PPA Tour Riverland Open – Live Random Thoughts

📸 @ppatour

We wondered in our opening of our fantasy fraft preview about whether PPA contracted players could be upset about high quality APP players getting low seeds due to a lack of PPA points. For whatever reason, the draws for the entire weekend have already been released on Pickleball Tournaments. Callie Smith and AJ Koller are getting Andrea Koop and JW Johnson in round 1. Round 1! Lea Jansen could very well face Anna Bright in her first match. Interestingly, the PPA players avoided JW in their quarter of the bracket. Nevertheless, it’s something to monitor as we go on in the year. All of these are assuming draws don’t change as they tend to from time to time.

Our fantasy draft preview is here for your interest.

Sunday, March 13th – Championship Sunday

4:00 pm EST (Gritty) – A triple crown for AL and didn’t even drop a game. Mama Waters has even alluded to there only being so much time she has left to play with her daughter, but how can you ever break this partnership up so long as there is the slight possibility of tourney wins. There can’t be much better than getting a triple crown this way. I bet if you asked AL, winning less with her Mom is more important than winning more with someone else.

JW is dominant. He has clearly separated himself from the rest of the tier 2 pack. There really is no question now. 3 game win over Tyson.

2:10 pm EST (Gritty) – The Waters were down 9-2 in game 1 and were able to pull it out 12-10. It’s crazy how fast things can change. They were down less in game 2 but still down, and they went on another tear. It was a fantastic performance from the Waters as Anna Leigh really showed how dominant she is. I know Collin was doing the earlier games and Collin Johns does a good job on the commentary. But this is the first time I had heard Lea Jansen do commentary (I believe she did some in Minnesota), and I think she’s the best person I have heard doing color commentary. She clearly knows all the players out there and she’s constantly giving the viewer nuggets of information and analysis we so often do not get on pickleball broadcasts. Very much enjoyed the listen.

1:12 pm EST (Gritty) – JW and Dylan put up a very good fight against what we would consider to be the clear #2 team out there right now. Tight game one, winning game 3 and a fairly tight game 4 after Dylan Frazier needed a medical timeout for his back. It was discussed on the broadcast by Lea Jansen that the kids needed to stay aggressive and not sit back in rallies. I think this is one of their weaker points as a partnership, and it likely comes from the two being so stoic in their demeanor. There’s not enough urgency to switch things up sometimes and they have two of the best hands out there. They need to remember to stay aggressive, especially JW.

Anna Leigh and Ben continue to be a class above the rest. Easy 3 game win over Jay/Jessie. Not much else to say. Too good.

Saturday, March 12th – Doubles

10:45 pm EST (Gritty) – Tyson and Jay live! That’s a huge bronze for any prospects of their long-term partnership. Who knows where we go from here but that’s gotta help morale.

Smith/Koop rallied from an 11-0 first set loss. It’s clear Simone isn’t the player she was last year and that has to be tough for her. Less power and assume her injuries make it tougher to grind long rallies like she’s known to do.

8:50 pm EST (Gritty) – Maybe I shouldn‘t have written their obituary just yet as Jay and Tyson are grinding into the bronze. They’ll have a very winnable matchup. Loong and Todd Fought with a good day too. Fought is getting results and those Utah guys clearly respect his ability.

Newman/Wright will play the kids which was not surprising after they got through the Johns.

The women is kind of what you would expect with Parenteau/Irvine getting the Waters. The back draw is still going and we have to expect Koop/Smith will play Jardim/Kovalova.

1:20 pm EST (Gritty) – We are in a rain delay here but when we come back we won’t get the pleasure of Benny Backdraw who apparently is not contractually obligated to play back draws. The Johns bros with the classic Ben/Simone withdrawal. Sorry fans!

Jorja and Sarah had a really good match against Catherine and Jessie. Barely lost in 3. The wind is no joke as seen in the Milan/Anna vs. Blackwood/Todd matchup. But still, Jorja is really getting it done these days.

