The Story Behind The Dink: From Open Play to Apple TV+
By Adriana Falco • July 22, 2026 • 13 min read
Long before the cameras rolled and the stars took the court, The Dink began with an open play session, a reluctant tennis player, and a realization that pickleball was more than just a game.
FOR THE MILLIONS of people who now call themselves pickleball players around the world, the journey often begins the same way. Someone invites them to play pickleball. They hesitate. They debate. They question if they should or should not play.
“It’s just a game for retirees,” they may think. Or perhaps, “I’m a tennis player.” Eventually, curiosity wins, and they decide, “I’ll try it once.”
Then something unexpected happens. They are handed a paddle and one game turns into two, followed by another. New friendships form. Competition becomes addictive. Before long, they own multiple paddles, know everyone’s DUPR rating, and can’t imagine life without being on the pickleball court.
Ironically, that’s almost exactly how The Dink began. Not in a Hollywood writers’ room. Not in a production studio. Not because someone decided pickleball had become popular enough to deserve a movie.
It started in everyday life during open play.
“A lot of people that I wouldn’t normally have been socializing with, but we were immediately connecting over pickleball.” — Sean Clements, Writer, The Dink
The Unexpected Inspiration
Writer Sean Clements wasn’t searching for his next screenplay when he first picked up a pickleball paddle.
A lifelong tennis player, Clements initially resisted the growing pickleball movement like many others. Friends encouraged him to give pickleball a try, and eventually he did. After only a few games, he found himself wanting to play again. Soon, he was spending hours on the court every week playing pickleball.
Then something happened that changed everything. With his regular playing partners unavailable, Clements ventured into an open play session filled mostly with retirees and players he admitted he probably never would have met otherwise.
Within minutes, everyone was talking. Players were inviting him to join their courts. Friendly competition gave way to conversation, laughter, and unexpected friendships.
“It was a very different community,” Clements recalled. “A lot of people that I wouldn’t normally have been socializing with, but we were immediately connecting over pickleball.”
For anyone who has spent time at public courts, the story feels remarkably familiar. Open play has a way of erasing age, careers, and backgrounds. The only thing that matters is the next point.
Then another piece of the story fell into place.
A friend who belonged to a tennis club described the internal battles taking place over whether pickleball courts should replace existing tennis courts. Meetings became heated. Members lobbied for votes. Traditionalists dug in their heels. Pickleball advocates organized behind the scenes.
Suddenly, Clements realized he wasn’t just watching a sport grow. He was watching a cultural shift unfold in real time.
“I thought, ‘Wow, this is a really funny dynamic,’” he said. “There are unlikely characters mixing it up and socializing, and this very high-stakes feeling happening inside these clubs over something that’s also inherently a little silly and a little comedic.”
That combination of community, competition, and conflict became the foundation for The Dink. It was the moment the film was born.
“From the outside, sometimes it seems like just two people dinking a ball back and forth, but from the inside, it’s slow motion and crane shots and sweat dripping off your face.” — Josh Greenbaum, Director, The Dink
More Than a Pickleball Movie
While pickleball provided the backdrop, Clements knew the movie needed something deeper. At its heart, The Dink isn’t about paddles, dinks, or third-shot drops. It’s about identity.
Dusty Boyd, the film’s former tennis prodigy turned reluctant pickleball player, wasn’t created simply to represent tennis players skeptical of pickleball. He represents anyone struggling to let go of the life they thought they were supposed to have.
“I knew I wanted a former tennis player who identified himself as a tennis player,” Clements explained. “That identity was important to him.”
That idea became the emotional foundation of the screenplay. The story evolved into one about second chances, reinvention, and discovering that life’s next chapter can be every bit as meaningful as the first.
For pickleball players, that theme feels especially fitting. Few sports welcome newcomers quite like pickleball. It’s also a sport where many players discover an entirely new passion long after believing their competitive athletic days were behind them.
