Randall’s Island is transforming into a beacon for the country’s fastest-growing sport.
Sportime Randall’s Island, one of the top tennis facilities in New York City and the flagship home of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy, is undergoing a dramatic transformation to add 12 indoor pickleball courts, The Post has learned.
McEnroe and his brother, Patrick, are involved in the project, partners with Sportime CEO Claude Okin.
Usually an outdoor sport, pickleball play has resulted in growing noise complaints across the city and limits on the time of year it can be played. The new courts will be the first indoor pickleball facility of its size in New York City.
“The time really seemed like now,” Okin told The Post. “We’re gonna have thousands of people playing pickleball at Randall’s Island instead of just a few hundred at these much smaller facilities.”
Pickleball is similar to tennis, but played on a smaller court with a large paddle and a lighter ball with holes in it. There’s much less running — making it popular for people of all ages and fitness levels.
Sportime was already in the process of expanding, adding 10 new tennis courts to make the 30-court facility one of the largest in the world. Now, Sportime is retrofitting five of its hard-surface tennis courts so that they can provide 12 hybrid pickleball courts.
The total expansion project, which is expected to be completed by next year, though it will be open by the fall, cost an estimated $45 million.
Pickleball has become seen exponential growth across America in recent years.
The number of people playing pickleball increased by 85 percent in 2022, from 4.8 million to 8.9 million, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association.
Bloomberg predicts there will be 22 million pickleball players in the country by the end of 2023.
Okin envisions tennis and pickleball playing off each other and combining to turn Sportime into a go-to destination for racket sports players.
But although he now plays it, John McEnroe has publicly criticized pickleball as a sport. He has viewed it as a threat — not a companion or partner — to tennis. In March, he told the Miami Herald, “If I hear one more time that pickleball is the fastest-growing sport I’m gonna throw up.”
So why partner on this project?
A rising tide lifts all boats.
“As long as we’re committed to tennis as our heart and soul, I think he’s good,” Okin said of McEnroe. “He wants the club to be successful. Sportime’s economic success allows us to invest more in tennis and in the youth programs that John is passionate about.
“At Sportime, we’re finding that we are getting pickleball players to also want to play tennis.”
Players will be able to join leagues (either social or competitive and level-based), to rent courts seasonally or by the hour and to partake in special events and tournaments throughout the year.
“We were building this largest-in-the-world tennis training and playing facility on Randall’s Island, it’s our legacy gift to New York,” Okin said. We’re very proud of it.
“We’ve always been about welcoming everyone to our club in New York. We thought we should welcome pickleballers. They live among us, we love them. We thought, ‘Why not?’ We can do it so easily and so well.”
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