It has had a ton of money thrown into it to make it a thing, due to the sheer size of the addressable market in the US and the disposable income that's up for grabs (due to being primarily played by older / less mobile people). Jack Sock is a good example of this.
I'm not sure if it's due to the size of the TAM, but there are a lot of pickleball players with a lot of money, and some of them are investing that money into making their hobby into a bigger sport. This sort of dynamic is keeping competitive bridge alive right now.
