When I first wore these shoes, I realized that the metal lace eyelet close to the top of my foot was damaged and torn so one end of it was poking into my foot which was quite painful. I ended up using a file to file it down but was not happy that they arrived in that shape. Having said that, after wearing them for the first time, I noticed my knees and feet were much less sore than they usually are after two hours of pickleball, so I'm glad I purchased them.