw the ball away after a game.
Pickleball: How It All Began
Pickleball was created on an island off the West Coast of the United States.
In the summer of 1965, Joel Pritchard and two of his friends were vacationing with their families on Bainbridge Island in Washington state.
As legend has it, one lazy, summer afternoon, the kids started getting restless.
There was a badminton court on the property, so Pritchard and the other two dads started digging through the garage of the vacation home looking for badminton equipment.
When they couldn’t find any badminton gear, they got creative.
The men found some ping pong paddles and an old wiffle ball and began to hit it over the badminton net with the kids.
The next day some neighbors joined in, and as word spread, a game was born.
In 1984, the USA Pickleball Association was formed, and it has since spread all over the country and become the fastest growing sport in North America.
What is Pickleball?
Pickleball combines elements of tennis, badminton, and table tennis.
Players use a large paddle to hit a plastic ball over a tennis-style net.
Compared to platform tennis or traditional tennis, the gameplay for pickleball is a little slower in pace, but it’s still a dynamic and fun game.
Pickleball rallies are often won through smart strategy and finesse shots around the net, like the dink.
And pickleball can be played as singles or doubles.
Pickleball Court
Pickleball is played on a court much smaller than the size of a tennis court.
The pickleball playing area is more similar in size to a doubles badminton court.
It is 44 feet long and 20 feet wide, and the court includes a unique area called the kitchen (or the non-volley zone)–a 7-foot rectangular area on both sides of the net.
This is where things get interesting in the game of pickleball.
According to the kitchen rules, you cannot step inside the kitchen area and hit the ball out of the air. You must let it bounce.
This stops taller players from standing at the net and dominating the game.
No other paddle sport has a rule like this.
With a smaller court surface and the kitchen rules, pickleball creates an atmosphere where people of all ages can compete against one another.
Pickleball Net
The pickleball net is 36 inches high at the side of the net (near the edge of the court by the posts).
And it is 34 inches at the center of the court.
Due to the lower net in the middle, players are encouraged to play more toward the middle of the court which extends rallies.
Pickleball Paddle
While the pickleball paddle resembles a large ping-pong paddle, it is actually made from space-age materials that give it power and control.
When the game first began, most pickleball paddles were solid wooden paddles.
But as the game has evolved, paddles are now made from graphite, fiberglass, composite, and other similar materials.
The head of the paddle is a rectangle with rounded edges, and the surface of the paddle can be either smooth or gritty, depending on the player’s preference.
Most paddles weigh between 6 and 14 ounces and are around 16 inches long.
Pickleball Ball
A pickleball ball is similar to the plastic wiffle balls that you played with in your background during your childhood.
It is a small plastic ball with perforated holes all over the surface (app. 3 inches in diameter).
And they are very light in weight.
Since pickleball is played both outdoor and indoor, you can purchase outdoor or indoor pickleballs. The outdoor balls are a little heavier to help them cut through the wind.
Platform Tennis vs Pickleball: Is platform tennis the same as pickleball?
As we have seen, platform tennis is not the same game as pickleball.
Pickleball and platform tennis are similar sports in some ways, and also different in others.
And as we have seen so far in this post, those differences are pretty significant.
Let’s compare the two sports more closely.
Court Comparison: Platform Tennis vs Pickleball
Both pickleball and platform tennis have shorter courts compared to traditional tennis.
The two courts are identical in size (44 x 20) and have similar sidelines and baselines.
But that’s where the similarities end.
Platform tennis is on a raised deck with heaters underneath and it is surrounded by a taut fencing that the ball can bounce off–much like squash.
Outdoor and indoor pickleball courts are fully open, with no enclosure, and they are often made of concrete or asphalt on a dirt foundation.
Pickleball is also known for the kitchen, a 7-foot area where you must let the ball bounce before hitting it.
This is an important difference between the two games.
Paddle Comparison: Platform Tennis vs Pickleball
Platform tennis paddles are slightly larger than pickleball paddles–18 inches to 16 inches in length, respectively.
And platform paddles are often 12 inches wide while pickleball paddles are closer to 7 or 8 inches in width.