Making Pickleball Look Like Hollywood
When director Josh Greenbaum joined the project, he inherited a challenge no filmmaker had tackled before. How do you make a 20-by-44-foot pickleball court feel as dramatic as a boxing ring or a football stadium? He looked to some of cinema’s most memorable sports films.
“We looked at films like Rocky, Raging Bull, and Challengers,” Greenbaum said. “From the outside, sometimes it seems like just two people dinking a ball back and forth, but from the inside, it’s slow motion and crane shots and sweat dripping off your face.”
Because there was no established blueprint for filming pickleball at this level, Greenbaum and cinematographer Carl Herse developed their own visual approach. Using wider lenses than those typically found in sports movies, they brought viewers closer to the action, allowing audiences to experience the speed, pressure, and intensity players feel every time they step into the kitchen.
The goal wasn’t simply to show pickleball. It was to capture what it feels like to play and make audiences feel it.
“I think the sport gets disrespected because people think it’s very easy. Once you actually start playing against good players, the game fundamentally changes.” — Jake Johnson, Actor, The Dink
Becoming Pickleball Players
Not too surprising, the actor portraying pickleball convert Dusty Boyd wasn’t a pickleball player when production began. Jake Johnson had to learn pickleball from scratch and brush up on his tennis game.
“I started taking tennis lessons and then learning pickleball lessons to try to catch up,” Johnson said. “The beauty of pickleball is it’s an easy way in. You can go from zero to something kind of fast, but then it’s very hard to get very good.”
Brad Gilbert and Kim Gilbert were brought in as tennis and pickleball consultants. Professional players helped train the cast. Real pickleball athletes served as doubles when needed, but the actors themselves spent months learning the mechanics of the sports rallies would feel believable on screen.
As filming progressed, Johnson’s perspective changed dramatically as did his pickleball skills. Like many newcomers, he discovered that while pickleball is easy to learn, mastering it is something entirely different.
“The speed gets to a level I can’t keep up with,” he admitted while describing rallies against top players.
By the end of production, Johnson wasn’t simply delivering dialogue and waiting for a ball to come his way. He was speaking like someone who genuinely understood the game and playing pickleball as if he had been playing for years.
“I think the sport gets disrespected because people think it’s very easy,” he said. “Once you actually start playing against good players, the game fundamentally changes.”
That realization became one of the film’s greatest strengths. Rather than treating pickleball as a novelty, the production invested the time necessary to understand how the sport is actually played and why millions of people around the world have become very passionate about pickleball.
The Heart of the Story
If Dusty and support cast provide much of the film’s humor, Candace provides its emotional center and its big heart.
Mary Steenburgen said she didn’t have to search very far to understand her character because, in many ways, Candace already existed within her.
“I think she approaches life the way I do,” Steenburgen said. “Getting over sorrow and loneliness and forward movement.”
That outlook shines throughout the film. Candace becomes the steady, optimistic presence who helps Dusty rediscover not only a new sport but a new outlook on life. Their relationship develops naturally, giving the story much of its warmth without ever feeling forced.
Steenburgen also brought something few others on set possessed. Unlike many of her castmates, she was already playing pickleball before cameras rolled. She started playing after her son gave her a paddle.
Greenbaum acknowledged Steenburgen’s genuine pickleball experience and knowhow on the court, while the rest of the cast underwent extensive training with coaches. Occasionally, professional players stepped in as doubles for the action on the court to appear as authentic as possible, but this was not often. Both Steenburgen and Johnson had the skillset to play the characters on the court and on film.
“I think she (Candace) approaches life the way I do. Getting over sorrow and loneliness and forward movement.” — Mary Steenburgen, Actor, The Dink
Getting It Right
Throughout the interviews, one word surfaced repeatedly: respect. From Sean Clements’ earliest drafts to the months of training the actors endured, every decision came back to one goal: earn the respect of pickleball players while creating a movie anyone could enjoy.
