PPA Tour North Carolina Open – 5 Takeaways – All the Right Sock

📸 @ppatour

Jack Sock dominated the headlines this weekend and the added interest appeared to be reflected in some high than typical live stream numbers. The PPA was consistently over 5,000 live viewers this weekend and, on Friday, they were consistently over the 7,500 threshold. Those aren’t crazy numbers, but it is very good relative to pro pickleball numbers. Using traditional TV ratings as a metric to support the position on the growth of viewership seems foolhardy, especially when the metric is not compared against similar programming in the same time slot. The PPA’s proclamation of 1.25 million combined viewers between Tennis Channel, CBS and CBS Sports Network was probably not an indication that pickleball on TV is here to stay because you can basically put any program on a TV station and it will draw a certain threshold of numbers.

Conversely, the live stream numbers on YouTube could be one of the best metrics to identify growth because we can see how many people are willing to find pickleball and put it on their device, and we have direct comparables for those numbers. Assuming the live stream numbers are reliable, it gives us a solid indication of whether any growth is happening. Slow growth is still growth and that should be what matters right now for pickleball.

1. All the Right Sock (Slim) – The most hyped debut in pickleball history actually lived up the hype as Jack Sock took home a gold medal in mixed in his first ever pro pickleball tournament. You can be a naysayer, and point to his first round men’s doubles exit to try and cast doubt or point to the fact that he was playing mixed with the best lady in the world, but the reality is he took gold in his first event. The eye test showed a level of talent and athleticism that we have not seen on the pickleball court before.

Sock started the weekend off with a run to the quarterfinals in men’s singles where he made pretty quick work of the tour singles veteran, Anton Gudz, in the first round 11-8, 11-4, and then had no problem with Naveen Beasley who had upset James Ignatowitch in the second round 11-2, 11-2, before facing Jake Kusmider in the third round, and losing in three games. Kusmider is a player who has some pretty big wins in singles, so it was a respectable loss. Jack showed outstanding athleticism and court coverage in the singles to pair with a huge dipping forehand. He can drop a backhand slice, but he showed no backhand passing shot, and definitely prefers to hit a forehand if at all possible, which becomes more problematic against the top players. I also thought Sock started to look tired in the third match. Even though he is obviously in great shape, he may not have been ready for that singles grind.

In mixed, Jack Sock and Anna Leigh Waters managed to steam roll through the competition for the most part. They did face a little adversity in the semi-final dropping the first game to Arnold/David before rebounding, and in the final it looked like they might be in trouble after getting rolled in the first game, by Riley Newman and Allyce Jones but they quickly flipped the script in the next two games. Most of their success in mixed came from being more athletic, powerful and having faster hands then most of their opponents.

I do think it would be interesting to see how teams played the Jack and Anna Leigh if they played them again. I would be particularly interested to see how one Benjamin Johns, who was sitting at home this weekend, would play Anna Leigh and Jack if partnered with a high end woman. As we know, having Anna Leigh is a huge advantage, which we saw when she and Riley dominated Ben and Catherine Parenteau at nationals last year. With that, I think Jack has a number of weakness that could be exploited currently. One mistake I think most teams made was actually playing too many balls to Jack when they should have played Anna Leigh more, and got Jack trying to move over, then tried to force Jack to hit more dinks on the move. By playing Anna Leigh more balls as teams normally would in traditional mixed, it would have also opened more opportunities to attack Jack. Despite his great hands, Sock proved to be susceptible to some attacks, and I think teams would have more opportunities to exploit this by playing Anna Leigh more balls to set that up. Once it was clear that Sock wasn’t going to give up too many free points by seeing the majority of balls, it was likely incumbent on teams to make that strategic adjustment earlier. Easier said than done.

