MAKING A RACKET
Published in the Jan. 31, 2026 issue.
Bishop City Park is in a full-on turf war. Or, rather, a court war. Monday night at City Council, tennis and pickleball players went at it again over who gets to swing where.
The city is planning to resurface the park’s four courts after 15 years of wear and tear, giving officials a chance to rethink how the courts are used. Right now, the lower courts are marked for both tennis and pickleball, while the upper courts remain strictly tennis territory.
Back in November, the Parks and Recreation Commission recommended striping both upper and lower courts for shared use, which sparked a volley of complaints from both sides, with players arguing over whose sport is somehow more deserving.
The Sheet covered that showdown in its Nov. 22, 2025 issue (p. 12) and suggested that County-owned courts at Millpond could ease the issue, though they remain in a state of disrepair. As of the publication of this article, that hasn’t changed.
The athlete complaints resurfaced at the Nov. 24 and Dec. 8 City Council meetings, and by Monday, the two groups were putting their sports practice to work in lobbing complaints at one another.
Tennis players argued that the upper courts are perfectly fine as they are and that adding pickleball lines would create unnecessary conflicts. They pointed out that tennis matches take longer than pickleball games, and during peak hours, courts are already in use, so cramming two sports into the same space could lead to chaos.
Plus, the high school tennis teams use the lower courts to warm up for their practices.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Tennis player Rob Klinger put it simply.
They want dedicated space for tennis to avoid distractions and preserve the quality of play.
“It’s like hiking and mountain biking, skiing and snowboarding, fishing and jet skiing,” tennis player Hans Wendl said. The two sports just don’t mix.
Beyond the sport itself, there are some political factors keeping the groups from mingling effectively. We have tourists that are coming through town and they find out we have pickleball and they come and join us for a few hours or even days,” she said.
“The behavior of the pickleballers has not given us confidence that we can coexist in harmony,” Wendl added.
Pickleballers, on the other hand, wielded their numbers as a strength at the meeting. Why should they have to squeeze into two measly courts when pickleball is surging in popularity?
Robert Jellison, a Bishop resident and representative of Bishop Pickleball, presented self-collected data showing significant demand for the sport. Over a two-month survey, he counted 2,637 hours of pickleball play compared to 615 hours of tennis. The lower courts, which accommodate up to 16 players, exceeded capacity 27% of the time, while the upper tennis courts exceeded capacity only 7% of the time.
Irene Yamashita, another pickleball advocate, explained that the sport is important for locals and tourists alike.
“Some people have extended their trips because they’ve had such a great time playing,” she said.
Moreover, Cerro Coso Community College has started offering classes, further boosting demand, she said.
In the midst of the squabble, one resident suggested, logically, that the lower courts could be repainted to fit more pickleball courts, leaving the upper courts dedicated to tennis.
This idea was taken quite well, and resurfaced during deliberation, as Mayor Stephen Muchovej tried to steer things toward compromise.
“We’re faced with, I think, a short-term solution and a long-term solution,” he began, only to be interrupted by a voice from the audience calling out, “For which group?”
“I could see there being a shared use and then one of each,” he replied, hesitantly.
He acknowledged the pickleball association’s 501(c)(3) status, which means they could raise funds for future expansion, but said the city’s master plan process could provide more long-term solutions.
Councilmember Jose Garcia added a uniquely… earnest perspective. “I think we have to use diversity, equity, and inclusion,” he said. “We’ve practiced all of those by striping the pickleball lines not many years ago, and if we see the need to build new pickleball courts, we will include them in the master plan,” he said.
Oh yes. Pickleball. So often a test of diversity.
Ultimately, staff were directed to investigate whether more courts could fit on the lower courts, get feedback from the pickleball community, and consider high school tennis impacts. Everyone agreed resurfacing the courts was overdue, but made no final decision on exact striping or court layout.
Afterall, “paint is relatively cheap, right?” Muchovej shrugged.
