Who Cares About Riley Newman’s Paddle Tapping?
Authored by: Gritty
Goodness gracious. I forget how much people care about paddle tapping until paddle tapping becomes the topic du jour. Thanks to Riley Newman on Wednesday evening, paddle tapping was a hot topic on social media, especially on the infamous Pickleball Forum, following Newman’s announcement that he will no longer be tapping paddles in between games and only the end of a match. My initial reaction, as it usually is for these types of things, was who cares? However, I quickly remembered that a lot of people do care about things like this.
My response to the topic continues to be who cares, but it gets me thinking about why others care so much about the topic. On the one hand, you have people like Riley Newman and Lea Jansen, who was actually the first pro player earlier this year to pioneer (lol?) the idea that we shouldn’t be paddle tapping between games, who feel like paddle tapping between games is silly for a professional sport. Then there is the other side, who say that we should be embracing this unique aspect of pickleball as a sign of respect and admiration for your opponent.
For those that think it is silly, what difference does it make whether you paddle tap or not at the end of each game? For those that think it would be good for it to remain in pro pickleball, what difference does it make?
It doesn’t make a player any less of a competitor or change the way the sport is perceived from outside spectators. I have never heard or seen one person watching pro pickleball say “wow, this sport is really stupid because those people tapped paddles when the match wasn’t finished.” On the flip side, it shouldn’t make someone more or less of a sporting individual simply because they follow the established tradition of tapping paddles at the end of the game.
In society, we care too much about gestures and social norms. Of course, we need social norms to operate in a society or else there’s no understanding of what is right and what is wrong, but pleasantries carry too much weight one way or the other. We often read too much into how a person may shake our hand or when a person does or does not follow ‘X’ social norm in a certain situation.
My view on most of these things is that we should be concerned with a person’s actions on the whole rather than whether a person follows established norms. It has been seen as a sign of disrespect when a player does not tap paddles at the end of a game, but if a person makes 4 bad line calls on you and taps paddles after the game, is that good sportsmanship? Why should an individual tap paddles with a player who has not shown them the respect they deserve over the course of a match simply because that is what everyone does? In my view, if everyone is tapping paddles after each game because they have to, it does not signify anything, positive or negative.
While I ultimately fall into the camp that paddle tapping is a silly thing to do because it is meaningless, it’s also my take that we shouldn’t care so much either way. It’s a gesture. Nothing more, nothing less.
Something that bothers me almost as much as anything out there is fake social niceness. I’m sure there will be quite a bit of pushback to this, but paddle tapping is the embodiment of fake social pleasantries because it is inherently meaningless. Although we may respect our opponent, we are not tapping their paddle after the game because we respect them or to show this respect. We do it because we have to. Conversely, if I treat you like garbage on the court by making bad line calls or knowingly use an illegal paddle, my behavior should not be absolved simply because I tapped your paddle at the end of the game. That’s why we shouldn’t care about this topic. I expect paddle tapping will fall by the wayside as more players realize they don’t have to do it. They know it is meaningless, which is why there is a pushback to it.
Do it. Don’t do it. It doesn’t really matter to me. I’m judging the character of someone based on all of their actions, whether or not they partake in an established pickleball norm.
SLIM’S EDITOR NOTE: What Gritty fails to mention here is that he might be the original ‘no paddle tap guy’. Way back in 2018, when our pickleball journey was just starting, Gritty refused to tap an opponents paddle in a local mixed match after game one because of what Gritty perceived as some poor sportsmanship from one of the opponents. Unbelievably, his opponent then insisted to the tournament director that Gritty should be forfeited for refusing to tap paddles. Gritty, being as stubborn as he is, with his no paddle tap, caused a 15-20 minute delay with much drama, as the tournament director had to be called in to sort out the mess. In the end, Gritty won the match in two games. Gritty can’t recall if there was a paddle tap at the end of the match. Gritty had no idea at the time how important the paddle tap was to some people.
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Pickleball has a unique history. I will ALWAYS offer a paddle tap after every game. I have done so for 12 years. Recently some folks have offered a “Fist Bump”. F that Sh1T. That is a carryover from The Rona fear days and I refuse to engage with that. The fact that it IS the only sport to do it.. makes it even more special to me.
Fair enough. It seems like a lot of people feel this way about it. I’m fine keeping it in but I think we attribute too much significance to it regardless.
Thank you for posting. I agree with Newman, forget it until the end of the match. I think that was a great way to let people know. After a crappy game, all you want to do is get off the court. If we start now, nobody will be doing it in a year and almost nobody will care. “Most people don’t like change. But over time, change becomes the norm that everyone follows and agrees with.” Says Davefusious. Nice article BTW. Nice story Slim, thanks. Agree that most of the time it is fake, predominantly on the losers’ side. 🙂
And IMO, the no-tapping by Lea most likely started with her playing Devidze. At that time, poor sportsmanship by Lea. And if you listen after each of Devidze’s matches, she is usually the only one to thank the ref, win or lose. 🙂
Lea would paddle tap most players but not Parenteau or Devidze. It wasn’t really a “no paddle tap” policy, just an “I don’t like you” policy.
To be fair, it was more of an I don’t respect that you’re cheating policy.
You must be talking about Lea cheating. She’s probably the biggest cheater in the game right now, with a crappy attitude towards everyone. 🙂
You have Lea confused with Callie.
Davefusious has a good saying there! People won’t even notice if it goes away in time.
