APP Tour Boca Raton Masters – 5 Takeaways – Difficulty to Dominate

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Another APP tournament in the books. The PPA is back this upcoming weekend with its first tournament of 2022. It’s possible we may be coming around to having all the medal matches on Sunday, but it does just create a really long weekend with these bronze matches on Sunday too. There were some extended matches out there for both bronze and gold yet again, and that’s probably always going to be the case a lot of times. We continue to think the PPA’s Sunday format is superior, even if it does have flaws on its own in terms of fairness due to seeding. It should be noted this Medal Match Sunday format is only going to be present at tier 1 APP tournaments. In case you missed it, the APP announced updated tiering for their tournaments along with their partnership with Intersport. But with all those matches came another set of topics for us to discuss from the weekend.

1. Difficulty to Dominate (Slim) – Until recently, one dominant player could really carry a partnership a long ways, at the pro level. Obviously the other player in the partnership, needed to be very competent but if you had the best player on the court, you generally had a pretty good chance of winning the match. Ben Johns for example could go play the Simi Valley triple crown event, and win with three different partners. Not that Ben still couldn’t win with multiple partners, but it was not thay long ago you could pair Ben with just about anyone who had good consistency on thirds and dinks and be in contention. That is no longer the case. JW Johnson, is also an example of this. Two weekends ago, he and Austin Gridley took gold in Mesa whereas this weekend JW playing with Wes Gabrielsen missed the podium entirely. I think a couple years a go, a JW and Wes partnership, almost certainly would have been on the podium but now Wes’s hands at the very highest level are a little suspect, which can make him vulnerable.

I think what has lead to this shift, is players hands. If one player’s hands are significantly weaker than the other players on the court, that player’s team is at a very significant disadvantage. Players’ attacks and strategy are just so much more advanced now that it makes it very difficult to hide a pair of weaker hands. No longer, can a player kind of hide on the right side of the court and dink cross court and hope not to get attacked.

The silver medal teams, in men’s doubles, at the last two tournaments have, I believe shown the advantage of having two players with elite hands. Last weekend in Mesa, in particular, neither Spencer Smith or Callan Dawson, have elite weapons but they both have excellent hands, which makes them very difficult for opponents to go after. This weekend, Eden Lica and Andrei Daescu took silver, and despite neither player, playing a ton of tournaments, they are always a very tough out for top teams and that is because both players possess top end hands. Now, it’s also not a coincidence that the gold medal the last two weekends have gone to Dekel Bar and JW Johnson, who I think indisputably are the two most dominant male players in these tournaments. You still usually need a dominant player to reach the pinnacle, but unless their partner has elite hands, they are going to have a very hard time getting there these days.

2. What’s up with Women’s Singles? (Gritty) – This is a topic we have touched on in the past. In fact, we have written about it a fair bit. Nevertheless, the ongoing theme of the absence of some of the better players in these small women’s singles brackets will not stop. The APP has a female participation problem in pro women’s singles despite the fact that the APP pays out very well for singles brackets – there are not full payouts unless 8 women register though. Vivienne David is the first person that comes to mind as she has singles chops but has basically been out of singles for the past little while. Without the PPA contracted players, she very well could be winning these brackets.

You can understand why someone like Dekel may not want to grind those big men’s singles brackets. However, the concerns of wear and tear doesn’t apply to the same degreey when we’re talking about such small women’s singles brackets. Andrea Koop got a silver this past weekend after pulling out of the gold match after game 1 due to a leg issue. Koop was healthy enough to win the women’s doubles gold later that day with Simone Jardim. So it can’t be said that wear and tear doesn’t exist at all.

In my view, the cost/benefit analysis on playing singles for some of these players like Vivienne David would seem to weigh strongly in favor of playing. But we are not seeing it. The Kawamoto’s have full-time jobs, but they are players in this bracket who easily could have been playing in the bronze match. There have to be more women out there who can come in as singles specialists and make some noise in these APP tour women’s brackets. Jorja Johnson won freakin’ $2,500 in Boca!!! We’re not seeing it yet but as long as some of the better doubles players ignore the closest thing you’ll find to a free lunch in pickleball, I have to think this will happen.

