PPA Masters – Live Random Thoughts

It is interesting to see that no one seems to know what’s going on with the Celebrity Pro-Am. Patrick Sullivan of Jigsaw had a post on his website, Pickleball Parrot, giving all the details on this weekend that you can find here. As a majot sponsor of the PPA, he is not even aware of participants or details. Seems not ideal for building hype of an otherwise very cool event, if it is still happening.

For a preview of the field, see our Fantasy Draft Preview! Singles is Thursday, Mixed is Friday, Doubles is Saturday and we have all Championship matches on Sunday.

Championship Sunday – November 14th

7:38 pm EST (Gritty) – Ben wins singles over Tyson. Jessie and Catherine win women’s doubles over Lauren and Irina. We will have Monday takeaways tomorrow. Stay tuned!

5:30 pm EST (Gritty) – We have been a bit neglectful here today. The mixed match has been the most interesting so far as Lucy/Matt looked left for did down 2 games and 9-4 in the 3rd. Lindsey played a few loose points and suddenly it was 9-9. They took game 3 and did not look back from there. It was looking like we were potentially having a game is catching up to Matt and Lucy take, but they temporarily squashed those thoughts. For the Newman’s, it has to be disappointing but at the same time to almost be winning gold when Lindsey is 5 months pregnant is quite a feat.

After losing game 1, Anna Leigh went out to take care of business to solidify her spot at the top of the singles totem pole over Lea Jansen. I’m really hoping this does not turn into a Ben vs. Tyson scenario, but we’ll remind the folks at home that Jansen has not been playing nearly as long as AL despite their ages. That’s a common misconception so we’ll see what the new year brings.

Ben and Matt also won, which is another installment of Ben winning over Riley and Tyson.

Saturday, November 13th – Doubles

9:20 pm EST (Slim) – The finals for tomorrow and the bronze medal matches are settled. In tomorrow’s gold medal men’s match we have Ben Johns and Matt Wright, taking on Riley Newman and Tyson McGuffin. It will be the last time we likely see this match up for quite some time, with Matt and Riley teaming up next year. In the men’s bronze medal match Erik Lange And Dekel Bar, took down AJ Koller and Callan Dawson in two games, it is super impressive that Erik is able to compete at such a high level given how few pro tournaments he plays.

On the women’s side, Jessie Irvine and Catherine Parenteau will take on the surprise team of Lauren Stratman and Irina Tereschenko in the gold medal match tomorrow. It has been a while, since we have seen Irina in one of those. Lea Jansen and Vivienne David took the bronze in two straight games over, Callie Smith and Lindsey Newman, I was surprised that Lea and Vivienne didn’t play Simone and Lucy closer on the winner’s side earlier in the day.

6:20 pm EST (Gritty) – Lauren Stratman is really the only person to get results with Irina Tereschenko for a while, other than MLP. Stratman probably doesn’t get her due enough and she goes to Championship Sunday – obviously betting against her and Irina was the wrong choice as we left them undrafted. They did get the benefit of the coin flip for 3/4 seed but they were also the better team against the Waters. They grinded Leigh down and were steadier when in mattered. Another different championship match for the women.

Dawson and Koller are in the bronze medal game as they went through Stone/Collin Johns and Loong/Smith. This is just a solid pair and they show it once again at a deeper PPA event.

4:55 pm EST (Gritty) – The semi finals have started with Johns and Wright winning over Loong and Smith. I’m super curious about this Lange/Bar vs. Newman/McGuffin match. Seems like the play has to be going after Erik and just grinding him, but let’s see how they attack this.

The women you have all the seeds going accordingly. Stratman/Irina did have a good win over Lindsey Newman and Callie Smith. They’ll play the Waters while Simone/Lucy get Catherine and Jessie. I’m a little surprised Jansen and David didn’t give Simone/Lucy a bit more of a run in their match but that could be MLP hangover kicking in.