The filmmakers never wanted pickleball to be the joke. Instead, they wanted the comedy to come from the characters while treating the sport itself authentically. That commitment showed in every stage of production.
Johnson summed up the mission perfectly.
“We wanted to honor the people who do love pickleball,” he said. “This is the first kind of big movie about it. We wanted to show the game its respect.”
That commitment is evident throughout The Dink. The comedy grows naturally from the personalities, relationships, and situations surrounding the characters rather than making pickleball itself the punchline. Whether viewers have played thousands of matches or have never picked up a paddle, the film invites them into a world that feels genuine, welcoming, and recognizable to anyone who has spent time around the game.
In many ways, that’s exactly what Sean Clements experienced years earlier when he reluctantly walked onto an open play court.
From Open Play to Apple TV+
Principal photography began in Los Angeles on November 4, 2024, and wrapped nearly four months later on March 6, 2025. During that time, the production transformed Southern California tennis clubs and pickleball facilities into the fictional Mountain Crest Tennis Club, where the battle between tennis tradition and pickleball’s unstoppable rise plays out on screen.
Coordinating a large ensemble cast, sports choreography, and appearances from tennis legends Andy Roddick and John McEnroe made for an ambitious production. The filmmakers also faced a challenge few sports movies have encountered: bringing a sport to the screen that had never before been the focus of a major studio-backed comedy.
Unlike baseball, football, basketball, boxing, or golf, pickleball came with no cinematic blueprint. There were no iconic films to reference and no established visual language for how the sport should look on screen. Greenbaum and his team had to create that language themselves while balancing authentic play with entertaining storytelling.
Looking back, it’s remarkable how many different perspectives came together to shape The Dink. Sean Clements drew inspiration from his own introduction to pickleball and the unique culture of open play. Josh Greenbaum approached the film with the mindset of a sports director determined to make every rally feel cinematic. Jake Johnson immersed himself in months of tennis and pickleball training to convincingly portray a former tennis prodigy discovering a new sport, while Mary Steenburgen brought both her acting experience and her own familiarity with pickleball to the role of Candace.
Together, those perspectives helped create a film that introduces pickleball to new audiences while remaining recognizable to the people who already love the game. Whether viewers have played thousands of matches or have never picked up a paddle, The Dink presents the sport as it is experienced every day: competitive, welcoming, funny, and deeply rooted in community.
More Than a Movie
For pickleball players, The Dink represents more than another Hollywood sports comedy.
For years, the sport has been explained, defended, questioned, and occasionally mocked. Players have heard every joke about the plastic ball, the unusual name, and the supposed rivalry with tennis. Yet participation has continued to grow because those who play understand something that statistics alone cannot explain.
Ironically, that’s exactly how millions of pickleball players found the sport and exactly how The Dink came to life in the first place.
While pickleball in the film serves as the comedic backdrop, the heart of the film is about breaking out of isolation and finding a true sense of belonging. Dusty starts off deeply cynical and detached, but the vibrant, quirky community he finds on the pickleball courts forces him to ground himself and connect with others.
Pickleball isn’t just about winning. It’s about community. It’s about showing up at open play without knowing anyone and leaving with new friends. It’s about discovering that age, occupation, and background disappear once the first serve is struck.
That’s the story Sean Clements found before he ever wrote a screenplay. It’s the story Josh Greenbaum worked to capture with his camera. And ultimately, it’s the story that makes The Dink resonate long after the credits roll.
About Adriana Falco
Adriana Falco is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Pickleball Weekly, a global digital magazine reaching readers in over 75 countries across six continents. A pickleball player since 2012, she combines more than 30 years of executive leadership with a passion for storytelling that captures every facet of the sport. With a career from international technology companies to major news organizations, Falco covers the people, businesses, innovations, and global trends shaping pickleball’s future, with a mission to connect and inspire the worldwide pickleball community through credible journalism and compelling stories.
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