11:32 am EST (Gritty) – I wanted to talk about this but then the Johns brothers lost. Tyson/Jay. They ended up beating Jonny Pickleball and Junior Ore 9-11, 11-7, 11-1, but that’s two tight sets for an alleged top 4 seeding. Now they lost to Smith and Dawson. Reading the tea leaves, this partnership could be heading towards splitsville. I wanted to give this partnership time, but time may be up. It seems like there could be more going on behind the scenes between the two. Tyson, who is usually very open talking about his partnerships and losses, gave the most minimal mention to the performance him and Jay had in Minnesota. We both think it’s telling that he’s not talking about how they are working on things and going to figure it out. Another bad result here, another bad result there, and you really wonder how long this can last for.

Smith/Daescu great win over Koller and Wilson in 2 games. Maybe Jay wishes he had Pat back? Pat is having a huge weekend and this theoretical good fit with Daescu is turning into a legit good fit.

Jorja Johnson continues her strong run these days as her partnership with Ansboury leads to a win over Bright/Rane. That partnership not looking Bright as Rane so far. And Smith/Koop win a very tight one over Stratman/Jones. A little surprising how tight that was.

10:18 am EST (Gritty) – Down goes Frazier! Wait, sorry I have that wrong. Down goes the Johns! Quite the early upset. Extreme wind conditions out there that the always stoic JW and Dylan Frazier handled it far better than the Johns did. The Johns brothers were up 4-1 in the first and then lost 11-5 and 11-3. Literally 4 points the rest of the way. If you want to bring in the body language doctor, the Johns brothers have some of the mopiest body language it gets when they start losing. There were a bunch of net cords that went against them in game 2, but it was also clear in my mind they began pulling the trigger far too early out of frustration to try to get themselves easy rallies. It didn’t work. It’s quite the thing when Ben Johns is probably the main reason behind the single elimination format and is now suffering as a result. Time to see Benny do what we know he loves to do, which is grind backdraws. They don’t call him Benny Backdraw for nothing. The PPA is pretty fortunate JW isn’t registered for more PPAs coming up because their players suffer as a result of his low seedings in these tournaments. You have to think they may make a change to how their seeding operates as a result.

Friday, March 11th – Mixed

5:12 pm EST (Gritty) – Matt/Lucy do take home a bronze after beating Parenteau/Newman then getting some mild revenge on Waters/Smith, who ousted them from the winners bracket side. The bronzes have to be pretty disappointing for this team who is so used to playing in gold medal matches. On the other hand, they could be Parenteau/Newman who are finishing another tournament off the medal stand. It’s probably too early for these teams to be in any sort of change mode, but with PPA partnerships being so exclusive you have to think we’ll start seeing mid-year partnership changes if results continue to fall flat. Big day for Pat Smith and Leigh Waters too. That’s a surprising 4th place, at least in our eyes.

I have to mention more wins for mixed specialist assassin Allyce Jones with Spencer Smith. Wins over Simone/Dylan, Lea/Collin and Callie/AJ today.

3:17 pm EST (Gritty) – This has been a fascinating mixed day of results. Leigh Waters and Pat Smith had close to a fantastic day. They took down Collin Johns/Lea Jansen then followed that up with a huge upset of Lucy Kovalova/Matt Wright, who we may need to do further investigation into their mixed struggles. Waters/Smith played Irvine/Devilliers really tight in 2 games and just had a bit of a come back to earth game 3, losing 11-0. Smith’s health has been a concern all year but I’m even more interested to see how he does in mens with Daescu tomorrow.

Irvine/Devilliers get another Championship Sunday appearance. They have really benefited from having this #4 seed during the year. We’re going to try to dig in more to understand the PPA points as movement at the top is very limited. On the other hand, Parenteau/Newman have severely been limited by having a #2 or #3 seed this year. They put up a decent fight but having to face Anna Leigh/Ben in every semi-final is not really fair to them at all. 

11:10 am EST (Gritty) – Ben gets the bronze in singles over Julian Arnold 11-6, 11-9. If there’s one thing that may have woken Ben up this morning, it could have been not letting the “Andiamo’s” beat him.