I agree with Gritty’s view, it’s a social norm. It is important to some, perhaps to pretend to all be friends. I much prefer the way Riley announced it so that we will all understand why he’s not doing it. With Lea it was awkward to see her opponent standing at the net all alone. With Riley, I’m not expecting to see that because he’s got the word out. I don’t like the paddle tapping for another reason. Some of the men take it as a chance to grab you. I loved when Covid got rid of it for a time. The comments on social media seemed to confuse one game with one match and they were up in arms. Did you notice the very solid handshake between Riley and Ben after last Sunday’s MXD match? Now that looked actually friendly!
It put Lea in trouble with fans when she did it without saying anything. Based on the story in the article, I’m obviously fine with her not tapping paddles with someone she doesn’t respect but when no one knows what is happening it is hard to know what is happening. It is funny that COVID got rid of it and it didn’t matter, now it is back.
Here’s another reason not to do the paddle tap with some people. I asked a friend why he wasn’t playing with his prior paddle and he said it broke. His opponent was mad and at the paddle tap, she smacked his paddle so hard, it broke! Whooaa! What?
Yep, seen similar. Also had hyped up partners tap my paddle after a point super hard and make my edge guard come away or damage my playing surface. They ain’t made of diamond.
Yes, I had that happen too. I started hiding my paddle behind my back whenever my partner reached out to do the hard slams instead of taps. I truly thought he’d break it.
Had not considered the paddle damage aspect to this hahaha
I paddle tap with the handle side of the paddle, nothing can really happen there and the other player/s see it and don’t hit it so hard. 🙂
Must have been a gamma
Gritty is a #pioneer…unfortunately for him, not a Seattle Pioneer. Interesting perspective guys!
Hahahah #pioneer. Love it! And thanks as always.
I’m on Riley’s side here. Half-assed, no-look paddle taps between games can look pretty cringey. It’s obvious most players would rather not be doing it.
No issue with this.
If people are so concerned with the optics of the sport then they may want to look into the mirror first…or a replay of their matches 😂
It seems like it would have little effect on the optics of the sport.
Pros shouldn’t tap paddles if they don’t want IMO. Tapping makes is seem like you’re conceding something when you lose IMO. Rec players, go ahead, its nice to be friendly. But I never stick out my paddle. Instead, I just tap their paddle with my hand so it doesn’t get hit. Same when tapping paddles with my partner.
Fair enough!
So if paddle tapping is meaningless, then why did Gritty withhold the tap when displeased with his opponents behavior?
Either it’s meaningless or not, you can’t have it both ways, and actions sure speak louder than words.
I’d bet this has nothing to do with Riley’s beliefs about pickleball and everything to do with providing an excuse for his poor emotional self-control and the accompanying poor optics which are devaluing his brand.
I think he should have leaned into it, admitted his struggles. It’s admitting something everyone can see anyways, and makes him a more sympathetic and mature subject, which his image sure could use, especially if allegations of his behavior are true.
WOW
It’s meaningless in the sense that it doesn’t accomplish what people are saying it accomplishes in my opinion. It does not prove you are a sporting person or a respectful person simply because you paddle tap and vice versa. Continuing a social norm is meaningless, but disengaging from that social norm then does become meaningful in a sense because the deviation from the norm is meaningful, whatever that message is intended from the person who disengages. So I would say that the player wanting me to tap paddles despite doing something completely disrespectful is meaningless because his actions were disrespectful and I felt he should know that he wasn’t deserving of any respect from my end. But if no one is paddle tapping, it doesn’t mean there isn’t respect on the court and a deviation from that norm could mean something such as additional respect.
My goodness a lot of silliness on this. Riley is a professional player. This is not casual, friendly “rec” play at the YMCA. I respect his decision, and it makes a lot of sense to me. He has stated that he will tap paddles at the completion of the match. It was nice of him to make a public explanation as to his personal intentions so the general public could understand his reasoning and not interpret his failure to tap at the net as poor sportsmanship. Be yourself Riley.
I 100% agree with Riley! Who wants to tap outtakes with someone after losing a game? And why does that make them a poor sort? Especially when the match isn’t done yet. I think Coco Gauff days it best “For me, the definition of an athlete is someone who on the court treats you like your worst enemy but off the court can be your best friend. ” Battle hard, be competitive, leave it all on the court, and when it’s all done THEN you can come together and show sportsmanship to one another. But in between EVERY game is a little “everyone is a winner and gets a trophy” -ish. Just my opinion though.
I’m here to this post late, and first of all, it’s completely mindblowing to me how strong people’s opinions are on this. To me, Riley’s post reeks of self-importance and a complete lack of self-awareness. To put out a statement about this and make a comment that he thinks it will “elevate the optics of pro pickleball” sounds ridiculous to me. It’s just a paddle tap, takes two seconds, and from this past weekend it was clear that not only do most other pros not care, some of them were openly mocking this stance.
On the other hand, you have people talking about how not tapping paddles before the match is over is an indication of the death of sportsmanship and how you must be such a terrible person to not tap paddles. Like it’s not that serious either. Sportsmanship is much more than your participation in a two second obligatory gesture. Who has that little going on in their lives that they can get this worked up about it?
Personally I’m more in the Riley camp, probably because I come from tennis where you shake hands at the net when the match is over but not between sets. But at the same time, it’s also not a big deal, and if the majority of players in the sport want to tap paddles after every game, might as well.
No paddle tapping at the end of a game is a sign of poor sportsmanship and disrespect of your opponent. What I see from all of the x-tennis players coming into the sport of pickleball is all the drama and BS that the sport of Tennis brings with it.