2:00 pm EST (Gritty) – Nothing overly crazy in the draw so far. Devilliers and Frazier losing to Loong and Smith is a bit surprising. You wonder about how Frazier has taken this little bout of poor results. It’s not easy and he has had a pretty clear upward trajectory. Don’t have doubts he’ll bounce back but these are lessons as a young athlete who has not faced a ton of adversity as a “pro” so far.

These quarter final matchups should be interesting to see as there are some clear favorites but not so clear that a loss would be shocking by any means.

Friday, November 12th – Mixed

12:05 am EST (Gritty) – Interesting play in the senior men’s gold that obviously Gingrich and Weinbach won. I put the video on the forum but I’ve also left it here below:

https://videopress.com/v/DWfHuFk6?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata

I wasn’t going to put any comments but I can’t help myself because I think this was a sad move on Dave and Dayne’s part to overreact like that. Obviously it’s stupid of Crandall. Even though it’s gotta be frustrating losing to those two every time, it’s the wrong pickleball play and you have to try to keep grinding. But Gingrich and Weinbach acted like some bully attacked them. You guys win every damn match together, opponents are frustrated and it’s a freakin’ wiffle ball. Get over it, seriously. Commentator noted Dave said Scott tried to hit him in the head!!! And Dayne acting like some tough guy walking up to the net…come on, man.

7:52 pm EST (Gritty) – It is Tyson and Anna Leigh, which is the expected result. Two pretty straightforward games. Solid bronze for those two but it’s got to be pretty bittersweet when they were so close to getting that shot at championship Sunday – they were up 9-1 in the third against Ben and Simone fyi.

6:27 pm EST (Gritty) – Another Ben and Simone loss, another Ben and Simone losers side withdrawal. We were both very concerned on both Ben’s motivation and Simone’s health heading into this tournament, and they didn’t have it again today losing to the Newman’s in 3. I’m sure they will both be playing tomorrow and we’ll reiterate again that the PPA must love their marquee players withdrawing again from the backdraw. I get there’s not a ton of motivation with not much money and a bronze only on the line but, at the same time, it’s 2 more damn matches at best. Just play for heaven sakes.

Good day for Kyle Yates who is continuing his renaissance tour after MLP. A bronze would be a huge day and I’m not going to expect mama Waters to take it easy after almost knocking off Anna Leigh from the finals at MLP. You never know with this one though.

4:40 pm EST (Gritty) – It’s the usual suspects in the semis outside of Stratman/Arnold, but not without some drama. Ben and Simone barely squeak by Anna Leigh and Tyson 12-10 in the third while Yates/Leigh Waters played Lucy/Matt to a very tight 11-9, 11-9. We could end up having a very chalky mixed day but that’s not for lack of trying. It’s fun to have some more drama overall in mixed.

2:15 pm EST (Gritty) – Some very interesting results to catch up on. Stratman ended up playing with Julian Arnold (who she may currently be dating if social media is a good indicator) and not Thomas Wilson. They had two huge wins in straight games first against Jansen/Devilliers then over Irvine/Young. Arnold in the limited I have watched is uber talented and also may get more fired up than anyone I have seen on a point to point basis (edited to remove that Julian Arnold played #1 at UCLA – that was only in high school he was #1 – still a strong tennis background).

Dekel’s results in mixed continue to fall flat as he and Callie lose to Yates and Leigh Waters. Can’t call this MLP hangover as all 4 players were at MLP but Dekel’s willingness to grind is an ongoing question and may be a significant contributor to his lack of success there.

10:11 am EST (Gritty) – It looks like Pat Smith is not playing this tourney even though he was in the draw on Wednesday. Lauren Stratman is set to go with Thomas Wilson, which should be interesting if Wilson is not too exhausted from singles. Then Dylan Frazier is now with Jay Devilliers and we’ll see if playing with the Frenchman can be a boost of confidence after MLP for Frazier.

Thursday, Novemeber 11th – Singles

8:29 pm EST (Gritty) – When it’s all said and done it’s #1 and #2 on both sides of the draw. Wilson is good but it seems when he feels a bit tight he’ll stay back on returns. He’s gotta get up to the net every time. McGuffin was a bit too much for him.

