Ruthlessness and Lack of Transparency Looms Over UPA Contract Terminations

First, it was Quang Duong. Now, it’s James Ignatowich, Ryan Fu and Vivian Glozman. 

Noted contract breacher, Quang Duong, had his UPA contract terminated after playing in a non-UPA affiliated event without getting consent of the UPA. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back after a number of breaches of his UPA agreement. Although, Quang appears to have a different version of the story. 

The Duong’s seemed unconcerned with the UPA termination as they, rightly or wrongly, figured they could make a lot more money without the UPA restrictions given Quang’s popularity in Asia. It was somewhat unexpected to see that Quang’s contract was terminated, but it was not a shocking thing after considering all the circumstances, including past breaches of contract that Quang had when he was under contract with Selkirk. 

The more recent contract terminations by the UPA were far more unexpected as Ignatowich, Fu, Glozman and Todd were all sharing their gallivanting exploits in Japan on social media before the UPA released a statement on Wednesday afternoon that their contracts were terminated. 

Effective immediately, the United Pickleball Association has terminated the contracts of players Ryan Fu, Vivian Glozman, and James Ignatowich.

The terms of each player’s contract are confidential, however, participating in competitor events is a black-and-white violation of UPA… pic.twitter.com/h0UQXyAO60

— Carvana PPA Tour (@PPAtour) December 10, 2025

According to the joint PPA and MLP release, “participating in competitor events is a black-and-white violation of UPA agreements”. The release also noted that Parris Todd participated in this event “after initially reaching out for permission to do so, with incomplete context” and the appropriate consequences for her were still being discussed. 

It is well known that participation in any non-UPA affiliated activities without UPA consent is prohibited under the terms of player contracts. What is more surprising is that it appears this is the first strike of this kind for Ignatowich, Fu or Glozman.

According to Jimmy Miller, official word is that Parris Todd’s contract is not being terminated because she did seek UPA approval prior to the trip, but she participated in activities that were beyond the scope of what was approved. This was confirmed by The Kitchen’s Alex Lantz in an interview that Connor Pardoe, which clearly insinuated that none of Ignatowich, Fu or Glozman sought prior approval for their trip to Japan.  

The plot thickened after Ryan Fu posted on social media that they received UPA approval before going on the trip back in July and that the UPA did not contact them before termination. MLP Commissioner, Samin Odwhani, clapped back stating Fu’s post “leaves out material facts” and that Fu never submitted the approval request, rather “James submitted it on your behalf. And what he submitted was not accurate.” Odwhani went on to describe parts of the request along with concerns with the approval request versus what actually occurred in Japan. 

Without seeing the full recipts, it is hard to make any judgment call on who is in the right contractually speaking. And that’s not what we are here to do. The more interesting aspects of this saga to us is UPA continuing to do business as the PPA has done since its inception.

The PPA has never had a problem being ruthless with their business actions. That has been their MO since they came into the sport, but their actions have been more muted since they merged with MLP in 2024.

Frankly, there has been much less to be ruthless about recently, at least publicly. This type of decision to terminate may come as a surprise to those who are newer to following pro pickleball, but it is not a surprise for anyone else that has followed pro pickleball closely over the years. It is up to the UPA to do business how they see fit and if strictly enforcing terms of their contract is how they want to treat their players, that is their prerogative. Players don’t have to sign the contracts. 

We don’t inherently have a problem with them conducting business in this way. The problem that we have with this termination saga is that there, once again, appears to be the lack of transparency from the UPA, which is something that has been pervasive with business of the PPA and Connor Pardoe in years past. 

The UPA publicly justified their decision to terminate the contracts without notice by suggesting that no approval had been sought by Ignatowich, Fu or Glozman. The Kitchen’s article notes “Pardoe said Todd’s case is different because she asked for and received prior approval to participate” but the “actual itinerary and activities ended up being materially different and broader than what was disclosed and approved”. 

Odwhani’s response confirms that clearly some type of approval was sought, even if it was inadequate in the view of the UPA. There has been no statement from any UPA personnel on how the terminated players situation is different from Todd’s approval that ended up being materially different and broader than what was disclosed and approved. The publicly stated justification for not terminating Todd’s contract was the fact that she was the only one who sought approval prior to the trip.  However, it is clear from Odwhani’s statement that approval was also requested and given in some capacity for at Fu (indirectly) and Ignatowich. 

It’s fine to do business in a cold-blooded manner, but don’t mislead the public about the facts of what led to the decision. 

Curious why their situation is so different than Parris Todd’s request for approval that “ended up being materially different and broader than what was disclosed and approved” pic.twitter.com/1rXXel3FNr

— NML Pickleball (@NmlPickleball) December 11, 2025

Regardless of whether the circumstances of the approval initially sought by Ignatowich are much different than what Parris’s approval situation was, which is still to be determined, it is difficult to trust the UPA when they are not being forthcoming with the basic details of the termination. 

What seems evident from UPA’s actions is that they are leveraging a situation both to get off some contracts that they don’t want any part of (Ignatowich and Glozman) and use it as an opportunity to send a message to their players that when you go against the family (i.e. do anything that could be considered a material breach of contract), you will be punished. For a few pros who don’t really move the needle for their brand, this might have been the perfect storm for the UPA to create a win-win situation for all parties involved. You know, other than the players whose contracts were terminated.

Ryan Fu is improving but he is not a special player. Vivian Glozman never renegotiated her original MLP deal and does not play on the PPA Tour, which we can surmise never sat well with the UPA. James Ignatowich’s stock as a player has fallen quite precipitously since he signed his Tour Wars deal. 

It is also relevant and noteworthy that, to our understanding, none of the terminated players signed renegotiated deals with the UPA earlier this year when the renewal windows were opened up as the UPA shifts back to more of a prize money model. The biggest indirect message the UPA may be sending here could be to those players who did not renegotiate their Tour Wars deal.

Finally, it should not be lost in the shuffle that Ignatowich’s new paddle company, RPM, is basically a copy of the popular JOOLA Pro IV series at a discounted price. As a big sponsor of the UPA, we can surmise that Joola probably was not very happy about this. 



It was always obvious why Parris Todd was the only player who did not have their contract terminated. She is a player that can move the needle for the UPA’s brand. It appears as though the players are going to continue on with their lives and may not be fighting this, but it gives more than an air of deceitfulness that the UPA publicly used Todd’s inadequate approval request as justification only for us to later find out that the terminated players are in a similar boat as Parris. 

We’ll have to wait and see if more facts come out publicly about the circumstances that led to the contract termination, and whether the UPA comes out with a different spin to help justify their contract termination of Ignatowich, Fu and Glozman. 

Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments or email us at nmlpickleball@gmail.com! You can also follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @nmlpickleball