PPA Tour Cincinnati and APP Tour Atlanta – Live Random Thoughts

Screw football. We have pickleball this weekend. Why watch Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady or Russell Wilson when you can watch Ben Johns, JW Johnson and Anna Leigh Waters! In all honesty, it doesn’t appear there was enough consideration by each tour around scheduling these tournaments. We pointed out last year that it was not ideal for the PPA to have Championship Sundays during football season even though the switch to Championship Sunday was a great idea. With both tours featuring Championship Sundays, it’s not ideal to have their gold medal matches on the NFL’s opening weekend alongside the US Open. But hey, maybe the pickleball fans don’t watch football or tennis.

We’ll be trying to keep you up to speed on the events from the weekend for both tours here. It will truly be more of a hitting the highlights live random thoughts blog that we roll out with so much pickleball happening on both tours.

Sunday, September 11th – APP Women’s Doubles and Championship Sunday (PPA and APP)

5:17 pm EST – Massive day for Tyson. He is competitive in the men’s doubles and then gets the win over Hunter Johnson in 4 games. If you want to talk about experience prevailing, Tyson was down 9-4 in game 4 and came back to win 12-10. The game may be slowly passing Tyson by but he is doing is damn best to prolong his hold as a top player out there. You can’t deny the fight and grit the man has.

Parris and Simone complete the double dip. They almost lost in the 2 of 3, winning 11-9 in game 2 before winning game 3, then a close 15-11 final. Parris with a statement in her first tourney back from injury while Simone continues to get results. Jorja, on the other hand, is 0 for the last 2 weekends in gold medal matches. Has to sting.

4:10 pm EST – AL and Ben win easily again. 3, 1 and 6 over Jessie and Jay. Not much to say there. On APP side, Dekel and JW win in 3. Looked like a lull in game 2 but otherwise they got it done pretty easily.

2:50 pm EST – Unfortunate the PPA women’s final wasn’t more of a match. Jessie and Anna win in straights 8, 1 and 6. It looked like it would be a match but Jansen/Parenteau couldn’t find it after game 1. Jessie and Anna’s first PPA win together and that is Irvine’s first win since last year I believe. Anna Bright’s trajectory is still going up too. Although Bright can’t keep telling people the first time she played pickleball was October 23, 2021 when she has said elsewhere publicly she had played around with her family some time before that. Someone correct me if I‘m wrong on that.

Noting the Johns beat Jay and Tyson. Gave them a game to keep it fun for the fans.

The women’s singles for Jorja Johnson comes with another finals loss. Fudge goes 8 and 9, then wins 15-10, to take a big gold medal for her. Fudge’s singles game is underrated as she just gets wins despite all these newer players coming in.

1:19 pm EST – Such an odd day with the rain delays. Jansen played AL about as close as she has recently but doesn’t get a game off her. She loses 11-1, 11-8 and 11-9. Jay and Tyson also giving the Johns bros a match. It is going to game 4.

12:49 pm EST – Fed over JW in 3. 11-9 in the third. After going 0 for 13 against JW to start his career, he’s now 2 for his last 2. When is it time to put Fed over JW? Maybe wait a bit.

11:56 pm EST – Weird day again here on what is supposed to be a Championship Sunday. The PPA has been in rain delay pretty much all morning, although at one point they attempted to play the women’s singles final. On the east coast, they finally have some decent weather in Griffin, Georgia but they are playing out the women’s APP bracket before going into the Championship Sunday matches. That is going to be a long day as Staksrud vs. Johnson is about to go down.

It could be a really long day for Jorja Johnson. She and Koop just took down Jardim and Todd, 11-7, 13-15 and 11-5. Koop/Johnson were up 8-5 in game 2 but couldn’t seal the deal. Jorja has now played out her women’s bracket and will play for gold in singles as well as women’s doubles. She did have the day off yesterday basically but still, long day. Koop is playing like a monster as the alpha female in her partnerships the last couple of weekends. She’s doing a ton of initiating, covering court and being the best player out on the court overall. 