Mixed day is quickly becoming the most fun day with how strong all the teams are. Nothing shocking because all the teams are so tough, but lots to note. Bright/Loong over Stratman/McGuffin 11-8, 11-8. That partnership with Bright is perfect for her right now in mixed as she gets to be straight ahead with the opposing female.

AJ and Callie in 3 tight ones over JW and Andrea. This felt like the most unfair first round matchup for both teams. Allyce Jones, mixed specialist, getting more Ws as her and Spencer Smith get it over Simone/Dylan in 3. And then the newest serve controversy specialist, Lea Jansen, is ousted with her partner Collin Johns by Leigh Waters and Pat Smith. Still giving that partnership time even though early results have not been promising.

Thursday, March 10th – Singles

9:34 pm EST (Gritty) – Jorja Johnson gets a very impressive bronze with a 15-13 win over Callie Smith and then taking over against Parris Todd after a close first half of game 1. Johnson needs a little more to be truly elite in singles but the improvement has been super steady for the youngster. Big credit to her.

Benny backdraw will play the bronze against Julian Arnold tomorrow morning at 9:30 am EST. Fired up Julian vs. slow starting contractually obligated to play Ben. Could be intriguing.

4:50 pm EST (Gritty) – Alex Neumann’s career day is stopped by Tyson. It’s a big breakthrough with very legit wins. Neumann has been getting some wins at pro but losses in the last two tourneys to William Sobek did not indicate any sort of major breakthrough forthcoming. McGuffin gets a far easier road than Johns and that won’t change anytime soon with the way it seems PPA points work. Ben will play for bronze. You can be sure he is a happy camper.

Lea Jansen beat Callie Smith in two tight games and she’ll get Waters on Sunday. Bright goes down to Salome Devidze who then lost to Todd. Devidze played Anna in Punta Gorda and looked solid, but this is still a surprise. Jorja Johnson squeaked out a win over Callie Smith 15-13 and that’s 2 of the last 3 tourneys where Smith has lost to seemingly lesser opponents. Full credit to Jorja who should have the edge in the bronze.

3:05 pm EST (Slim) – JW knocks off Ben Johns in three games, 5-11, 11-6, 11-6. It is a huge win for JW as his singles ascent this year continues. I will be very surprised if anyone can beat JW in the finals on championship Sunday. JW and Ben seem to be in a different class then everyone else, but is starting to look like a class of two. In the other semi-final Tyson McGuffin will face Alex Neumann who is having a career day, defeating Jay Devilliers 11-7, 11-9 in the quarter finals.

On the womens side Lea Jansen defeated Anna Bright 11-4, 11-9. In the second game Bright showed glimpses of her talent, and seemed more settled and was coming to the net more regularly. The biggest difference in my mind though between the two is Lea is much more comfortable operating at the net currently. I also think Bright needs to become more comfortable going down the line with her two hand backhand.

Also Lea Jansen’s serve is going to be a talking point, she posted about herself in the pickleball forum but it is obviously going to draw a lot of her attention. Live it just looks illegal (too high and side arm), slowed down it does appear that she often is making contact below her waist, but not every time.

1:30 pm EST (Slim) – Women’s first round matches are in the book, of note Anna Bright took down Allyce Jones 11-8, 11-3 to set up a match against Lea, which should give us an idea of where her singles game is at relative to the top players. Another notable result was Salome Devidze beat Jorja Johnson in 3 games, 11-7, 3-11, 11-9. Salome is a relative newcomer who seems to just to be playing singles but she was once ranked around #250 in the world in tennis in both singles and doubles, so she has a very strong tennis foundation.

On the mens side Ben Johns beat Ryler Deheart 17-15, 11-3 in a very hard fought first game. Ryler is eextremely talented but he needs to figure out how to be able to do more on his backhand at the net if he wants to compete at the highest level. Ben was repeatedly dropping to Ryler’s backhand.