I also thought that Jack’s partnership also printed a potential blueprint for Anna Leigh’s next MLP team to follow. Obviously there aren’t a bunch of Jack Sock’s out there, but there likely will be a few athletic guys, who excel in singles, with big drives whose doubles games may not quite where they need to be at the Premier level. There are players in this mold who will likely be available at the end of the Premier draft and I think you want to try and grab one of those guys and partner them with Anna Leigh, and just let them both relentlessly drive and crash the net. You can then spend your middle two picks on a strong male player, and steady mixed female, and suddenly you should basically have a 1a, 1b mixed teams, and an elite women’s doubles team. The obvious name to watch for here is Christian Alshon.

It seemed very likely that men’s doubles was the format where Sock would most likely to be exposed as it is the event that typically takes high level men’s tennis players making the transition to pickleball, the longest to find success in. It is just a more nuanced game, and one that does not reward big drives, and playing hard and fast nearly as much. With that being said, it was hard to take a ton from Jack and Tyson McGuffin’s first round exit in terms of Jack’s men’s doubles game, because it was actually Tyson McGuffin who saw a lot of the balls, and Tyson McGuffin seemed to be pressing, and forced the issue, rather than playing his characteristic steady right side game. We did, however, see Dobran and Roddy have some success attacking Sock, particularly on his right hip.

Apparently at some point this year, Jack is going to play with Riley Newman, and if that is the case it will be an absolutely fascinating partnership to watch (update: this is only a 2024 possibility upon further review, not 2023: see link at 45:20). At this point in his career, the Tasmanian Devil as we have called him, Riley Newman, may be a much better match style wise, than the slow and steady game of Tyson McGuffin for Jack Sock. I would not expect long dink rallies, in a Riley / Jack partnership, as I imagine they will try to bring a level of chaos and athleticism that we have not previously seen on the men’s doubles court, when they come to play.

It sounds like Sock is pretty much going all in on pickleball next year, and it is going to be absolutely fascinating to watch, as we have not seen talent of his level dedicate themselves to pickleball before.

2. Riley Newman’s Resurgence (Slim) – As we have documented recently, Riley Newman has had a bit of slow start to the year, by his standards, but he seems to be finding his mojo again. Newman has made two Championship Sunday appearances this week, coming away with a gold with Matt Wright in men’s doubles and a silver with Allyce Jones in mixed. This is where we expected to see Riley at the start of the year, but he hasn’t really been there, as the men’s doubles gold this weekend, was only his second gold medal of the year.

Riley has recently made the move from the Phoenix area, to PPA central in Dallas, Texas. He said that the move had him adjusting and feeling a little off, and he is starting to feel like himself again. That showed on the court this weekend, as he looked much more like himself, and was back to his not missing ways, after we have been seeing him miss a few more balls than usual this year, which still isn’t many misses. The gold in men’s doubles has to have felt huge, especially winning decisively in three games, because it was starting to look like the kids JW Johnson and Dylan Frazier were passing he and Matt Wright for the title of the number two men’s doubles team.

With Ben Johns coming back for the next stop in Atlanta, it will be fun to see if Riley can start to push Ben a bit, which is where we thought he would be at the start of the year. One hindrance for Riley, could be that he still seems to be playing some musical chairs with partners, particularly in mixed. But when Riley is in the zone, he can make a run with a variety of partners.

3. Glozman’s PPA Debut (Gritty) – It was not Vivian Glozman’s professional debut, but it was her PPA debut in North Carolina. Glozman got the call-up to play with Anna Bright after Andrea Koop was unable to play due to an ongoing injury. It has been said ad nauseum but Bright and Glozman were college tennis teammates during their respective freshman years at Cal Berkley so there was some history there. Bright had mentioned on her podcast that she hadn’t seen Glozman play and was trusting the word of other pros that Glozman could play. Fortunately for Bright, Glozman had one of the more impressive PPA debuts we have seen in quite a while as she and Bright avoided a Wright/David quarter-final match, instead beating Radzikowska/Bates in the quarters. Glozman looked strong there, but it was how impressive she looked on center court against Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau that made everyone take notice. 