On the loser’s side of the bracket, Etta Wright and Susannah Barr have made their way to the bronze medal match, beating Stratman/Franco-Goldberg in the match to get there. There is a gap between the top 2 teams and this 3rd team, but Etta Wright has shown to be a real force the last couple of weeks. Corrine Carr/Sarah Ansboury have actually shown pretty well the last couple of weekends too as they were on the verge of beating Jorja/Anna last weekend and they almost beat Etta Wright/Barr this week, losing 15-12, and they got a good win over Brascia/Oshiro, 15-12. That’s a team getting some decent results together. 

Vivienne David/Lacy Schneemann took Koop/Johnson to 3 games. Games 2 and 3 weren’t all that close but Schneemann has had a solid enough weekend. They lost 15-8 to Goldberg-Franco/Stratman but Schneemann has shown out pretty well in her first pro event since the MLP shuffle draft.

Saturday, September 10th – Doubles

11:29 pm EST – A couple of interesting bronze matchups in the PPA. The Kawamotos made quick work of Sheehan-Dizon and Jones. It would indicate there is definitely a gap there between those players. With the men, Tyler and Callan get a bronze after Koller/Wilson have a let down loss to Rettenmaier/Smith, who seemed to sort things out after an early struggle of a day.

Navratil/Daescu worked their way back to the gold medal match. They had the tough draw of being on JW and Dekel’s half of the draw, and this is why we think it’s better to have the comeback to gold. It prevents unfairness from the seeding issues.

5:59 pm EST – After a classic slow start for Ben and Collin to drop game 1, they dominate the rest of the way and win in 3. They should have a pretty routine time tomorrow against Jay and Tyson.

The Waters withdrew from the backdraw presumably because why fight for $500 each when AL has two matches tomorrow. It will be interesting to see the Kawamotos play Meghan/Allyce as that’s a first time matchup that we can recall at least.

Tough day for Frazier/Yates. They lose to Rafa and Julian Arnold, who will have a real shot at this against Zane and Andrei. Hopefully they do a 2 out of 3 for bronze at least.

4:56 pm EST – What a performance from Irvine and Bright to take down the Waters. It looked like the Waters were going to find their way back a couple of times in game 3 but a couple of poorly executed forehand speedups from Leigh and strong counters from Anna Bright were the difference. Bright played a few very tight points once they got up 10-7-1, but she was able to hold it together to get the match 11-8. This team also finally breaks through and Jessie will have a grudge match with Catherine Parenteau who initiated the split of their partnership. It will be fun to see a different final for a change.

4:45 pm EST – Some excitement today across the board. Catherine/Lea breakthrough with a win against Lucy/Callie going 9 and 7. It’s been a little while for Catherine/Lea to get back to a gold medal match (North Carolina I think?), and it seems like teams have their formula on Lucy/Callie who have continued to trend downward since the first quarter of the year. You look at those stats Jim Ramsay puts up and basically every drop goes to Callie Smith much like they go to Matt Wright in the Newman/Wright partnership. Teams have an idea of what they want to do against them and it is working. Clearly a let down for them in the backdraw too as the Kawamotos beat them 15-2. 

On the men’s side, Jay/Tyson take advantage of Matt Wright being paired with Spencer Smith this weekend to go 8 and 3, and work their way into a first Championship Sunday as a pair. Jay Devilliers and Tyson McGuffin in two Championship Sundays. Proving the haters wrong! 

With the APP games to 15, Johnson/Bar are into Championship Sunday as they beat Long/Auvergne, who got a big win over Frazier/Yates. You are always going to be left wondering how these games to 15 fare for some of these better teams as Frazier/Yates probably aren’t losing if that match is 3 games. But that’s not the name of the game right now, which gives Auvergne/Long a podium. They also beat DJ Young and the probably rusty Adam Stone, who are still alive in the backdraw and have a matchup with Navratil/Daescu. 

1:07 pm EST – Games to 15 are weird for these pro tournaments but if there was ever a time for an upset today would be the day. Nothing of note at the APP but they are going through men’s bracket pretty slow.

On the PPA side, they also go through the matches slow because they want to get everyone on at center court for their showcase. One match of note is Jessie and Anna beat the Kawamotos 8 and 4. We were curious to see how that one would go but the Kawamotos as a pair may not have enough power for the elite teams. Also noteworthy to see the Johnson brothers beat Pat Smith and Rettenmaeir before losing to Wright and Smith. Pat and Travis also barely beat Donkena and his partner, 16-14.