12:25 pm EST (Gritty) – Tough loss for Staksrud as he loses in 3 to Devilliers. Won game 1 and lost game 2 15-13 before ultimately losing 11-8. Devilliers stranglehold as a top singles player is becoming concerning.

FAD over Jack Foster easily and DeHeart over Sherry in 2 not that close games. So much talent all over the place these days.

Also, if anyone knows what Damien Spizzo’s situation is please advise…he had the 15 seed today somehow and the PPA streamed his loser’s bracket match versus Joey Farias. He coaches the Johnson’s and seems he has to have some kind of in with the PPA. There’s other things that would indicate this as well.

11:15 am EST (Gritty) – Federico Staksrud is starting to get results. Noted him on the live blog last weekend and he beats Dylan Frazier easily based on the scores. He’ll get Jay Devilliers and that score will be something to monitor. A couple of other minor results are Alex Neumann beating Loong, who had been having a very solid singles 2022, and Ryler DeHeart over Julian Arnold. DeHeart in his late 30s but when you were literally a pro singles tennis player there is something in the tank.

45 thoughts on “PPA Tour Riverland Open – Live Random Thoughts

  • March 10, 2022 at 1:09 pm
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    let me get this straight…

    jw johnson and ben johns, the top two players in the world are in the same half.
    tm he gets through will have played 4 raw, inexperienced newcomers, which is exactly the match up he wants. as long as ppa continues to seed tm second and jw and ben on the same side, expect more cakewalks.

    jw and bj on the same sid,e given what I see on the other side is laughable.
    you can be sue mr johns aint happy about it.

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    • March 10, 2022 at 10:04 pm
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      We would agree that Benny probably isn’t super happy about any of this. Although JW not registered for any upcoming PPAs

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  • March 11, 2022 at 7:07 am
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    Have you seen the ads running for “Tuesday Night Pickleball”? Is this the PPA’s by version of MLP or is it something else? Speaking of MLP…have you heard anything about when it will happen again?

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    • March 11, 2022 at 3:56 pm
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      I have seen them. It looks like it’s an exhibition but very randomly vague. I could be wrong. No word on MLP either

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  • March 11, 2022 at 2:21 pm
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    Are the points normalized at all? Or, for example, does player A who played 8 PPA events and got one bronze the same # of points as player B who played 2 events and got one bronze?

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  • March 11, 2022 at 2:35 pm
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    I believe this is Matt and Lucy’s first medal of the year, whereas Riley and Catherine got Bronze’s at Desert Ridge and Minnesota

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  • March 12, 2022 at 8:02 am
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    Just curious what you’ve heard that makes you think Ben is the primary reason for the PPA using single elimination as opposed to double?

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    • March 12, 2022 at 8:33 am
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      I can’t point specifically to what it is but it is listening to his podcast mostly. Other players have probably had some say in this. It’s mostly inference rather than anyone explicitly saying it. Ben has a ton of pull with the PPA and how things operate, at least right now

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      • March 12, 2022 at 9:47 am
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        Ben has said he likes single elimination. And until recently, it gave him an early day. If he did drop to the backdraw, he could just pull-out. If it changed, he’d have to stick around and grind all day. Might not be what he wants. But if you are pro, doesn’t single make it look more “pro-ish”. I don’t see it changing.

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  • March 12, 2022 at 8:43 am
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    app boys taking down the top dogs of the PPA? not what the doctor ordered. Where are the interviews? 🙂 these are just questions I have….

    what I saw: I saw Dylan beating Ben with pace. I saw Colin being exposed as one dimensional defensive player. I saw a team decide to speed the ball up early in the point, not playing into the brother’s game of being moved around at the KL.
    I saw better hands and faster hands with team APP. And given they are younger, I would expect that advantage to widen. I also saw a new and improved DylanF, who has been busting out a lethal forehand drive “shake”, and facilitating a dominant bake from JW.

    It’s actually disrespectful to say that “stoicism” allowed team APP to handle the wind better. With respect, please look up what stoicism is. Dylan and JW are quiet and all business. That has nothing to do with being “stoic” on court.