Glozman was a virtual unknown to most people before last Thursday’s Challenger Shuffle Draft. Her only pro tournaments were the APP Mesa at the end of March and the APP Sacramento two weeks ago where she had solid enough results for those paying attention, including almost beating Shelby Bates/Ryler DeHeart in a first round mixed matchup. However, she was unknown to the point that teams passed on her in the Challenger Shuffle Draft until the Bay Area Breakers selected her with the final pick. We called it a steal of a selection for Bay Area with the last draft spot, only because we had seen Glozman play on an Instagram live stream of an Oregon tournament back in March. She was ridiculously impressive in that small sample size, but it was unclear how exactly that limited amount of play would translate at the highest level.

The tools are off the charts for Glozman, including her can’t teach the reach height of almost 6 feet tall. She has quick and powerful hands that allowed her to hang in firefights with Anna Leigh and Parenteau. There’s a lot of nuance missing from her game, as would be expected with someone who has played as little pickleball as Glozman has. Nevertheless, she should fit in extremely well with the Bay Area Breakers and I expect Radzikowska/Glozman could be even more dominant than Summers/Radzikowska were at the Challenger level, with the one question being who plays the right. It is evident Glozman is not comfortable on the right. She dinks very well cross-court on her backhand for a new player, but there has to be a reason Bright had Glozman on the left the entire match. 

Mixed is the hardest of the 3 events to master for females with a high-level tennis background because of the nuance involved for the female role, and Glozman may need more time on that right side to figure things out. It is noteworthy that a couple of months ago in that Oregon tournament, Glozman failed to bring home a medal in a partnership with Kyle Yates and went 1-2 with Wes Gabrielsen in Mesa. If Glozman has to play the right with Radzikowska, will she be significantly more error prone than she was on the left in North Carolina? 

The Glozman showing on Saturday is another example of the increasing depth on the women’s side. Although the men’s side has 3 better than everyone else men’s teams, the women’s side has Anna Leigh and partner then everyone else, which was on display again this weekend with Lauren Stratman/Yana Grechkina finding their way to Championship Sunday. It’s possible that the second half of the year we see an even bigger jumble of women that have the ability to take home a silver medal, or gold when AL isn’t around, on any given weekend.

📸 @lolo_strat_pb

4. Revolving Sunday Doors (Slim) – Yana Grechkina and Lauren Stratman have now played two tournaments together and have two podiums to show for it, with many more matching outfit combinations than any other team in pro pickleball. Look good, play good people. In all seriousness, they are two ladies who have not had a ton of success in women’s doubles in 2023 (Yana does have a bronze with Etta Wright as well this year), so the success of the new partnership has to have both of them happy. In their first tournament partnering in Newport, they picked up a bronze medal, then this weekend, they built on that performance picking up the silver medal.

This weekend’s run was especially impressive as they had to beat Buckner/Padegimaite in their first round match up, then they beat the Newport Gold medalists, Smith/Kovalova 11-8, 11-6 in the quarter finals and then in the semi’s they beat the Irvine/Kawamoto duo in three games 11-9, 6-11, 11-7. That is a very impressive run. Although they did get rolled by Waters/Parenteau in the gold medal match, the team has done that to pretty much everyone this year.

Yana and Lauren, and their success has been notable because they are both players that tend to run a little hold and cold, and can be prone to periods of unforced errors. Usually that doesn’t set a team up for success, and could come back to bite them at some point, but one thing that their partnership has that sets them up well is they can both finish balls. Stratman and Grechkina both have above average pop and can put the ball away if opponents leave it up. In the women’s game, it is actually more rare than you would think to have two players that can actually punish you.

They aren’t partnering up at the next stop in Atlanta, but it will not be surprising if we see these two playing again at some point this year, given their early success together.

5. Post-Match Interviews (Gritty) – With the way pickleball tournaments are structured, we get more post-match interviews in a single day than any other sport out there. I’m not really sure what started the trend of feeling the need to interview players after every match they play on center court, but it has become pretty much a staple in pro pickleball. It brings mostly bland with some good mixed in, but probably more good than any mainstream sport. I’ve never really been an interview guy. I watch a ton of sports, but I’m never happy when Sportscenter is delayed because they have to show athletes give generic answers to mostly generic questions. 