10:42 pm EST – Tough weather luck for the APP. They have only two courts that are dry enough to play on today so the men are going slowly in games to 15 while the women will probably go tomorrow. Not ideal especially on a competing PPA weekend. Apparently they are trying to get a stream up but may not happen.

Early rounds for the PPA and APP, but we’ll keep it updated as we can.

Friday, September 9th – Mixed

6:28 pm EEST – Yana Grechkina and Thomas Wilson from the clouds today. As we noted, a disappointing year for both of them separately but together they get a very quality bronze in a PPA mixed field. 11-9 and 11-9 over Callie/AJ. While those games could obviously go either way, those close ones often go the way of the better team but that’s not what happens today. These lower end PPA can get lost in the shuffle because it is so hard for them to breakthrough the top heavy brackets, but this is a reminder there is likely significant improvement happening on their end. We just don’t see it that often. It would be very interesting to see how someone like Yana currently stacks up in an APP or MLP event. Yana, Sheehan-Dizon, Allyce Jones are all players that would be very tough to rank right now.

Parris and Dekel have a day. The mixed demon Dekel Bar showing he can get it done with Parris. They beat Jorja/Dylan easily, 11-6, 11-1, and are off to a gold medal match. You contrast what Parris is doing with the PPA players and she is getting all these reps in big time feeling matches. Parris is more talented than all of the players we mentioned above but you can’t put aside what being tournament tested does to improve a player.

4:17 pm EST – Chalk day for the PPA. Jessie/Jay continue to get results together this year and it has been pretty consistent overall. They are a good match with each other and get wins. Their upside is limited as they don’t get AL/Ben any trouble, but nothing wrong with some silver medals in these strong mixed fields. Matt/Lucy drop down to the backdraw after losing to Jessie/Jay and proceed to lose 15-10 to Grechkina/Wilson, who will now play for the bronze. Grechkina has had a very quiet year on the PPA tour and Wilson has been disappointing as of late, so this is quite notable for both of them. They will be the underdog in a match against either AJ/Callie or Catherine/Collin.

Rain delays aside, the APP podium is set with Jardim/Johnson in the gold medal match while Todd/Bar are playing Jorja Johnson/Frazier for the right to play on Sunday. It looks like the layoff for injury has done okay for Parris Todd. It’s a good win over Koop/Navratil and you have to think they have a very real shot at that gold medal match. 

2:08 pm EST – Rain delay was over briefly and more matches were played, but it looks like it is in rain delay again. The coverage for APP is now on ESPN+ for CC1 and CC2 will have whatever it has. Jorja Johnson/Frazier beat Koop/Navratil, 11-9 and 12-10, in the semis, which is a tight match and if we see that one later today it clearly could go either way. Todd/Bar got a game off of JW/Simone, and were very close to upsetting them in game 2, with an 11-9 loss, but it was not to be. 11-2 in the third and the problem for Bar seems to be an inability to put together full mixed days. There are flashes of greatness but consistency is elusive for him in mixed.

All chalk on the PPA side of things. Matt/Lucy, Jay/Jessie, AJ/Callie and Ben/Anna Leigh all in the semi-finals with Matt/Lucy facing off against one another. Some back draw results of intrigue are Jade Kawamoto/Patriquin going 15-8 over Bright/Ignatowich then losing to Grechkina/Wilson 15-9. Jackie Kawamoto/Rettenmaier tuned up Jansen/Loong 15-2 but then could not back it up against Collin Johns/Parenteau, 15-12. A very classic PPA mixed day so far.

11:27 am EST – One early thing to note is that Tyson McGuffin/Leigh Waters withdrew from the PPA draw. We don’t know why but you have to think this is Tyson related. He didn’t have his best stuff against FAD in the semis yesterday so you wonder where his health is at. A couple of 3-game first round matches of note. Jay/Jessie played 3 against Jade Kawamoto/Patriquin while Parenteau/Johns lost game 1 against Bright/ignatowich, 12-10, before handling business 4 and 5 the next tw games.