    Let me say this finally. bj has been dominant over the last 3 years playing “old school” pickleball. He’s just way way better at it than anybody else. However, there are some new players out there that don’t want to play old school PB. Ben does not come from an elite tennis background. He doesn’t drive the ball as well as JW, and Ben’s two handed backhand drive is not reliable. Ben dominates with cat and mouse.

    If you follow the results of late, high level tennis players are troubling Ben. I saw troubling things in the ryler match. I saw troubling things in the arnold match, and then there was JW. As more and more of young tennis players come into the sport, with lethal drives off both wings, alongside volley and over head skills, old school players will be further and further exposed.

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    • March 12, 2022 at 10:06 am
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      The move to Austin area is too early to judge how much it’ll help the Johns to have better drill partners and possible practice play (with wind) if desired. Lea is also now in Austin per her comments. It’ll be interesting to watch the progression, if any.

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      • March 13, 2022 at 9:44 pm
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        Collin seems to have improved and we expect Lea will benefit immensely. Not sure if they will be good together though

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    • March 12, 2022 at 10:46 am
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      “app boys taking down the top dogs of the PPA? ”

      The interesting thing, though, is as recently as like a week ago, the criticism was generally “the PPA is weak because Ben and his partners are going to win everything. how boring”. Now it’s “PPA is weak because Ben and his partner’s *aren’t* winning everything, too unpredictable”?

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      • March 12, 2022 at 11:10 am
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        The ppa is Better when the APP is not having competing events on the same weekend. There’s no denying it. the APP has some great players participating in their events, especially on the men’s side. The PPA would be way better if Dylan, Zane, Andrei, Dekel, and JW were full time participants. The APP is also where you are most likely to see surprises, competitive matches, and up and coming players. The APP singles draws on the men’s side have been far stronger top to bottom, which can lead to cake walks in PPA singles events. Don’t get me started on PPA women’s pickleball.

        PPA without crossover support from APP participants, IS predictable, boring, thin, and top heavy. That criticism is valid. Look at Minnesota last week. Pro Pickleball will be a much more attractive product when the tours are unified. I also believe that PPA investing in “last year’s model” may come back to bite them in a sport that is changing as fast as pro pickleball is. Signing some of these players for 3 years may prove to be shortsighted.

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        • March 12, 2022 at 11:30 am
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          ” Pro Pickleball will be a much more attractive product when the tours are unified.”

          Completely agree with you there.

          “I also believe that PPA investing in “last year’s model” may come back to bite them in a sport that is changing as fast as pro pickleball is.”

          Also, COMPLETELY agree with you there. I’m not sure I agree about the very top players being ready to be put out to pasture by tennis upstarts, but I couldn’t agree more about some of their mid-tier signings which were eyebrow raising from the beginning, and said as much here before.

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    • March 13, 2022 at 9:42 pm
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      Stoicism is debateably the wrong word but I think their overall way of being is helpful when it is windy.

      I think you make good points about Ben’s dominance. He doesn’t have the ground strokes from both wings and it’s harder to play cat and mouse as more players can do more off the bounce at the kitchen from both sides

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  • March 12, 2022 at 8:54 am
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    PPA Seeding is ridiculous. Change it. Now.

    Ben and Anna Leigh are still a #2 seed after 3 golds and probably 4 golds after tomorrow. Matt/Lucy are #1 and they have one bronze in 4 tourneys. Ben/Colin are still a #2 seed after 3 golds but Matt/Riley are still #1? I realize Ben/Colin lost today….but to a way unseeded JW/Frazier.

    I realize the complexity of seeding a growing pro sport – but the “eye test” and the “common sense” test clearly should make Ben Johns the #1 seed in men’s and mixed and give JW a much better seed than he got in all 3 events.

    PPA is frustrating. You think they turn the corner on getting the sport to where it needs to be at the pro level and then silly decisions prevent it from looking like they are ready for prime time. Bad Seeding is just one thing.

