Inside Chennai’s Pickleball boom: From midnight games to thriving WhatsApp communities

The crippled brought them close. Pickleball WhatsApp groups brought them closer.

Vikram Chandrasekar, co-owner, Baseline, Chennai’s latest pickleball facility, says that erstwhile helium was going done a unsmooth patch, his pickleball assemblage was his enactment system. Little acts of kindness similar bringing him food, oregon conscionable confiding successful them made a difference. “At 50, it’s hard to marque friends, but I made immoderate truly large ones done pickleball,” says Vikram.

“The athletics is precise social, truthful the thought was to spot if we could physique thing that could acceptable into people’s lives. Not conscionable a tribunal rental space, but determination families could travel and hang. That’s wherefore we decided to person the Gobbelin cafe and a co-working space,” Vikram says, adding that hospitality and assemblage tin co-exist astir athletics arsenic an anchor. “People travel here, acceptable up their laptops to work. They instrumentality a interruption successful between, play a crippled oregon 2 and get backmost to work.”

Baseline, successful Gandhi Nagar, follows a rank model, antithetic from the wage arsenic you play conception that astir courts offer. It comprises 3 tourney people courts, a store for equipment, and a viewing deck/ fittingness country connected the archetypal floor. A radical of women are astatine play, the oldest of whom is 73 years. There is simply a small tract connected the extracurricular wherever the court’s defender dog, Bouncer, lazes successful the day sun. “I privation to usage this abstraction to big assemblage events similar Sunday markets, pickleball mixers, brunch,” says Vikram.

Rallying around

At Serv, T Nagar, 3 28-year-olds are astatine the helm of things. Best friends and present concern partners — Varun Prashant, Siddharth Sekhar, and Manav Subramanian — initially planned to commencement a unreality kitchen.

Then, they discovered pickleball. From six radical booking connected the time of motorboat successful December 2025, they saw the numbers emergence to 43 bookings a day, successful nary time. By extremity of the month, Serv volition motorboat Bold cafe successful concern with restaurateur Sandesh Reddy, thereby incorporating some the passionateness of the founders: nutrient and sport.

“Our imaginativeness was to person a premium installation with a community-first approach. A spot wherever radical travel unneurotic for either sports, betterment oregon wellness. The betterment country volition person an crystal bath, sauna, a stretching area, and massage guns. At Bold, you tin person a cleanable nutritious repast aft a crippled and wrapper up your day. This is simply a societal wellness marque and we privation to instrumentality it crossed the State,” says Varun. There are 4 pickleball courts present and 1 padel court. “We are unfastened till midnight and erstwhile the cafe comes up we volition effort to support the installation unfastened till 2am,” says Varun. They besides program to big events for the community. Think: singles events, mixed doubles tournaments, yoga day, unrecorded music. 

“Our customers are recurring ones. Certain groups travel everyday. People travel with their kids and families. This has go a hangout,” says Siddharth, pleased with the development.

The bulk of the players astatine Serv are successful the 20-40 property bracket. These see novices, intermediates, and professionals. Those who privation to amended their crippled play with the adept groups, oregon play a leisure crippled with different groups. They find radical of the aforesaid level of skill.

The crushed that pickleball is truthful popular, Manav believes is due to the fact that the introduction obstruction is low. “It’s little method than different racket sports, easier to prime up. A batch of radical privation to beryllium portion of a larger community. Pickleball fits successful well. It’s a caller athletics truthful nary 1 truly has a monolithic vantage of having played for a longer period. As a radical you determination unneurotic to an intermediate stage. That learning curve brings radical together,” says Manav.

Dink, bond, laugh

To physique this assemblage further, galore courts are planned with cafes and coworking spaces attached. The increasing database includes Pickle & Chill and Crafe successful Anna Nagar, Serv successful T Nagar, Baseline successful Gandhi Nagar, Madras Blend & Brews successful Purusaiwalkam... Shamugaraj Thangaraj, possibly 1 of the earliest to commencement this inclination with Egco-Winkin successful Anna Nagar past March, astir feels similar a arrogant genitor arsenic helium watches antithetic radical from antithetic walks travel unneurotic to play, forming bonds that proceed good beyond the courts.

“Pickleball made maine social,” says Hasnain Kapadia, a self-confessed introvert. “Once I started playing astatine Winkin, my ellipse of friends grew,” helium says. Evenings spent playing video games astatine location person been replaced with competitory matches and meal with chap picklers. There is adjacent a travel to Bengaluru successful the works, wherever the radical plans to play, eat, and chill.

Chennai is present criss-crossed by Pickleball WhatsApp groups, wherever members determine erstwhile to play, and wherever to conscionable afterwards — for a meal, a movie, oregon adjacent a play getaway. It has ne'er been easier to marque friends successful a metropolis often described arsenic reserved.

With easy 40 to 100 radical successful these groups, determination is ever idiosyncratic to prime up the paddle and rally with. “It’s large for gathering contacts, and successful my case, it besides helped with my concern arsenic I met imaginable clients here,” adds Shanmugaraj, who co-owns Winkin courts crossed the metropolis including astatine Injambakkam and Anna Nagar. The adjacent 1 is coming up successful Neelankarai wherever Cafe Trotter volition brew coffee. “We privation to acceptable up courts successful each area. The thought is, if you are portion of Winkin, you should beryllium capable to play anywhere,” helium says.

In the past 11 months, Winkin Anna Nagar has managed to get a sizeable fig of players, a dependable maturation from the 100 who came successful the archetypal 2 months. According to their database, atleast 1,700 radical person played atleast doubly astatine their Anna Nagar court. They person besides launched 3 tournaments. “The past tourney happened astatine the Injambakkam tribunal and had 100 participants. People besides turned up to enactment the competitors. It felt similar a immense household event,” smiles Shanmugaraj.

When 23-year-old Sanu Raghav moved from Coimbatore to Chennai for work, helium said it was hard to marque friends. “Chennai wasn’t wholly caller to me, but starting caller arsenic a moving nonrecreational is precise antithetic from being a student. Social circles are already formed. There was decidedly a consciousness of loneliness,” helium says. 

Soon, Sanu took up pickleball. “Once I started playing regularly, conversations happened naturally. There was nary pressure, conscionable radical gathering implicit a shared interest. I formed genuine friendships,” helium says. “There’s a feeling of belonging, of being accepted for who you are. Over time, it genuinely began to consciousness similar a 2nd family.”