Chongqing - "Nice shot! Move up and volley!" On a recent afternoon on the fourth-floor pickleball courts inside Joy City Central Park in Chongqing, a group of young people was swinging paddles, running, and cheering. For Li Tao, the 32-year-old operator of Qi Le Pickleball Club, the scene was a validation of a gamble he took just four months ago.
In January this year, Li made a surprising decision. After running a tennis club in the city for four years, he signed a lease to open a pickleball facility inside one of the city's busiest shopping malls. His friends thought he was crazy — mall rent was too high, nobody would want to pay to play sports there, and what even is pickleball?
But three months into operation, after deducting rent and labor costs, Li's pickleball club has turned a healthy profit. On weekdays, the four courts have an occupancy rate of over 60 percent. On weekends, they are fully booked from the afternoon through the evening, with no slots available. All this from a sport most people in Chongqing had never heard of until recently.
Pickleball is played on a court roughly the size of a badminton court, with paddles that look like oversized table tennis bats and a lightweight hollow plastic ball drilled with holes — lighter than a tennis ball and considerably slower. This "three-in-one" hybrid sport is quietly sweeping through the social circles of young people in Chongqing.
Born in Seattle, USA, in the 1960s, the sport was created by a few families for adults and children to play together. Easy to learn and fun, it gradually spread from North America to Europe and Asia. Yet it has only taken off in China in recent years.
Li Tao has run two tennis clubs in Chongqing since graduating from college, and the business has been steady. In 2024, a member of his Lijia tennis club opened a pickleball court right next door. "I didn't pay much attention at first. I thought pickleball wouldn't attract many players," Li recalled.
Qi Le Pickleball Club owner Li Tao. (Photo/Zhang Zhi)
What Li didn't expect was that the neighboring pickleball court quickly drew in a crowd of young people — and even some of his tennis members started switching over. "Back then, there were very few pickleball courts in Chongqing, so it was hard to book a slot," he said. He began to crunch the numbers: a standard tennis court can be converted into four pickleball courts, generating far more revenue per square foot.
Tennis club owners in the city began taking notice. Between 2024 and 2025, several tennis clubs in Chongqing adjusted their offerings — some converted parts of their courts, and others added dedicated pickleball areas. In 2024, the Chongqing Tennis Association officially incorporated pickleball under its jurisdiction. By 2025, the number of pickleball clubs in the city had exceeded 10, with 40 to 50 courts in total. In just two years, the sport has gone from "never heard of it" to a new favorite among young people.
As more players entered the pickleball market, Li Tao began to think about his own strategy. In the summer of 2025, he traveled to Shenzhen to research the trend. There, he found that pickleball was integrating into commercial spaces with the attributes of "light sport + strong social interaction." A number of professional pickleball venues had emerged, located in bustling commercial districts with convenient transportation, becoming new landmarks for urban sports consumption.
Li realized that in Chongqing, no one had truly integrated pickleball into the lifestyle scene, making it not just a sport but a one-stop experience for young people to socialize, relax, and spend time. He decided to lease 1,500 square meters (about 16,146 square feet) in Joy City Central Park to build Chongqing's first mall-based pickleball club. Unlike street-side or community venues, the club was designed from the ground up as a "scene fusion": standard courts paired with comfortable lounge areas, professional lighting and background music, and seamless connections to the mall's dining and retail spaces.
"High rent is a real challenge for running a sports venue in a mall," Li admitted. Before opening, he often sat alone by the courts, wondering how to make the space thrive. In the first month, Li offered a seven-day free trial. "I made no revenue at all, and I was anxious," he says. But he kept holding free open classes every week. After three months, his pickleball community grew from zero to more than 1,000 members, more than 90 percent of whom are young people. The club turned a profit in the second month.
Li Tao opened his pickleball club inside a shopping mall. (Photo/Zhang Zhi)
"One advantage of pickleball in the mall is the integration of eating, drinking, and shopping," Li said. After playing, people can go upstairs for dinner or downstairs for shopping — it's a one-stop trip. One mall leasing manager told him that since the pickleball court opened, the evening rush hour for dining on the fourth floor has started an hour earlier.
Li Tao picks up a paddle to explain why young people are so drawn to the sport. "A paddle weighs just 200 grams. You can explain the rules in five minutes and play a match in half an hour. Tennis? You'll need at least six months of practice to look decent," he says. He swings lightly, and the ball floats softly over the net.
Pickleball also has low participation costs in Chongqing: paddles cost less than 100 yuan (about $14), indoor courts are about 90 yuan ($12.50) per hour, and splitting the cost with a few friends brings the per capita expense to just 50 to 60 yuan ($7 to $8).
Chen Feng, a young office worker born after 1995, first played pickleball at Joy City for a company team-building event. He admitted he had never played any ball sport before and was afraid of embarrassing himself. But he picked up pickleball in ten minutes and was soon playing back and forth with his colleagues.
"Pickleball isn't as frustrating as tennis, and it's not as boring as running. The 'bang bang bang' sound of hitting the ball is so stress-relieving, and it feels great to make a good shot," Chen Feng says. "I've made many new friends through pickleball. After playing, we often go for a drink. It's really a fun social sport."
Many young people are giving this new sport a try. (Photo/Zhang Zhi)
Lin Wei, a fashion designer, has become a regular at Li's club. "I spend long hours drawing designs, so my neck and shoulders hurt. I can't keep up with tennis, and badminton is too intense. Pickleball's intensity is just right for me," she says.
According to a forecast by the China Sporting Goods Federation, the country's pickleball equipment and services market is expected to exceed 1.8 billion yuan (about $250 million) this year, with a compound annual growth rate of 47 percent over the next five years. Active users could surpass 30 million. Globally, an estimated 80 million to 120 million people now play pickleball, and the worldwide market reached $1.9 billion in 2025, according to industry reports. The Asia-Pacific region, with China and India leading the way, is projected to be the fastest-growing market.
"Pickleball's surge is no accident," Li Tao says. "It hits young people's dual demands for a healthy lifestyle and trendy socializing, with low decision-making costs and high repurchase frequency. From the US to China, from Shenzhen to Chongqing, this sport is redefining the youth economy in commercial districts."
Some ask if pickleball will fade away like ultimate frisbee after a short boom. In Li's view: "Ultimate frisbee depends on the weather, while pickleball can be played in air-conditioned malls. As long as young people are willing to pay for happiness, this business will stay hot."
(Zhang Xuege, as an intern, also contributed to this article.)
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