    Announcing, all due respect to Scott Golden who is probably unpaid or barely paid to be in the booth and I appreciate his effort, but someone like Morgan Evans is much more enjoyable with his wisdom and humor. Can we get him for championship Sundays at least? EVERYONE in PB loves that guy and his obvious talent in the booth. Hannah Johns does a great job as an interviewer is is a mainstay each tourney….why can’t we get someone similar in the announcing booth?

    At least championship Sunday is going to be live streamed this Sunday and not on a channel most people don’t have. I can live with decisions like that if the PPA is actually earning some $$$ from it and gaining casual viewers….but if they aren’t….then stop alienating people that actually watch Thursday-Saturday but then can’t watch Sundays. And when Fox Sports 2 had it on for one of the tourneys, Championship Sunday was cut off for the 2nd half because it clearly was too long for the time slot allotted. Stuff like that looks amateurish.

    And start signing some of the missing top level players like Dekel Bar, Zane N., Stone, etc. Get a deal done. And make sure JW is at each PPA and pay him what he’s worth. Let’s make sure our tournaments aren’t overly predictable and if all the best players are involved then it will be less predicable.

    I’m going to give the PPA a few more tournaments to get its act together as I realize they are under new ownership and direction. But if this kind of stuff doesn’t improve, I’m just not going to invest my time in watching this stuff and my following of the pro tour will be checking the pickleball tournaments page a few times every tourney.

    Rant over.

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    • March 12, 2022 at 9:58 am
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      In a recent interview (the Johnson Family interview), JW said he got the offer from PPA and turned it down because he likes playing both. And others probably had good reasons to turn them down based on their other life/career interests.

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    • March 13, 2022 at 9:44 pm
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      We are going to look more into PPA points but it sure seems like a problem that movement is so difficult.

      They tried to sign all players I think. Those players have chosen not to sign. Can’t do much about that and it kind of makes it to be two tours

      Lots of frustrations

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  • March 12, 2022 at 9:04 am
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    Who could Tyson pair with? Steve Deakin is contracted with PPA but is he injured or just biding his time? Erik Lange or Daescu? Someone from the rotation of Loong/Smith/Taylor? Or maybe he gets an APP guy to cross over?

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    • March 12, 2022 at 9:52 am
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      Tyson won Gold with Loong at a USAPA tournament in CA – no Johns at that tournament. It got each a golden ticket to Nationals. I haven’t watched a lot of Jay and Tyson. The few times I have, they didn’t seem to have a cohesive game plan.

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      • March 12, 2022 at 10:56 am
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        Today Jay looked out of sync, but given that wind I would not jump to any conclusions.

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  • March 12, 2022 at 9:58 am
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    None of the guys mentioned above will move the needle for either jay or ty. it also has to be a contracted ppa player, since ty and jay likely are booked 3 years in advance. oops. you can see riles was keeping that team in medal contention last 2 years.

    pickleball world is not used to seeing tyson knocked out early in mixed and men’s. he’s also benefiting from favorable player dynamics this year in singles. but I would not count on the best cards flipping his way in singles forever. I could see pat and jay trying it again. never discount chemistry. Tyler would probably be TY’s best bet. They’ve won before together.

    I think people need to be ready for a changing pickleball landscape. The best from 5 years ago aren’t the best today. the best from 1 year ago may not be the best in 2023.

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    • March 12, 2022 at 10:13 am
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      But will the commentators catch up to the changing landscape. lol Some of them can be “old school”.

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  • March 12, 2022 at 10:11 am
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    this is a ppa Lowest tier event. I was wondering why the ppa did not invest in bringing their tier 1 broadcast production to Florida. it’s bare bones, lower budget, and has suffered from poor internet connectivity. They also don’t have an agreement to stream on cable television.

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    • March 12, 2022 at 11:01 am
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      Does PPA have a tier 1 broadcast? I’ve never seen it.

      Agree that Morgan Evans should be in the booth, with Hannah Johns or some other knowledgeable female.

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      • March 12, 2022 at 4:19 pm
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        Hannah Johns? That is laughably asinine. The girl is already a comedian on accident with her interviews but you saying this hands down funniest shit I’ve ever read.