On the APP side, Kyle Yates is 2-straight weeks with almost huge upsets in mixed. Last week he lost 11-9 in the third with Alix Truong against Kawamoto/Bar. This time, he loses 11-9 in the third with Lacy Schneemann to Stratman/Arnold. Good sign for Schneemann to get those results in mixed with Yates. Carr/Young almost lose to Ansboury/Hewett, getting game 2 14-12 before going 11-3 in the third. We are now in a rain delay. Koop/Navratil had to stop against Whitwell/Daescu mid-match as they won game one 11-9.

Thursday, September 7th – Singles

8:15 pm EST – Devidze sure has Parenteau’s number as she gets it again in 3 games. A bronze for Devidze with her ongoing improvement. Where does Parenteau stack up now overall or is Salome just a bad match up?

6:46 pm EST – Line call queen Salome Devidze had some line call controversy before the game even started when they only had line judges for Devidze’s side. Rightfully, Devidze requested line judges for the entire court and the match went on. Devidze kept questioning Jansen’s line calls throughout the match but no overrules on Devidze’s challenges. Jansen wins in 3 tight games, 11-9 in the third, and Devidze had a put away at 8-8 on her serve that she missed in the final game. Jansen skirts by and will play a Championship Sunday against Anna Leigh Waters, which is sure to be another classic match between those two. 

Devidze beat Callie Smith 16-14 to move onto the bronze where we get a Catherine Parenteau grudge match. You have to give Parenteau credit. She always plays these back draws despite the fact that she probably doesn’t need to and she’s doing it for a $500 reward. 

JW Johnson is back in the gold medal match and will have to find an extra gear on Sunday to double dip Federico. He is looking much more human these days going 3 games with Dylan Frazier in the bronze, although he did take over in that third game, winning 11-3. 

We also get a double Johnson podium at the PPA. Yates Johnson fights through a long back draw to take down the not so bronze stallion, Jay Devilliers, 11-7 and 11-4. The old guard has to be feeling like their back is against the wall with these players coming in and taking their wins away. 

5:10 pm EST It was about as back and forth as you can get for a singles match. What felt like a million side outs between Tyson and FAD, two regular practice partners. FAD said on Twitter a couple of weeks ago he wasn’t going to play APPs anymore and focus on PPAs to keep his body right and travel less. He didn’t mention the thinner PPA fields but we’ll contend that was also a factor in him wanting to play PPAs only. Nevertheless, Tyson takes it in 3 and eventually pulls away 11-5 in the third. He gets another Championship Sunday from yet another relative walkthrough of a draw. It’s unclear how long these soft draws can continue for Tyson, especially when Ben is on the other side, but he should savor them while he can. 

Man, Tyler Loong also does not like to play backdraws as he withdraws from yet another backdraw despite being one match away from bronze. The door is open for a bronze stallion to find a bronze medal as he will play FAD for the right to face Yates Johnson. A double Johnson podium would be quite the thing. 

Federico is onto a Championship Sunday after beating Dylan 9 and 3. He is vaulting himself into truly elite status and is no longer a tier behind. He has no bad days it seems like and that’s what is more impressive than anything about his run. JW Johnson is going to play Dylan for the right to get another shot at Staksrud after JW beat Julian Arnold 15-12. 

On the women’s APP side, Jorja Johnson got the best of Mary Brascia in 3 games, including 11-5 in the third. Her singles game is back to where it was and, while her ceiling may be limited, she is definitely better than what she showed in that probably fatigued stretch she had. Brascia will play Fudge to go to gold as there were no upsets in the women’s bracket this weekend. 

3:18 pm EST – Too many results to keep track of as it has been a crazy day. Catherine must be looking at her draw wondering how she gets Salome twice in a row as she goes down to her in 3 games. Salome will face Lea Jansen and we have to expect another line judge situation here. On the APP women’s side, Jorja Johnson barely got by Fudge and is playing Brascia on the winners side. Jenna Hessert is having a strong day to and gets to play Fudge to go to bronze. That isn’t a free match for Fudge by any stretch. 

