Pickleball Star Zane Ford Struggles To Break Paddle In Meltdown

Pickleball star Zane Ford tried to unleash his frustrations on his paddle after he lost a match this week ... but as he quickly realized, his equipment is tough as hell!!

The fit of rage happened in front of fans at the Humana Championship Court for the Carvana PPA Tour ... where Ford went up against James Ignatowich.

While the two athletes were going back and forth, Ford hit the ball far left of the line ... and Ford immediately crashed out by violently slamming his paddle on the court.

What's crazy is the paddle didn't break ... so Ford used his knee to destroy it instead. Guess what? That didn't work either -- it only bent the racket a little bit!

Ford -- who is ranked in the top 15 of the APP Men's Pro Singles -- went on Instagram to explain his "paddle smash video" ... saying he regrets damaging his "beautiful ruby."

"I'm sorry for damaging such a beautiful paddle," Ford said.

"At the end of the day, I'm here to win. I put my whole life into this, and I wanna be the best player in the world, so my emotions got the better of me that day."

Ford also vowed to do better with his on-court reactions.