Singapore: Pickleball Bookings Multiply by 10 in Two Years

Pickleball confirms once again its status as the fastest-growing sport in the world. This time, the signal comes from Asia: according to data published by The Star and relayed by The Pickleball Clinic account, court bookings with ActiveSG, Singapore's public sports network, have been multiplied by 10 between 2023 and 2025. A raw, almost cartoonish statistic that says a great deal about how fast a sport can take hold in an ecosystem ready to receive it.

ActiveSG: when a statistic shifts the entire narrative

ActiveSG is the public operator that runs municipal sports centres in Singapore. Its figures are therefore free of marketing bias: what is measured are actual bookings on state-managed courts. Watching a sport multiply its bookings tenfold in two years, in this context, is neither a one-off effect nor a passing trend. It signals a structural shift in the practice habits of an entire nation.

To put this growth into perspective: a tenfold rise in two years corresponds to a compound annual growth rate of around 215%. No other sport on Singaporean soil shows comparable momentum over the same period. And demand keeps pushing: in 2025, ActiveSG launched an infrastructure expansion programme dedicated specifically to pickleball, a sign that the public institution has measured the phenomenon and intends to support it.

How Singapore turned pickleball into a national sport

The Singaporean trajectory combines several rarely converging ingredients. First, an extremely active sports state, capable of quickly identifying emerging practices and supporting them with dedicated infrastructure. Second, an urban culture where accessible team sport is valued as a tool of social cohesion. Third, a strong American and Australian diaspora that imported pickleball as early as the 2020s and helped it spread into clubs, international schools, then public centres.

Operationally, Singapore made two decisive choices: gradually converting existing tennis and badminton courts into pickleball courts, and rolling out free or subsidised initiation programmes for retirees, families and young working adults. The "public infrastructure + accessible initiation" combo produced an outsized momentum effect, exactly as had been observed in the United States a few years earlier.

Singapore, showcase of a deeper Asian movement

The Singaporean case is not isolated. It fits into a much broader regional dynamic, where several Asian countries are seeing their player base explode. China, in particular, has become an invisible giant: according to the most recent figures, more than 60 million Chinese play pickleball every month, probably the largest player base in the world. Vietnam holds tournaments in front of thousands of spectators, Malaysia is rolling out the sport in schools, and India is seeing a competitive scene emerge on the back of badminton.

This Asian acceleration is part of a wider global movement, where most new players are no longer American. This point is crucial: over 70% of pickleball players now live outside the United States. Singapore is one of the laboratories of this internationalisation, with an extra asset: the quality of its public statistics makes it possible to document this growth with rare regional rigor.

Why this acceleration is structural rather than cyclical

One could be tempted to read Singaporean growth as a passing fad bound to fade. Several indicators suggest, on the contrary, that this is a lasting shift. First, the diversification of audiences: ActiveSG figures show growth distributed across all age groups and all communities (Chinese-Singaporean, Malay, Indian, expatriate). Then, the involvement of local sports federations, organising themselves to structure a competitive calendar and professionalise officiating. Finally, the arrival of international sponsors funding pro-circuit stops and embedding pickleball in the media landscape for the long term.

More broadly, this phenomenon is part of an impressive global reality: over 80 million people worldwide have already played pickleball. Singapore's trajectory makes it possible to observe in real time how a state builds a complete ecosystem — courts, training, competition, media — around a sport still considered emerging just five years ago. As such, the city-state plays the role of a strategic laboratory for European, Asian and Latin American federations seeking a playbook to replicate.

What about France? What to take from the Singapore model

The French model is different: practice develops first through tennis clubs, under the umbrella of the French Tennis Federation, which has integrated pickleball into its remit. But the central lesson from Singapore remains relevant: for a sport to explode, you need to combine public infrastructure supply, accessible initiation programmes, and a positive narrative carried by media and institutions. France already ticks the first and third boxes; what remains is to amplify the second, particularly in mid-sized cities and working-class neighbourhoods.

In terms of order of magnitude, France currently counts a few tens of thousands of regular players — far from Asian figures. But the underlying dynamic is comparable: opening of new courts at an unprecedented pace, integration into the school calendar, and the appearance of professional events covered by specialised press. If France replicates even a quarter of the Singaporean trajectory, pickleball could establish itself as one of the country's ten most-played racket sports by 2030.

Getting started with pickleball: where to begin

Whether you're curious to try the sport, a parent looking to keep your kids busy on holiday, or an active senior in search of a sociable activity, pickleball remains one of the easiest sports to start. The gear is minimal — a paddle, some balls, ideally a complete kit so you don't have to think — and the rules can be learned in five minutes. For those who want a starting point that covers everything, the Smart Start Kit offers a T700 carbon paddle, four balls, a grip, an edge guard and two bonus gifts, so you can play right out of the box on your first outing.

The other piece of advice is to favour, from the very start, a club-led session or an "open play" session, rather than an isolated game. It's in the rotation of partners, the mix of levels and learning by observation that the sport reveals its full flavour — and that is precisely what Singapore, via ActiveSG, structured at scale to multiply its bookings by ten in just two years.

The Singapore signal, worth paying close attention to

The ActiveSG statistic is more than an anecdote: it's a useful warning to all the sports federations still hesitating to take pickleball seriously. When a state with one of the world's best sports bureaucracies decides to invest massively in a sport, it has calculated that the dynamic is durable, monetisable and positive for public health. The Singaporean ×10 is probably not the peak, but a step on a curve that keeps climbing. And it serves as another reminder that pickleball is reshaping the global sports landscape at a speed few observers had anticipated.