For the men, it is hilarious Hunter Johnson doesn’t understand how PPA draws work. He’s so new and has been playing mostly APPs. He said in his interview after beating Loong to go to Championship Sunday that he needs to change his flight because he didn’t expect to be playing on Sunday and he was hoping twin brother Yates can come back to face him on Sunday. Hunter doesn’t know there is no backdraw. On the PPA losers side, Ben Johns in classic Benny backdraw fashion loses to Jay Devilliers 15-8. Ben never has trouble with Jay but he sure doesn’t like to fight those back draws. Ryan Sherry beat Ignatowich 16-14. That has got to be a hard day for Ignatowich who has to have felt like a Championship Sunday was there for him. 

The question has to be asked as to whether Staksrud has passed JW? He lost 11-1 in game 1 then goes on to win 11-9, 11-9 in the next two games. Also, is Zane getting passed by? He loses to Dylan Frazier 4 and 5 then withdraws so who knows where his health is before we speak too definitively. Christian Alshon lost to Julian Arnold 15-10 so it’s a solid but not spectacular pro debut from the most hyped man in pickleball. 

1:35 pm EST – Tyler Loong from the clouds. He has actually had a very solid singles year but not much in the way of big wins. It took Loong 9 match points to take down Ben but he eventually does it to get game 2, 13-11. Loong is someone who works on his fitness after appearing as though he very much did not do much work on his fitness previously. For a guy who moves as well as Loong does, it has to be beneficial. He’ll now play Hunter Johnson, who beat Jay Devilliers 6 and 9, and one of those guys will get their first Championship Sunday appearance. Hunter Johnson is on the rise. As for Benny Backdraw, it’s time for him to go to work doing what he loves to do. Grind backdraws for $500. 

Zane Navratil barely got by Ryler DeHeart, 11-8 in the third, and is currently playing Frazier right now. JW and Federico are next up in that winners semi-final. Christian Alshon is making a run through the backside as he got a 15-10 win over Rafa Hewett and we’ll now get to see another test for him with Julian Arnold. Only thing to report from the women so far is that Mary Brascia gets a 3 game win over Lauren Stratman, but it was a stomping 11-0 win in the third game. 

11:40 am EST – Ben Johns played two pretty tight games against Yates Johnson who was up 7-1 in game 1 and then was down big in game 2 before making it a contest. Ben should have another tough matchup at some point in the day but Hunter Johnson getting to play Ignatowich so early and putting Iggy down to the losers draw in 3 games is going to make Ben’s life easier. He’ll have to be hoping that Jay Devilliers can take out Hunter Johnson as Ben has never really had much trouble against Jay and those Johnson boys can rip the ground strokes on both sides. 

On the APP side of things, one match of note is Christian Alshon losing to Ryler DeHeart, 11-9 and 11-5. Ryler is a good singles player but that result indicates it’s not going to be a smashing road to success for the uber hyped Alshon. Let’s see how he fares in the backdraw of his first pro singles tournament but that would be a long road for anyone. The other match of note is that a guy named John Cangelosi beat John CIncola in 3 games. Not a hot start for John Cincola after a pretty solid outing in Chicago. 

2:38 am EST – Tyson looking fresh with a cupcake draw while Ben has some tougher competition on his side. Ryan Sherry appears to be Tyson’s best and only known competition on his side of the draw. Ben has Loong, Devilliers, Hunter Johnson and Ignatowich in his half. Anna Leigh also continues to see cupcake draws as we have Jansen, Parenteau, Irina and Salome on the other side of the draw. It should be noted Anna Bright and Callie are on AL’s half, it’s just she always gets the benefit of Lea and Catherine being the 2 and 3 seeds. We’ll have to look at how often but it sure seems like Callie is always the 4 seed when it’s supposed to be a coin flip for 3/4.

On the APP draw, Federico and JW are in the same half of the draw as 2 and 3 seeds, which means one of the top players will have to go through the backdraw if they want a gold medal. Zane has Frazier and Cincola on his half.

23 thoughts on “PPA Tour Cincinnati and APP Tour Atlanta – Live Random Thoughts

  • September 7, 2022 at 11:57 pm
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    PPA: “Let us see, how can we manipulate the draw to our best interest. Move her there, them here. He’s not doing well, so all the 3.5s are to his side of the draw. Okay… Let’s play. This is such a great sport.”

    Reply
  • September 8, 2022 at 4:49 am
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    Next week-end might be the more interesting one to watch. Some of the APP players will participate in the PPA Atlanta tournament. And we’ll get to see JW and Dylan back together next week-end.

