PPA Tour Indoor National Championships and APP Tour Punta Gorda – Random Thoughts

No live blog this weekend with two tournaments happening at the same time. We’ll see if we can get some thoughts out there for the end of each day.

Sunday, February 27th – PPA Championship Sunday and APP Singles

Anna Bright is the story of the weekend but may become the story of the year. Total dominance the past day and a half. Like, total dominance. Not a total newcomer but Gabe Tardio with an impressive bronze in arguably a deeper singles field than the PPA. Good weekene for Tardio.

PPA Sunday results were as expected. Callie/Lucy were surprisingly pushed to 5 by the Waters, which was not as expected by us at least. The Waters together are still a force.

Saturday, February 26th – PPA and APP Doubles

We’ll have more on Anna Bright in our takeaways but obviously impressive performance. The most impressive thing we have seen in pickleball all things considered. We expect some pros aren’t going to like her fire, but definitely can’t put us in that bucket. She is intense but hilarious, and it’s wonderfully refreshing.

Travis Rettenmeir and Ryler DeHeart had a really impressive day too. They beat DJ Young and Adam Stone, and came close to taking a game off Dekel and Kyle. Two guys who have partnered together as tennis guys and are looking to do what Pat Smith and Jay Devilliers did together. Yates and Bar had a good day with two wins over JW and Dylan, convincingly.

The big story from PPA was Wilson/Koller taking down Newman/Wright narrowly. The Waters also finally broke through to a Championship Sunday, which is big for them. The negative was once again Jay/Tyson who lost in 2 not close games to Taylor/Cassidy and then were ousted by Newman/Wright. 3 straight disappointing performances.

Friday, February 25th – PPA and APP Mixed

It looked like it was going to be a big day for Simone Jardim after easily cruising to the gold match and then winning 13-11 in the first game of the gold. But it’s still a new world for Jardim, who still doesn’t appear to have the same punch to her game that is presumably sapped due to injury. Vivienne/Dekel rolled after that to a gold and they seem to be figuring it out against the lower end competition. I’ll be interested to see how they perform against some better competition.

Slim took Anna Bright in two spots in the fantasy draft and she didn’t disappoint on mixed day, eventually being ousted by Esquivel/Yates 15-13. She is no doubt one to keep an eye on.

For Lucy/Matt, they go out again without a podium as the number one seed after barely losing to Jay/Jessie and then Parenteau/Newman. For Parenteau/Newman, they salvaged bronze following an early loss to Jansen/Wilson, but this is another disappointing early exit for them. Something to monitor?

Callie/AJ lost another heartbreaker on the winner’s side this weekend after being up 8-4 in the third on Jessie/Jay and it’s kind of what you expect with them – consistently inconsistent for the time being. Jansen/Wilson had a pretty strong day, on the other hand. Wilson is obviously very good as he has been having success with a variety of partners.

Thursday, February 24th – PPA Singles

Let’s try to give a few thoughts on what went on today. Frank Anthony David has had a better run as of late in singles and he showed it with a big win against Thomas Wilson then playing Tyson to 3 games. He ended up short of the bronze, losing to Wilson on the back side, but overall a good performance. On the flip side, Wilson still needs more consistency in his early career as losing to FAD in two shouldn’t be happening.

Jay Devilliers and Tyson McGuffin get to a Championship Sunday, and Jay needed it more than anyone in this Ben-less field. Strong win over Sherry. The courts are apparently playing slow in Minnesota, which should favor Tyson.

In women’s, another tough day for Jansen who loses to Smith and Tereschenko. You wonder how difficult her health situation is given she hasn’t lost to those two much, if at all, from what we can recall (Edit: US Open was the last time). The 5 team field in singles is quite hilarious though with Callie and AL getting to a gold match on Sunday after 1 win on the day.

9 thoughts on “PPA Tour Indoor National Championships and APP Tour Punta Gorda – Random Thoughts

  • February 25, 2022 at 11:43 pm
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    PPA mens and womens doubles is getting pretty predictable but mixed is actually pretty exciting. Other than gold which Ben and AL pretty much have locked up for the foreseeable future, 2nd through 6th is really a toss up. Add Tyson and Lauren in and there are at least 6 really solid teams that I could all see making it to championship Sunday. There were so many close games today that really could have gone either way.

    I don’t think you guys are giving Callie enough credit. Her mixed play has definitely stepped up this year. She has been way more consistent, had less unforced errors, and has been much smarter about when and where she speeds it up.

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  • February 26, 2022 at 6:20 am
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    It’s unfortunate the PPA has eliminated the chance for a team that loses in the main draw to work their way back to the final. I know we’re only a handful of events into 2022 but we’re already seeing dominate players/teams in every event and in my opinion makes luck (ie being drawn in the opposite half to those dominate teams) far too important a factor in determining your finalists.

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    • February 27, 2022 at 4:16 pm
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      And we don’t really know how PPA points work. It’s so seeding dependent

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  • February 26, 2022 at 7:27 pm
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    First, what a day for Jorja and Anna Bright! They took down 3 MLP draftees, (including the MVP) and the queen of Pickleball, which is not a bad Saturday. What I’m more impressed with though is how they beat those two teams. They WIPED THE FLOOR with Simone and Corrine, poor Corrine looked like a 4.5 player out there, she was just getting lit up. But they worked Simone too, and it was a slaughter. 11-0, 11-4, 15-3 is a pretty terrible result for Simone and Carr, all kudos to Jorja and Anna who were lights out.

    The other thing is 👏👏👏 Thomas Wilson. He’s beaten Riley twice this weekend and he and AJ showed up. I can’t get over 10-6-2 in game 3. What a save, and then to go on to win it…..
    Just so much fun to watch.

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    • February 27, 2022 at 5:56 am
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      I agree those games were amazing to watch. That come back of Wilson/Koller in the 3rd had so much fire that you could feel their mindset shift.

      This week-end we saw new teams (to online viewers anyway) in the APP which put up a surprising challenge. A lot of people like watching new talent that can run through the draw and even medal. PPA take note. I love it that Bright/Johnson had such a great run with Bright’s official UTPR and WPR rating of 4.0D.

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    • February 27, 2022 at 4:15 pm
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      Huge day again for Bright. Ridiculous really. She is a beast. And yes, good weekend for the cousins!

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  • February 27, 2022 at 7:00 pm
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    Hoe many total points did Zane score on JW in those 4 games? Like 6? Crazy how big the disparity is between those two when there is no Zanesaw.

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    • February 27, 2022 at 7:40 pm
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      Zane’s game is not conducive to JW’s skillset. He wants to just hit passing shots and JW volleys so well and covers a lot of court up at the ner

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