But the major difference comes in the surface.
Pickleball paddles have a solid face and solid core while platform tennis paddles have holes all over the paddle face to make them more aerodynamic in bad weather.
Ball Comparison: Platform Tennis vs Pickleball
A platform tennis ball is significantly heavier than a pickleball.
The platform ball is made of foam with a covering of fuzz around the outside.
And the depressurized and bouncy platform ball makes for a faster-paced game.
Pickleball’s wiffle-type ball is less bouncy and covered with holes that slow the ball down in the wind.
Pickleball is more a game of finesse compared to platform tennis due to its ball type.
Scoring Differences
In pickleball, the score goes up by 1 point increments, and only the serving team can score in a traditional pickleball game.
Recreational pickleball games are often played to 11 points (win by 2).
In recent years, the game of pickleball has also introduced rally scoring at some tournaments, where someone scores on every rally played. This type of scoring is even used by the Major League Pickleball Association.
Platform tennis uses a scoring system very similar to traditional tennis.
At the beginning of the game, you start with a score of love to love. But as you score points, you increase to 15, 30, and 40–just like tennis.
- 0 points = Love
- 1 point = 15
- 2 points = 30
- 3 points = 40
- 4 points = Win
In platform tennis, someone scores on each rally.
And the first player to win six games takes the set.
While platform tennis scoring will be familiar to anyone who has played tennis, pickleball scoring is easier to learn for those who start with no racquet-sport background.
Gameplay Comparison: Platform Tennis vs Pickleball
At first glance, the two sports may look similar in their gameplay.
In both, the goal is to hit the ball over the net and in-bounds more often than your opponent.
But as you dig into the intricacies of each sport, pickleball and platform tennis are very different.
Here are a few similarities and differences from the gameplay of the two sports:
Platform tennis vs Pickleball: The Similarities
In both pickleball and platform tennis:
- Your goal is to hit the ball over the net to your opponent’s side of the court.
- At your serving opportunity, the serving player should step to the service line and hit the serve diagonally across the court and land it into the opposite service courts. For more a extensive read on the serving rules in pickleball, check out our article here.
- You are only permitted one serve, and there is no let serve.
- If your shot bounces out of bounds, you lose the rally.
Platform tennis vs Pickleball: The Differences
A few key difference:
- In pickleball, you must hit an underhand serve. But in platform tennis, your serve may be overhand, underhand or side-arm.
- You can play the ball off of the screen walls in platform tennis. There are no walls on a pickleball court.
- In pickleball, don’t get close to the front of the net and volley the ball out of the air. This area is called the kitchen, and you cannot volley while standing in this part of the court. But in platform tennis, you can hit the ball out of the air anywhere on the court.
- Pickleball also has the double-bounce rule. The first two shots of a rally must bounce. If a player hits it out of the air before the third shot of the rally, they are called for a fault. On the other hand, platform tennis players must allow the serve to bounce before hitting, but they are permitted to volley any shot afterwards.
Here’s a chart with a more comprehensive breakdown on the similarities and differences of pickleball and platform tennis.
Platform Tennis vs. Pickleball: FAQs
Can you play pickleball on a platform tennis court?
You can definitely play pickleball on a platform tennis court–with a few minor adaptations.
Both sports play on a 44 foot by 20 foot surface, and the serving squares are similar.
But you will need to add a non-volley zone near the net on both sides of the court in order to play pickleball on a platform tennis court.
You can simply mark the kitchen line with sports tape in white or blue.
You may also have to make adjustments to the court surface.
Since platform tennis is played on raised decking, the pickleball ball may bounce differently on that court surface.
After a short time of gameplay, you should get used to the new, grittier surface.
Which sport is most similar to pickleball?
There are a number of paddle and racket sports that have become popular in recent years.
All of them share similarities with one another, but they are different sports that all take elements of regular tennis.
PADEL
In the sport of padel (also known as padel tennis), players try to hit a tennis-style ball over the net using a padel racquet. Padel players compete on a larger, enclosed court (66 x 33 feet) that is surrounded by mostly glass walls. It has gained significant popularity in Mexico, Spain, and parts of South America and the Middle East. This is a different game than the American version of paddle ball.