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  • September 8, 2022 at 6:40 am
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    it’s amazing how tyson ends up with players on his side that can barely trouble him. Ryan and Frank. Meanwhile what to do with James? they made it as hard as they possibly could for James to get out his quarter, making him go through hunter and Jay. but I do think he will get a chance to face Ben in the semis. The PPA draw looks like it was designed by a committee. I don’t think the PPA is going to be able to protect their boys as well, next weekend.

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    • September 8, 2022 at 11:30 am
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      PPA draws are random? That’s laughable!!!

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  • September 8, 2022 at 6:54 am
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    I am looking at the draw for Atlanta next weekend. Zane and James are the only big names not there. The ppa says the draws are Random. I am going to make a prediction before the draw comes out. My bet is that they will have Stak and JW in the same section, which will eliminate ONE of them before either has a chance to play Ben or Tyson. We are talking about two of the top 5 players on Tour. I will revisit this after the draw is revealed. Hope the PPA proves me wrong! They have shown no ability, however, to make their draws appear anything other than 100% manipulated.

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  • September 8, 2022 at 10:58 am
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    Nothing like BackDraw Battles on a rainy humid Thur afternoon when the Semis are over & the final is set for Sunday breakfast

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  • September 8, 2022 at 12:25 pm
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    i have to wonder what ben thinks about these ppa draws. too bad he no longer has a podcast. 🙂

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  • September 10, 2022 at 4:24 am
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    The seedings seem to be based on PPA points, not how good the player is. If you look at the top 5, the seeds match (accounting for JWJ not playing). https://www.ppatour.com/player-standings/

    This is going to result in underseeding players like Ignatowich who is new to the game and hasn’t played many PPA events.

    I think the main problem with PPA points is that they have too long of a tail in a sport that is rapidly changing.

    The same thing happens in APP – Kawamoto sisters were 8 seed at Chicago Open because they don’t play a ton of events so they don’t rack up the points even though they have won or medaled multiple events in 2022.

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  • September 10, 2022 at 10:47 am
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    Its not the seedings that people doubt. It’s where lower seeded players are placed in the draw after seedings are established. for example ppa has a tendency to place lower seeded, but better younger newer players in spots where they will eliminate each other prior to facing the ppa signed players, and established stars. In this case facing off Hunter and James early. This week James got the absolute toughest road to the semi finals. And there were NO players on Tyson’s side of the draw that on paper, could even bother him. Kudos to Frank for making tyson work hard for his spot in the Final.

    There were 4 players on Ben’s side that could have troubled Tyson. Hunter, James, Jay, and Tyler. This happens time and time again. It’s a pattern, and is pretty hard to deny intent. the ppa draws are designed to minimize the chances that one or both of their top two “attractions” will lose before “championship” Sunday. The worst thing that could happen to the PPA is that neither ben nor tyson is featured on Championship sunday. And or a prominent player from a competing tour wins a PPA event. Imagine a nightmare scenario where Hunter Johnson and James Ignatowich made it through to championship Sunday this weekend. How on earth could the PPA deal with that? As it stands the PPA got one of their fair haired boys through. By the way this is an Ongoing pattern that many people are taking note of.

    I am conducting an experiment on next weekend’s PPA men’s singles draws by trying to predict, in advance, the placement of two non PPA players who happen to be top FIVE players on tour, and are a real threat to win the tournament. Essentially I have them on the same side of the draw, facing off EARLY, which would be nonsensical in a real world scenario. So, I predicted where they will fall in the draw. I am hoping, though, that I am wrong, and the actual draw looks like it was indeed a random one.

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  • September 10, 2022 at 5:18 pm
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    Great win for Anna and Jessie! Looking forward to watching the finals tomorrow.
    Good showing for the Kawamotos- I’m impressed that the twins are able to compete at the top level considering they aren’t full-time pickleball players like majority of the PPA/APP players.

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  • September 10, 2022 at 6:16 pm
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    The PPA is a joke. First, Backdraw Benny folds like a cheap suit against Jay D. Then Mamma and Baby Waters are a complete no show in the backdraw.