There are two things that inspired me to write about post-match interviews this weekend. The first is the PPA’s cringe, but somewhat less cringey now that I think about it, attempt to emulate a post-match press conference. The second was Steve Deakin’s post-quarterfinal match interview where in an efficient 17-second span he was able to both throw shade at Tyler Loong as well as stare at the camera and call himself Big Daddy Stevie.

I understand that I don’t necessarily represent the majority in how I feel about interviews. People generally seem interested in post-match interviews and press conferences, even in mainstream pro sports where 95-99% of the interviews are watered down PR snooze fests. However, with the limited number of media actually covering this sport, pro pickleball players are far less buttoned up in their interviews. The backlash may receive for an unfiltered post-match interview is limited to a variety of social media outlets while the upside for a good interview are viral clips on social media and increased positive publicity (see: Big Papa Jimmy). Unlike in mainstream pro sports, pickleball players have an incentive to show off their authentic selves. 

The social media celebration of players being more candid publicly is a plus for the sport. This will likely change if more media comes into the sport, but it is a great thing that we get to see more of what these athletes are like. We shouldn’t skewer players for providing more than the tired cliches. Although I don’t follow any other niche pro sports, it is evident to me that pickleball has something special when it comes to professional sports with the willingness of players to be bold in interviews. 

On the other hand, I don’t have much time for the PPA giving off the impression that there is anything more than their own employee asking questions in a press-conference like setting. I initially had a major cringe seeing the first rollout of the PPA’s post-match interview situation. What’s interesting is that our Instagram story commenting on the topic received mixed reactions from the public. Some people really hated it, and some people were like “I kind of think this is cool.”

I have re-evaluated my stance on the PPA’s fake press conferences to a certain degree. I think anything that makes the players more visible and helps bring good content to the public is beneficial for the sport. Where I continue to have an issue is the PPA wanting to give the illusion that it is a real press conference. The setup that the PPA has put together is used in other sports because there are multiple media members that can be in one place to ask athletes questions. That’s what a press conference is for in any arena, not just sports. 

To be fair, the PPA is not calling it a press conference. They are using the term “post-match interview”, which is what it is. I think I’m just going to have a problem with the PPA doing PPA things – trying to give the public the impression something is more than it actually is. While it is good for the players to get an opportunity to be more visible than the very short post-match interviews on court, the illusion of a press conference can give the appearance that players are answering questions from someone other than a PPA employee or questions vetted by the PPA. The PPA could easily have accomplished the same goal by giving their employee a mic to ask the same questions, but they have chosen to do it this way, so it looks like a press conference.  

Personally, I don’t need to hear how Tyson McGuffin say how it’s not his style to flex on players like Christian Alshon or Hayden Patriquin do because he is a family man, even when flexing is clearly a significant part of the Tyson McGuffin brand. But if the PPA wants to let some people ask Tyson McGuffin about his failed paddle results from Red Rock and why neither Tyson McGuffin nor the PPA have released a statement as to why Tyson McGuffin’s singles results in that tournament have not been voided, I’m all for the post-match interview in this setting. But alas, questions like that won’t be allowed or asked by the PPA. And you know why? Because it’s not a real press conference.

So here’s to keeping up the trend of more unfiltered post-match interviews and giving players more space to be themselves. However, do we really need to pretend like players are taking part in a real press conference when trying to do that? 

Fantasy Update: 13-12 this week for Slim as the Anna Leigh Waters/Jack Sock gold medal in the last match gave Slim the win. A good chunk of points left undrafted again this weekend as we only got 25 out of a possible 30. Lauren Stratman/Yana Grechkina’s silver, Deakin/Rettenmaier’s bronze, and Christian Alshon’s bronze were missed in our selections this week. We are back to all square on the year.