3. Johnson Triple Crown (Gritty) – Despite young JW’s skepticism of his mom, Julie Johnson, the eldest Johnson was able to complete the Johnson family singles triple crown on Sunday. Jorja, JW and Julie all came away with gold in their respective pro divisions. Although Jorja Johnson was the beneficiary of a retirement from Andrea Koop, the Johnson’s have created a true force across the senior, men’s and women’s brackets in pickleball. Julie Johnson has had strong performances across all three brackets in the senior division since the beginning of 2021 as there are very few senior pros, or really pros in general, that compete at a high level in gender, mixed and singles.

Although JW just does JW things these days and we have come to expect results, Jorja has really shown that her ceiling could be quite high as a pro player. She is playing a bunch of singles and we should expect her to make some good money as a teenager playing singles at APP events this year. Her doubles game is also progressing well and I’m sure it does not hurt that she consistently gets elite play on a day-to-day basis. She is going to be playing with Lauren Stratman at this week’s PPA event and you have to expect she’ll be one of the first choices for women who need partners if she is available to be scooped up. Maybe the AJ Koller of the women’s field for 2022, let’s say.

Watch out for the Johnson family. As if you didn’t already know that.

4. Kawamoto Reminder (Gritty) – The Kawamoto’s stormed back onto the pickleball scene in a big way over the weekend. Neither sister had played a tournament since the PPA Texas Open at the end of September last year where their two losses came against powerhouse teams in Kovalova/Jardim and Irvine/Parenteau. The Kawamoto’s came away with a silver medal in Boca Raton on the weekend where their two losses were to Koop/Jardim, both in 3 games. The Kawamoto’s also had strong mixed performances, especially Jade and Dylan Frazier who took bronze. The Kawamoto’s were already a takeaway for us at one-point last year, but we had to write about them this week as they are the best women out there who aren’t consistent presences on the pickleball tour – Andrea Koop sort of fits the bill and Maggie Remynse is another name, but at this point I want the Kawamoto’s over Maggie Remynse.

As noted above, they have full-time jobs, which makes things more difficult. They only played 8 tournaments in 2021 and they apparently only have plans to play about 1 tournament a month in 2022. They are so tough as a partnership because they are very steady, play fantastic defence and, most importantly, have quick hands. Neither of them has anything that truly stands out as a weapon, but they don’t need it against most teams. I would really like to see Jackie be able to roll her backhand dinks with 2-hands and Jade use that roll even more up at the kitchen, but how much can I ask for when these two aren’t spending all their time figuring out the game? Imagine if they played as much as some of these other women on tour do.

The APP and MLP may be wise to find a way to ensure the Kawamoto’s play more of their events. They have already lost too many females to the PPA, and they should try to secure whatever new female talent is out there to as great an extent as they can.

5. Kyle Yates Tantrum (Slim) – It all started with the play below. It seems pretty obvious, to me at least, that JW is just making a pickleball play, that we literally see thousands of times, looking to try and insert himself in the play by looking for a ball to poach that is headed to Whitwell. Kyle however after the play asks the ref for a distraction call. All of which you can watch in the clip below:

Kyle’s reaction to this was, in my opinion, wild. Though I think Kyle and Michelle were already frustrated with the ref over a missed foot fault call on Lee Whitwell a few points earlier (How many times will refs miss Whitwell’s foot faults on ernes?). First off, as I stated above, what JW is doing above literally happens thousands of times, if not millions times. I was shocked that Kyle asked for a distraction and if that is a distraction, there is a distraction on a countless number of plays, particulary in mixed. Secondly, is there a player less likely to try and intentionally distract his opponent than JW? I honestly can’t comprehend thinking that JW Johnson, of all people, was trying to intentionally distract you.