    But let’s shine a light on the “supposed” #1 team in the world of Lucy & Callie who get beat like TWO RENTED MULES by the Kawamoto twins (15-2). Do PPA players have ANY pride? Or is just showing up to collect the appearance fee is what they are all about?
    15-2??? Why even show up? Just walk to the bar and get a couple IPA’s on the PPA tab. But let’s not discount the K- Twins. These two part time players who have full time jobs and a limited practice scheduled just keep showing up once a month or so to a venue near you and just kick your ass. Jade won double gold in Cincinnati APP this summer. Jackie was 9 for 9 in MLP an was the co-MVP. Oh, bty, don’t forget that last week the Killer K`s beat the #1 seed of Koop/Stratmam in Chi-town. So these gals are elite. They ain’t no scrubs. BUT 15-2!!!!!

    I heard on podcast a few month ago that Travis R. Was promoting the idea of legalised betting on pro pickleball. Now that would be both a joke AND a scandal just waiting to happen.

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    • September 10, 2022 at 6:49 pm
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      Kawamoto’s moneyline all day

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      • September 10, 2022 at 7:22 pm
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        All day, everyday and twice on Sunday!

        The PPA does have a gamer in TMac. Put a quarter, two dimes and a nickel in the kitchen and he’ll compete as if his kids’ lunch depends on it. You gotta respect that!!!

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  • September 11, 2022 at 5:26 am
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    Do you know if the Kawamotos are sponsored? I know they play with Paddletek, but I’ve never seen Paddletek promote them and they aren’t listed on the website. Seems like a no brainer for Paddletek…
    Didn’t see Tyson in singles but was fun watching him compete in dubs yesterday.

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    • September 11, 2022 at 5:09 pm
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      They probably aren’t promoted heavily or at all because they simply don’t play a ton of tournaments. Despite being very good players they aren’t as well known as more established paddletek pros like Irina, Kyle Yates, or even Adam Stone despite them Kawamotos being more relevant.

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      • September 11, 2022 at 6:20 pm
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        Gotcha- just wondering if they were sponsored. I think they should be! There’s a long list of sponsored players on the “Team Paddletek” page and the Kawamotos weren’t listed. I haven’t heard of half of the sponsored players that are listed on the site.
        I agree with you about Anna- she was very impressive today! Great win!

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        • September 12, 2022 at 6:31 am
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          I’m surprised they aren’t listed. I just assumed they were sponsored since they were the clothes and use the paddles. Either way, great players, super steady!

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  • September 11, 2022 at 5:28 am
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    The PPA Men’s Bronze was a good match to watch due to good strategy. Callan you can depend on to do resets if the firefight doesn’t get a clear winner within a few hits. A lot of PPA players could learn from him. I saw a few new plays by Tyler and Callan which indicates they have been working on their game book. It was disappointing to see the crowd had totally dispersed. Both teams played hard and no one to appreciate it. 11-5, 11-9.

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  • September 11, 2022 at 4:26 pm
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    “has to sting” Let’s be a little more fair to Jorja and mention that her WD day was much longer than Fudge’s 2 matches. In Jorja’s 2 gold matches, she may not have been quite as fresh as the opposing sides.

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    • September 11, 2022 at 5:04 pm
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      I actually dont think theyre being unfair at all. Whether her opponents are more well rested or not, another championship sunday in which she competed in multiple matches only come up without a win has “got to sting”… that’s not a criticism lol

      Reply
      • September 12, 2022 at 4:11 am
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        My point was that it wasn’t just a Championship Sunday for Jorja. It was also a Women’s Doubles day for her due to the rain delay. She played more matches than her opponents. Agreed, it’s never an even playing field for all players on Championship Sunday. Even when it is only gold matches, some players will be in all 3. I’m sure Jorja is disappointed.

        Reply
  • September 11, 2022 at 5:11 pm
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    It was great to see Jessie win the grudge match against Catherine but to me the story of the match was how good Anna Bright played. Elite hands.

    Reply
    • September 11, 2022 at 8:21 pm
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      Agreed! Anna Bright was the most consistent player on the court. Jessie may have had more highlight shots/plays but Anna’s resets, blocks, counterpunches, and kitchen play is what really won them that match.

      Reply

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