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  • March 12, 2022 at 11:07 am
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    One thing no one has mentioned in the Johns match is how Ben stayed in the center of his half-court most of the time. He didn’t pinch and poach which he’ll do even with his men’s partners when he really wants to win. I saw one foot over the center line sometimes but it was nothing like “ben doing ben” where he’ll spend much of the time completely over the line. Could be many reasons for this but it probably had an effect on number of points they got. It was a very legit win for Dylan and JW who didn’t overly target Collin. But might have been closer if we had seen a more active Ben.

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    • March 12, 2022 at 11:27 am
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      After the first 4 points the brothers were completely overwhelmed by their opponents. So I don’t think that one tactical move would have mattered. Dylan and JW dictated the terms of this match with hand speed and pace.

      Perhaps the brothers thought that this would be a routine win, as it has in the past. Maybe they didn’t come in with the proper energy, and or didn’t anticipate the game plan from team APP.

      But I don’t think it was the wind. I don’t think it was the recent move to Austin. I don’t think it was because Ben was not motivated to win. And I don’t think it was Ben not being the middle of the court. I think they were outplayed on the court by two world class players. the times they are a changin.

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  • March 12, 2022 at 3:12 pm
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    Scott just mentioned that Kovalova and Waters didn’t tap paddles at end of their WD match but I saw they did with Simone. What gives? He said something yesterday too in MXD but said he didn’t know details. Seemed to think there was an exchange between Kovalova/Wright team and Waters/Smith team on their first match-up. Do you know what happened?

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    • March 12, 2022 at 4:02 pm
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      Never mind. Please delete my comment. I just watched on replay and they all tapped paddles. Scott must have missed it.

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  • March 12, 2022 at 7:32 pm
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    Not saying they’ll reach a ton of podiums or anything moving forward because I still think Jay and Tyson are not an ideal fit but it was nice vastly improved body language and energy from them in the backdraw today.

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    • March 13, 2022 at 7:22 pm
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      Hadn’t noticed 😬

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  • March 13, 2022 at 9:33 pm
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    Okay what’s up with Backdraw Benny, it’s more like Withdraw Benny. Call it like it is. The mopie Johns with their head rolls, shoulder shrugs, arms in the air, paddle drops is the equivalent of the dancing blow ups in front of our local mattress store. Hilarious, total entertainment watching them lose.

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    • March 13, 2022 at 9:45 pm
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      It’s a sarcastic nickname. He his grinded a couple of backdraws this year presumably cuz the PPA tells him he has to. So it’s meant in jest

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    • March 14, 2022 at 7:46 am
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      I agree that is enjoyable to watch them lose. I mean, who else drops out of a tournament because you lose in the winner’s bracket? It makes them look like elitist snobs, and this is becoming somewhat common for Ben. It seems that he sat on his throne as the most dominant pickleball player in the world while all the promoters, sponsors and other sycophants catered to him. Now that he is no longer in that position and is one of several top men, it will be interesting to see how he adjusts. Right now, JW is a much more likeable face of men’s pickleball.

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      • March 14, 2022 at 11:11 am
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        I think it looks like Ben is saving energy lately. Maybe he’s not 100%? Pro tourneys in other sports don’t have a loser’s bracket and it’s only a matter of time for pro Pickleball to eliminate them. If you already have guaranteed money for the tourney and are entered in two other events, why wouldn’t you skip the backdraws? Let someone else win the bronze money/points. He’s still clearly the #1 men’s player in the sport by $$$$$ and it looks to be a while before that changes.

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        • March 14, 2022 at 5:43 pm
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          I wouldn’t want to play backdraws if I were him either but they should get rid of it, parse it down or create more incentive for players to play if they want it there

          Reply
  • March 14, 2022 at 7:50 am
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    I agree that Lea Jansen offers some of the best color commentary in the broadcast booth. It actually made me not fast forward in between points or during timeouts (with no commercials) just to hear what she had to offer.

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