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

29 thoughts on “PPA Tour North Carolina Open – 5 Takeaways – All the Right Sock

  • May 9, 2023 at 12:01 am
    Permalink

    Thank you for your time and posting. Jack… Jack who?? All I remember is watching Vivian Glozman kicking butt. But it was really great that Sock won gold. PPA press conferences… Never mind. But all fresh ideas in this new sport are good, with some good only once. 🙂

    Reply
  • May 9, 2023 at 2:58 am
    Permalink

    I like the ease in which Bright and Glozman played, there is an obvious connection there. Glozman has a tramendious amount of upside to her game, she just needs a little more seasoning. If I were Anna I would say thank you to AL and remove myself from the obserd AL lottery that has been going on far to long and play full time with Glozman. They could certainly become a powerful force in ladies doubles. If you don’t believe that just check the film and see the look of concern on mama Waters face during the match. Wouldn’t it be great to see that more often 🙂

    Reply
    • May 9, 2023 at 10:21 am
      Permalink

      Totally agree. For the first time seeing Vivian, she has incredible potential. If she continues to play and practice, just think about what we will see in a year. We’ll see how the Air Force comes in.

      Reply
    • May 9, 2023 at 12:58 pm
      Permalink

      Players will start banking on more upside rather than long-term commitments to legacy partnerships. People are being more cognizant of keeping their options open and, while these players are raw, it will be interesting to see if upper end players start taking more chances on upside.

      Reply
  • May 9, 2023 at 3:59 am
    Permalink

    #1. The problem with Sock going pro is the lack of players who can match his athleticism and talent. We see top players like Ben and Riley get frustrated with partners who can’t match them. With Sock’s even higher ability level, how is he going to tolerate the unevenness of skillset. AL may not always be available to him. We don’t know yet if Riley would be a good partner but he seems a more natural fit than Tyson. And maybe it won’t matter if Sock reaches the level of AL who wins in WD with any partner.

    Then the pettiness of some of what he witnessed may also turn him off. He probably was genuinely surprised that players would take the trash-talking that he said was normal in tennis as something personal. I very much hope we see a ton of Sock in the future but this week-end was a good indication to him how much different pros in pb are from tennis. He seemed to be having a great time out there and probably wondered why the other players weren’t finding it as fun as he was.

    #3. Glozman could be a left side partner for Riley!

    #5. So what would you want the post-match interview setting to look like? I like that you don’t have the interviewer on camera. It helps you to focus more on the players. I’m all for more “social content” makers at the interview but it won’t matter. You know PPA won’t let any controversial question be asked – a la Tyson or bad line calls or issues with warming up, switching balls, illegal serves, etc. I like Staksrud in his interviews as he seems to be one of the most genuine with his answers. Deakin was great. JW shined more in the post-match than the on-court. Easy to ignore the setting and just enjoy the player’s showing their personality.

    Reply
    • May 9, 2023 at 10:31 am
      Permalink

      I like that the questions asked are not controversial. Keep it clean and fun for the players, they get enough crap on and off the court. From what I saw of Glozman, she could become the best woman player in the sport, depending on her commitment w/ the Air Force. And I wouldn’t want to see her w/ Riley, I get the impression Riley doesn’t treat his partners very well, not on purpose, just who he is. Thanks, Waggish.

      Reply
      • May 9, 2023 at 1:36 pm
        Permalink

        People want the controversial questions, David!

        Reply
    • May 9, 2023 at 1:01 pm
      Permalink

      1. He may just have a lot of fun playing pickleball and if he has a good partner he can win with it may be all good. It was fun to see him get in on the trash talking too.

      3. Interesting thought. That would be something Riley tries to have a partnership a few months down the line. Issue for Glozman right now is she can’t dink up the line and needs to in mixed if there is a female in front.

      5. I think I would just prefer an interview or something that shows it is not a real press conference. That’s the problem I have with it.

      Reply
  • May 9, 2023 at 5:29 am
    Permalink

    I cannot believe you would suggest an already problematic/illegal in many states couple become partners.

    Reply
    • May 9, 2023 at 7:27 am
      Permalink

      To be fair to Slim, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know about the situation.

