The sound made when a paddle meets a Wiffle ball can be heard everywhere upon entry to the Association of Pickleball Players Chicago Open at Danny Cunniff Park in Highland Park.
The park has several pickleball courts for the event, which started Wednesday and ends Sunday. APP’s goal for the tourney, which features both amateurs and professionals, is to promote the sport and its inclusivity.
The tournament is in its fifth year at Danny Cunniff Park; the first two iterations of the Chicago Open were held in Naperville. There’s a festival atmosphere where players bring camp-style chairs and hold court in a group setting, conversing with friends and competitors as they await their next game.
“It’s supposed to be competitive, but you can also have a little bit of fun, right?” said Scott Stubig, who participated in the amateur tournament and started playing four years ago. “I mean, I’m not doing it for a living. It’s a well-run tournament. You can see the facility is really nice.”
The tournament was founded by Ken Herr-
mann, who has a background in tennis. His favorite part of the tournament is how it brings together people from different age groups. He believes pickleball has seen an uptick in participation — it has been the fastest-rising sport in the world over the last three years — because of the increased accessibility of courts and the pandemic shifting people’s preferences for exercise.
Herrmann is proud of the tournament’s growth since its inception in 2019. He said the tournament is held in Highland Park because of the availability of multiple courts. Professional players are competing for a $100,000 prize pool.
“There’s nowhere in the city right now to be able to host this thing,” Herrmann said. “Maggie Daley Park does not have enough courts. We’re in communication with the city to see if perhaps a year or two down the road, we can move this in the city.”
An estimated 625 players are participating in the tournament. Although professionals attain fame with wins, the amateur side is filled with players who want to win — APP also has rankings for amateurs. However, it is the communal aspect of the sport that attracts players to the tournament.
Karthik Ganesh is competing in his second Chicago Open this year — his first as a professional. He said that the sport rejuvenated his love of competition after he had fallen out of love with tennis.
“I felt like I was all alone,” he said of why his tennis ambitions waned.
Ganesh picked up pickleball at the behest of one of his friends in his Spanish class. After winning his first couple of matches, he was humbled by two older men he played. But the loss only motivated him.
“My favorite thing is meeting people and playing with people I don’t normally play with,” he said of the tournament. “In tennis, I kind of felt like I was all alone. And with pickle-ball, I can go out there [and] play with anyone. I’m playing with some of my friends, parents and a bunch of other kids. It’s a whole different community. I felt like tennis is country club-esque, where you’re playing with the same people, you’re spending a lot of money.”
The accessibility and non-cutthroat nature of pickleball is the main appeal for many.
“It’s fun losing [in] pickleball,” Ganesh said. “Like, no matter what you do on the court, you’re gonna have fun.”