It continued to spiral from there for Kyle, as he went on full tilt after this and the match ended rather quickly, but not before he wiped himself out on match point trying to poach a ball in front of Michelle. After he picked himself from his spill, he did congratulate his opponents, but then went after the referee, apparently for having called the score too quickly, all match while they were serving. I think the ref actually handled the situation very well. You can see this all in the clip below:

In the words of one infamous pickleball pro, it was “not a good look” for Mr. Yates.

(Update 7:35 pm EST: as some readers have pointed out in the comments and privately, we note this is not the first time we have seen these type of complaints from Yates at tournaments – (9:25 am EST, Jan 25: Watch this from 2019 Golden State Championships where Yates gets a ref replaced with a similar complaint about calling the score too quickly).

Fantasy Update: Tight week but Slim squeaked out another victory, 15-14. The difference came down to Koop/Navratil losing to Jade Kawamoto/Frazier to go to bronze. Gritty got zero points in the mixed and women’s singles categories while Slim only got one point combined from women’s doubles and men’s doubles.

Slim is already 2 up on the year.

Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments below or email us at nmlpickleball@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook too!

20 thoughts on “APP Tour Boca Raton Masters – 5 Takeaways – Difficulty to Dominate

  • January 24, 2022 at 4:09 pm
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    You could compile a greatest hits clip of Yates meltdowns. That would be golden.

    Reply
  • January 24, 2022 at 4:29 pm
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    #1 We don’t know what would have happened if Wes “hid on right side” and cross-court dinked. The one game I watched showed Wes didn’t use this strategy. JW might have to get as aggressive as Ben when in this situation next time.
    #3 I’m glad you mentioned this family’s triumph.
    #5 Not much of a tantrum. The 2nd reach must have been the one Kyle questioned. Obviously we’ve seen Kyle himself do the 1st one and fine in rules when not timed at time of opponent prepping to hit. But the 2nd one, I could see the timing where Kyle could have thought it was an attempt to distract. Can’t comment about him questioning the ref about score calling at match end because I didn’t watch this match. Other players do this at match end too. Kyle obviously passionate about his feelings here.

    Reply
    • January 24, 2022 at 5:36 pm
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      If that one isn’t a tantrum, I’m really not sure what would qualify. After the match he gets into it with the ref after he has already lost. And complaining about a hindarance for that is just not warranted in any way

      Reply
  • January 24, 2022 at 5:19 pm
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    If what JW did is a hinder…Dave Weinbach wouldn’t be able to play a single rally…

    Reply
  • January 24, 2022 at 6:39 pm
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    Just out of curiosity, what do you take into account when determining whether a player has elite hands?

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    • January 24, 2022 at 7:24 pm
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      Good question. One is the power of their punches/counters in fast hand battles. Two is the quickness of punches/counters. JW is a guy who is super quick but also powerful. We judge it based on when they initiate and others try to initiate against them how successful they are. We have no numbers for our opinions, just what we see subjectively

      Reply
      • January 25, 2022 at 10:08 am
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        You all should have numbers of how many times they get attacked and how many times they defend, counter, or lose the point. Those variables are how you determine quick hands not naked eye.

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        • January 25, 2022 at 12:03 pm
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          We definitely would like to. Unfortunately, there isn’t any publicly available data or even any service we could subscribe to at this time. And we do not have the time to chart those things ourselves haha!

          Reply
  • January 25, 2022 at 8:21 am
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    I am very curious about what the rulebook says about making a fake with your paddle while the opponent is hitting the ball. Is it a hindrance? It seems clear to me a fake to the middle is what JW is doing as Kyle is about to hit the ball. The previous shot where JW is looking for a poach has no bearing on this fake and the announcers and you seem to misinterpret.