POP TENNIS
Pop tennis (also known as paddle tennis) is is similar to regular tennis in gameplay. It even uses a ball similar to the traditional tennis ball. Pop tennis courts are a slightly smaller court (60 x 27 feet) than padel. And pop tennis/paddle tennis players use a solid paddle to hit the ball. Frank Peer Beal invented the game in the 1920s in lower Manhattan, and soon after, courts being installed in Washington Square Park and Greenwich Village.
PLATFORM TENNIS
Platform tennis is played on platform courts (raised decking) that can be heated in the winter to allow for play in all seasons, especially cold weather. The courts are smaller in size (44 x 20 feet) but are surrounded by mesh fencing that players can use to play the ball off of during the game. Players use a rounded racquet with perforated holes all over the racquet face to hit the platform tennis ball, which is a rubber ball covered in flocking.
PICKLEBALL
The sport of pickleball is a very popular game in the United States with both older and younger players. Pickleball players use a paddle that looks like supersized ping pong paddle to hit a perforated plastic ball over the net. It is played on a smaller court (44 x 20 feet) and at a slower pace than some of the other sports–due to the whiffle-type ball. But it is a game of finesse and strategy. As pickleball has grown, a whole industry has grown with it–including tournaments, instructional clinics, high-grade paddles, court shoes, and more.
BEACH TENNIS
Beach Tennis is a game that combines elements of the game of tennis and volleyball. It is played with a tennis ball (with less pressure), and players use a paddle to hit it over a net. As you may have guessed from the name, the game is played on the beach. The game is played entirely with volleys since the ball cannot bounce off the ground. It has gained huge popularity in Italy and Brazil.
Is padel the same as pickleball?
Padel is a different game from pickleball, and it has gained significant popularity around the world in recent years.
Padel is a cross between tennis and squash.
And the sport is always played in doubles format.
Padel players compete on a larger court than pickleball (66 feet by 33 feet compared to 44 feet by 20 feet).
But here’s where things get really interesting interesting: the padel court is enclosed in a glass cage, and players can legally hit the ball off the glass walls as part of the play.
Padel players use padel bats (or padel racquet) to hit the padel ball, which is a tennis-type ball.
And padel has the same scoring format as tennis (Love, 15, 30, 40, etc.)
Pickleball, on the other hand, is a combination of ping pong, tennis, and badminton.
It is played on a 44 x 20 foot court that has no barrier around it.
And while the pickleball court does not have a glass enclosure, there is a unique area on the court called the non-volley zone (or the kitchen). It’s a 7-foot section by the net where you are only permitted to hit the ball if it bounces first. You can’t volley it out of the air.
During the game of pickleball, players try to hit a plastic whiffle ball over the net to beat their opponent.
And it can be played as singles or doubles.
Pickleball games are normally played to 11 (win by 2).
What is the new sport like tennis and pickleball?
Padel, platform tennis, and pop tennis are all relatively new on the scene. And each of them share similarities with tennis and pickleball.
They are all like distant members of the same family.
And after our comparison of platform tennis vs pickleball, we hope you can tell the family resemblance and differences.
What is platform tennis called?
When platform tennis was founded in 1928, it was originally called platform paddle tennis because it used a perforated, flat paddle instead of the traditional tennis racket.
But when the founders changed the court size one year later, the game began to morph into something different that paddle tennis.
Around the same time, the inventors of the game also added wire mesh fencing around the outside border of the court, which players could bounce the ball off of during gameplay.
It changed the game, and the sport officially took the name of platform tennis for good.
Which racquet sport or paddle sport should I play?
All of them.
You can play every single one of these paddle sports.
And they are all a great way to get exercise and amazing social interaction.
But if you only have time for one and you’re asking us, we are partial to pickleball.
It is a game for all ages and skill levels, and it is easy for beginners to pick up and start playing.
All you need to do is grab a paddle, brush up on the pickleball rules, and find a few friends to play with.