Apple Watch Reveals Pickleball Surpasses Tennis as the Most Popular Racket Sport

Apple Watch Reveals Pickleball Surpasses Tennis as the Most Popular Racket Sport

Exciting news for fitness enthusiasts and racquet sports lovers! Apple Watch's latest data analysis has unveiled a surprising shift in popularity, making pickleball the reigning champion among Apple Watch users as of July 2023, outpacing tennis in participation.

In a comprehensive study, Apple analyzed data from 250,000 individual, anonymous workouts, revealing intriguing insights into the growing preference for pickleball over tennis. Both sports showcased popularity across ages, with slightly higher participation rates for men in both cases.

Notable findings include:

1. Age and Participation: Players logging at least 10 pickleball workouts were on average older than their tennis counterparts, with ages averaging 51 and 45, respectively. Pickleball also exhibited higher female participation rates.

2. Workout Metrics: Pickleball workouts, lasting an average of 90 minutes, proved to be slightly longer than tennis sessions (81 minutes). While tennis workouts showed higher peak heart rates, pickleball workouts displayed greater variability in playing time.

3. Health Benefits: Peak heart rates during pickleball workouts averaged 143, a bit lower than tennis (152). Both sports, however, demonstrated participants maintaining a peak heart rate within 70 percent of their estimated max heart rate, indicating significant health benefits.

Dr. Calum MacRae, M.D., Ph.D., emphasized, "[This is] consistent with a strong likelihood of benefit in both quality of life and healthy aging."

4. Mental Health Impact: The study also delved into the mental health aspects, using optional surveys. Tennis enthusiasts were 51% less likely to score 3 or above on the PHQ-2 depression scale. Impressively, for pickleball, this figure increased to 60.1%, highlighting the sport's positive impact on reducing feelings of depression.

5. Seasonal Consistency: In a departure from tennis, which experiences seasonal fluctuations, pickleball maintained remarkable consistency throughout the year. This could suggest a universal appeal or possibly that many users studied were in warmer climates.

6. Regional Preferences: Utah emerged as the state with the highest level of pickleball activity, closely followed by California, indicating a strong presence on the West Coast.

While reveling in these statistics, the burning question remained: Is Apple ready to unveil a pickleball emoji? Alas, not just yet!

Stay tuned for more exciting updates from the world of fitness and tech.

The Pickle Press