    Reply
    • January 25, 2022 at 12:53 pm
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      Found out that it could be labelled a distraction, not a hindrance. USAPA defines a distraction as such:

      3.A.6. Distraction – Physical actions by a player that are ‘not common to the game’ that, in the judgment of the referee, may interfere with the opponent’s ability or concentration to hit the ball. Examples include, but are not limited to, making loud noises, stomping feet, waving the paddle in a distracting manner or otherwise interfering with the opponent’s concentration or ability to hit the ball.

      I know this is gray area and we have seen others do this–someone mentioned the Badger–but it seems that Kyle would have an argument that what JW did was a distraction. Maybe a referee could provide a rule clarification?

      Reply
      • January 26, 2022 at 7:59 am
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        Thank you for finding the rule! Personally, we don’t think Kyle has any argument regardless of what the rule says. Neither of us have ever seen someone try to make that claim and I would expect it should have to be an overt, intentional and constant distraction for it to be a possibility (in our non-ref opinions)

        Reply
        • January 27, 2022 at 12:45 pm
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          You are probably right. But on an interesting side note, I listened to The Dink’s podcast yesterday, and they talked about how Pickleball does not have a John McEnroe character and as such there is void that someone can fill to become popular as the pickleball villain. They discussed who could fill that role and the first name they tossed out was Kyle Yates. I think the podcast was recorded before the Boca tournament so maybe Yates heard it, liked the idea and is trying it out. 😉

          Reply
  • January 25, 2022 at 11:09 am
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    “In the words of one infamous pickleball pro, it was “not a good look” for Mr. Yates.” … Who you talking about?

    Reply
  • January 26, 2022 at 10:21 am
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    interesting comments on wg. I use w, who is the nicest guy in pb and a hall of famer, as exhibit A to describe how much Pro Pickleball has changed in about 9-10 years. 9 years ago wg was a the very top of the game. He was also at the top of the singles game. I believe he was still winning national titles until around 2016-2017. He was a favored partner of KY and BJ, who understood he was the most reliable right side partner out there.

    I know he never played as much as others did, and perhaps that effected his ceiling somewhat.

    But fast forward to 2018 or so. The first chink in the armor for me was at TOC a few years back when tm and mg dismantled dw and wg in the men’s final. I saw the match and there may be an archive of it on yt. it essentially came down to tm knowing he could beat wg head to head on the forehand side. It was a perfect representation of new school pb vs old school pb. tm was forcing push dinks on w, who was under intense pressure all match. Given the pressure coming from tm, mg was a lethal presence in the middle of the court.

    Now lets take a look at 2021 and 2022. I watched the jw and wg pairing with great interest. On paper it looked solid. But they were really never in it vs eden and andrei. Yes you could argue it came down to hands. But I would argue it came down to dinking and lack of offense from wg.

    When dinking cross court w never really bothered eden with his patented slice backhand dink. In fact many of them sat up, providing eden ample opportunity to attack jw at will. eden won the head to head battle with w. furthermore, virtually every third went to w. Why? Well you know what you will get from wg. He will take it on the backhand side and will slice his third. You won’t ever see a topspin forehand 3rd (think bj or it) that can pressure, nor will you see any drives from w. w was also easier to keep back. jw has athleticism and youth on his side, and w almost always reset and rarely will attack from the transition zone.

    hall of famer wg is one of my all time favorites. And I write this really to illustrate just how much pb has changed in 5 years. wg, who is still way better than all but about 20-25 men’s players in the world, was at the top of the game then. And I believe w will be the first one to admit that what you are seeing out there today no longer resembles old school pro pickleball. And last week’s results kind of demonstrate that really well.

    Reply
    • January 26, 2022 at 1:30 pm
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      Agree with a lot of what you have said on Wes. His patented dink is just another dink in today’s game and Wes’ biggest failing is probably not developing a more potent backhand. It can be done but he has not tried/not figured it out. He still only pushes that backhand but very little roll. And your point on his lack of drive or transition area attacks is well taken.

      Reply
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