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India's pickleball star, Armaan Bhatia has not only made a name for himself as the No. 1 Doubles player of the country along with Harsh Mehta, he has even made waves as Asia's best. He picked up pickleball casually around 2020 at his club but began focusing on it more seriously after the pandemic, finally turning full professional in September 2023. Bhatia has tennis influence and due to that he has unique techniques up his sleeves like the backhand punch volley, something which came naturally to him. He dreams of becoming the top-five player globally and for that he plans to compete more in the United States for his career growth.
Apart from being a pickleball player, he is also a certified coach in both pickleball and tennis. Bhatia strongly feels pickleball's free accessibility gives an edge over tennis and other paddle sport, where newcomers can quickly learn the game and start playing with others after just a few sessions.
As one of India's rising stars, he will be competing at the PWR (Pickleball World Rankings) DUPR India Masters in New Delhi in October, where he will go head-to-head with top players from all around the world. The India Masters will mark the start of the PWR DUPR Indian Tour on October 24th. The Pickleball World Rankings came into fruition due to the collaboration of Pickleball League Asia Private Limited and The Times Group at a Dubai event in July with the sole aim of taking the game further.
Sports Now caught up with the pickleball star, where he narrates his career switch from tennis to pickleball, his future ambitions and the upcoming India Masters in the capital city.
Apart from being the No.1 doubles player, you are a phenomenal singles player. How did your background in tennis influence your transition to pickleball?
I stopped playing tennis in about 2020 and I used to play pickleball because it was in my club. They had an indoor court, so whenever it rained, you know, I used to go down and just play for fun and games. Just hit the ball around here and there. But after COVID, I started playing it a little more with a few more friends and stuff like that. Besides that, yeah, so I transitioned in 2020, late 2020 to pickleball, but not professionally. Professionally, I’d say I transitioned last year in September.
What do you find most exciting about the sport? Can you elaborate the difference?
I would say that pickleball is a little more exciting. Both the sports have their pros and cons. The reason why pickleball is a little more easier and exciting is because anyone can play within a few minutes to a few sessions of playing. They understand the game a little better and then they can play with each other. Whereas in tennis, you cannot do that. You need a lot of lessons, a lot of practice till you can even play with someone else. You don’t see a lot of that happen in tennis where you play one session or play with each other for 45 minutes or one hour and then you can have rallies and play games. No, that doesn’t happen very often in tennis. So skill level wise, it’s easier to pick up pickleball in the initial stages. But then to get from all right to get to good and very good, that’s where it becomes a little tough.
You are PPA Gold Coast Double Gold Medalist, MLP Australia Season 1 winner. You are known for a great net game and your backhand punch volleys. How did you develop these unique techniques? And considering in such a little time, like you started professionally last year September and you started playing pickleball late 2020s. How did you develop these techniques?
A lot of it came to me naturally from tennis. So it was just a lot of work that was needed to it to just get it to be from fine to good, good to better and just being up there. But being very honest, it came very naturally to me.
Where do you see yourself in next five years?
I mean, I’ve ticked one box now, that’s being India and probably Asia’s best. But now the goal is to be top five in the world. So I probably want to do more in the States and see how that goes about. We went to the States this year early on and we placed top five in the US Open. So I want to be there a little more, play a little more in America and see how that pans out for me.
Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the world. But in our country as well, there's a paddle revolution. What changes have you observed in India?
So I am a professional tennis, pickleball and paddle certified coach. So I do coach paddle as well. I do coach pickleball as well. I run my own pickleball academy alongside Harsh (Mehta). The difference and the growth wise that I’ve seen, yes, both of them are growing exponentially. But it’s a lot more easier and more convenient to make pickleball courts in India. Because we are in India and let’s say metros like Mumbai, because we are so constrained on space. Which is why it’s easier because a pickleball court requires lesser area and stuff. So it’s easier to put up courts, which is why we can put more and multiple courts in the country. So paddle, yes, it’s growing as well. But we don’t have a lot of space is what I feel to make courts. So that’s why pickleball has an upper hand.
Do you think the popularity of pickleball will overtake other racquet sports in India? Talk us through your academy as well?
Again, it could happen. I mean, I do have a lot of love and respect for tennis because I’ve come from there. Those are my roots and stuff like that. But I have been seeing a lot of players transition into pickleball. The reason being… How do I put it? Again, it’s the same thing with tennis.
They do not have a lot of players who are playing right now in the country and stuff like that. And they see a lot more scope and potential in pickleball, which is why they are moving from tennis to pickleball. And or maybe they're just enjoying it a lot more. It's a lot more fun. It's a lot more social. It's a lot more, you know, you enjoy playing it.
You don't know how you run out of time while playing it. So from the fun and happiness aspect, maybe that could be it. So there could be possibilities where you see a lot of tennis players move or other racquet sports because it's very close to every racquet sport. It's the size of a badminton court. It's played across the net like tennis, badminton, table tennis. You feel it a lot more like table tennis. That's why table tennis players enjoy playing it.
So you think that the popularity of pickleball will eventually overtake other racquet sports in India?
It could, yes. It could. It should. I wish it does.
I’ll talk from experience. I just went to the Hong Kong tournament, which was a PWR ranking tournament and it was organized in one of the nicest clubs in Hong Kong, which was overlooking the sea, the golf course. It was beautiful weather over there. And they did it in a very, very nice way.
So PWR has been doing really good stuff alongside the Times Group. And I'm just excited to see how next year pans out with so many events coming up on the PWR tour. And I wish the Times Group and PWR, Pranav and the entire team all the best. I'm excited to play.
How are you preparing for the PWR-DUPR India Masters?
Very excited. Preparations are going on. I’m at a tournament. Hopefully, I’ll have about 10-12 days of practice before I leave for my other tournament and then go directly to Delhi. But yeah, super excited, honestly, to play in DLTA all over again. It’s been a few years since I’ve been there. And a lot of memories, a lot of good memories. A lot of heartbreaking ones where you’ve lost a few close matches over there. Hopefully, that does not happen with pickleball. Fingers crossed. But yeah, just super excited to be there and play.
What are your expectations from the DUPR Indian tour?
Expectations? It’s really simple, honestly. You know, players ask for really small things and really simple things. We have the schedule going on. We know when our matches are, we have a players’ lounge, we have physios and yeah, we are happy. We don’t ask for too much. But I’m assuming that we would have all of this from my conversations. So I’m just thrilled and excited and hope this goes really well as planned.
So which paddle do you use for playing Pickleball?
So I use the JOOLA MOD TA-15 14mm. I’m sponsored by JOOLA, so I use the JOOLA MOD TA-15.
Can you go in the specifics of this racquet?
So it’s a 14mm paddle. I prefer the 14mm over the 16mm because it’s easier to maneuver. Whilst, you know, you don’t lose hand speed and time. It comes with a stock weight of about 7.9 to 8.2 ounces. I tend to lead my paddle up a little more heavier because I like it being a little heavier. It reminds me of my tennis racquet weight and the handle and the grip is a little longer than the regular sized grip. So yeah, it’s just a little longer than the other JOOLA paddle they have.
So what would you recommend?
They can go ahead with the JOOLA Perseus. The Perseus paddle is really good. That’s one paddle that I would recommend. The best thing about the Perseus paddle is that it’s very player-friendly. So it’s not like, you know, this game style can, this game style can’t. So it’s a paddle that anyone can play with.
Which is your favourite shot in pickleball and why?
My favourite stroke I would say is my backhand. And I like hitting my backhand. I like going always line, cross. And yeah, so that’s one of my favourite shots. That’s something that again comes very naturally to me from tennis.