Forget dating apps: NYC pickleball courts are the hot new singles scene

Talk about a pickup game.

The city’s pickleball courts have become hotspots for Gen Zs and millennials looking to play — and find love without hitting the bars or logging on to Hinge.

“There are good looking people here, so you never know what is going to happen,” said Christina Ali, 25, of the bustling courts on Houston and Sixth Avenue.

She lives in Kips Bay and spends every Sunday morning playing at the South Village park, officially known as the William F. Passannante Ballfield.

“Everyone is very friendly, and competitive, but in a good way,” she said. ‘It gives us all something to talk about.”

Unlike tennis where you show up with your opponent, in pickleball you often play with strangers, either competing against them or rotating in when there is an open spot on someone’s side. The small confines of the court are also conducive to chatting — and flirting — as is the more low-key vibe.

“You can talk during pickleball games,” said McKenzie Collins, a 26-year-old who lives in the West Village and works in tech. “It’s a more casual sport.”

Yael Yonah, 24, who works in media, and Emma Troxler, 30, who works at a tech startup, met at the Passannante Ballfield — and started dating in December.

“I beat her and she thought it was hot,” said Troxler.

“I was on a streak, I was winning every game, and all of a sudden she came on and destroyed me,” countered Yonah, laughing. “I was like, ‘Who is that girl?’ I asked for her number.”

Danielle G., 25, who lives in the West Village, met her boyfriend on the same courts.

“We showed up one day, we met, we started playing together every single day for months and months,” she said. “It was very natural.”

Now, her unattached pals are looking to follow her lead, hoping to pick up a paddle — and a cute guy.

“All my single friends want to come play,” she said. “We know a few more couples who have formed.”

The Sixth Avenue and Houston scene is relatively serious. Players must be at an intermediate level, with a rating of 3.5 or above — pickleball ratings range from 1.0 to 5.0 and are somewhat similar to tennis ratings — to participate in the open play.

More casual players head to James J Walker Park in the West Village. The courts are first-come, first-served, so there are always groups waiting on the sidelines for a turn.

Last weekend, Sara Buffone, 25, who lives in Tribeca and works for Bloomingdale’s, waited over an hour for a court, but it was such a lively scene, she didn’t mind.

She had her eye out for potential mates.

“I personally wouldn’t want to say I met someone on an app, but I would totally say I met someone on a pickleball court,” she said.

Collins sometimes bring beers to James J Walker Park to enjoy between games.

“It’s fun to just hang out,” she said. “It’s a good melting pot of people.”

Ali noted that courts at Pier 2 in Dumbo are also quite social, as they require you to play with strangers, rotating in when they is an opening.

“People stay there all day, so it’s fun,” she enthused.

Kate Whittier, 24, who works in investor relations and lives in the West Village, is always looking for new pickleball courts that might have have a fun scene

“I am curious about the courts on 38th street,” she told The Post. “I see a lot of people there already.”

She recently signed up for a pickleball tournament, in part to meet guys.

“It is going to have a lot of boys,” she said. “I am definitely going to wear mascara. I think I’ll also wear a tennis skirt.”

But, one regular at the courts on Houston and Sixth disputed just how easy it was to find a mate in the game.

“There are so many men, but they’re all obsessed with pickleball,” the woman, who declined to give her name, told The Post. “I could probably play naked, and they would be like, ‘What’s the score?'”