6:45 pm EST (Gritty) – Anna Leigh moves on to the finals after clawing her way back from 10-4 down in the third to win 12-10. Lea Jansen took it in 3 over Parenteau, winning 11-6 in the third after being down 5-2. It really seemed in both matches the better player took over when it mattered most. We’ll get another AL and Jansen championship Sunday.

4:35 pm EST (Gritty) – The semis are all set in both. The women’s was as expected with all the seeding looking as it should. On the men’s side, Wilsom took down FAD 13-11 in the third. He’s played a lot of pickleball today but if he’s coming to the net I’d expect him to give McGuffin a run. He’s got a lot of talent. Also of note is Devilliers losing to Gabe Joseph in the back draw who then went on to lose against JW. Devilliers also taught a clinic with Daniel Roditi last night, which could not have been ideal to do coming off the heels of a long previous weekend.

2:32 pm EST (Gritty) – Another upset-ish alert. Sherry takes down JW in 3 games and that’s another guy who was at MLP losing to a guy who was only partying but not playing at MLP.

McGuffin was down 9-0 to Loong before rattling of 22 of the next 23 points to win 12-10, 11-0. Loong had sort of appeared to pull up somewhat lame at the end of game 1 so he may end up withdrawing.

All chalk on the women’s side. I was curious to see Kaitlyn Christian play Anna Leigh, but that was not ideal for your first pro test in a long time probably as she lost easily.

1:40 pm EST (Slim) – We have our first real upset of the day, in men’s singles, as Thomas Wilson takes down Jay Devilliers in two games 11-6, 14-12. Thomas has shown big time potential and has recently had some doubles success playing with his cousin AJ Koller, but this is definitely his biggest singles win to date. I still think Thomas needs to work on getting more comfortable coming to the net in singles, but he is demonstrating a very high level of talent and is definitely someone to keep an eye on in 2022. This also really opens up Tyson’s side of the draw, with Jay knocked down.

So far everything on the women’s side has been chalk, though it should be noted that Jill Braverman withdrew. Anna Leigh versus Kaitlyn Christian is a very interesting match up in the next round.

12:00 pm EST (Gritty) – Results are starting to come in on this Veterans Day with nothing of note so far. However, from a draw standpoint Jay Devilliers getting the 3-4 coin flip to be on Tyson’s side of the draw would usually be beneficial, assuming Ben is engaged. But coming of MLP, maybe it’s JW or Gabe Joseph who could get the benefit of this.

6 thoughts on “PPA Masters – Live Random Thoughts

  • November 12, 2021 at 7:24 pm
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    Any thoughts on Crandall trying to nail Weinbach? Right before the 8 hour mark of the stream I believe. Thought that was interesting, things were getting chippy.

    Reply
    • November 12, 2021 at 8:53 pm
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      I thought it was obviously a frustration play from Crandall, but I thought Dayne and Dave way overreacted. If you’re Dayne and Dave you win every game and match, you’re going to have frustrated opponents, deal with it and take the high road. While a dumb play by Crandall it was also within the rules if he hits Dave

      Reply
      • November 12, 2021 at 9:48 pm
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        That’s fair it’s not like it was illegal. Definitely a little overreaction but I guess they used it to finish out the game.

        Reply
    • November 13, 2021 at 6:49 am
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      Unrelated but Dayne drives me nuts with his forum posts. Great player obviously but he makes a ton of pop psychology 101 statements and tries to pass himself off as some sort of elite mental skills coach despite no certification or use of evidence based practises.

      Reply
  • November 13, 2021 at 6:50 am
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    Brutal PPA seeding continues. Catherine a d Jessie seemingly seeded 4th behind Irina and Stratman.

    Reply
    • November 13, 2021 at 8:37 am
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      This is the PPA’s silly coin flip system where 3rd and 4th in points there is a coin flip to determine who is on what side of the draw. It’s to constantly avoid the same matchups but from a fairness perspective it is very unfair. Simone and Lucy instead of getting to play Lauren and Irina now are not favored if they get to the semi

      Reply

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