      Reply
    • May 9, 2023 at 10:48 am
      Permalink

      OMG. Does anyone actually have FACTS if they are going out??? First thing, it is NOT illegal to DATE a minor, anywhere. Period. And IMO, if ALW has a physical relationship with JS, it is their business, not yours, not mine. I’m pretty sure LW is aware of what is going on. Again, nobody’s business.

      2
      1
      Reply
  • May 9, 2023 at 7:18 am
    Permalink

    Post match interviews are bad until they are great. I hate watching them but then you don’t get to hear “Big daddy James” , “I am old enough to be your father” Deaken (not his words but my interpretation of his words) and the non flexing while simultaneously flexing bit by Tyson.

    Disc golf is another fringe sport I follow. Their engagement is much larger – 189,000 on delayed replay YouTube. They pick a new player every day to showcase and make a great two minute video. It’s all about getting the fans invested.

    Speaking of getting the fans invested. The anoucers need to keep us informed during play. We want know what the the players say on the court, especially controversial stuff. What smack talk did Riley say??? They can’t be afraid to repeat what is said. Put mics on the court, be like Nascar.

    Reply
    • May 9, 2023 at 1:03 pm
      Permalink

      That is true about the interviews is that the more you do, the more nuggets you will get. We have done some digging on disc golf in the past and noticed they get huge engagement, which is one factor in why we are not overly encouraged about pro pickleball prospects when disc golf has such engagement that can’t get into the mainstream. Good point on getting fans invested, I think my problem is simply that there is what appears to be attempt at making something look like something it is not.

      Announcers are too worried to stir the pot to let us know what is being said. The other problem these days is that the announcers are not travelling to the venue so they may not have much more in their ear than what we can hear on the stream.

      Reply
  • May 9, 2023 at 7:44 am
    Permalink

    ” As we know, having Anna Leigh is a huge advantage, which we saw when she and Riley dominated Ben and Catherine Parenteau at nationals last year.”

    Clearly having ALW is an advantage, but the Nationals thing suffers from a smaller sample size problem than does MLP, where being on ALWs team doesn’t seem to equate to results in MXD. So I’m not sure this take carries that much weight.

    Great to see Sock on the court, his tennis skills make for some great shot-making.

    Reply
    • May 9, 2023 at 1:03 pm
      Permalink

      ALW is playing with Hayden mostly who is a fringe Premier player. There is no question the number 1 female in the world is helpful, but that will only take a player so far, just the same as having Ben Johns with a lower level female.

      Reply
  • May 9, 2023 at 9:38 am
    Permalink

    1. I almost think Sock’s athleticism made a bigger impact than his tennis background. If/when pickleball gets more popular and there’s more money in it, I can only imagine that we see more and better athletes enter the pro ranks and I’m interested in how that changes the game. No disrespect to the pioneers and players currently on the pro tour, but there are clearly a number of pros out there who are able to make up for their lack of athleticism with skill and decision making, and I think that will be harder and harder as new players combine physical and mental talent.

    5. Agreed that it’s good to get the players more visibility, but the whole post match press conference set up still feels like an unnecessary dog and pony show to me. Especially when they put out the fake microphones when the players clearly have those clip on mics. Definitely think they should just have someone on camera interviewing them. Bring in Borski!

    On that note on Tyson too, he seems to be trying to reposition himself as a goody two shoes sportsman, and it honestly is not a good look on him. Last night I saw that he had posted a clip on Instagram talking about someone he played at the Masters earlier this year who was using a delaminated CRBN (but of course he didn’t name names because he didn’t want to call anybody out, even though it is plainly obvious to anyone who looks at who he played who he’s talking about) and a fan left a comment asking about his failed paddle test at Red Rock. I checked this morning to see how he responded to it and the comment was completely gone. Interesting response lol

    Reply
    • May 9, 2023 at 1:35 pm
      Permalink

      1. His athleticism is clearly better than anyone’s in the game right now and it makes a major difference.

      5. Agreed here of course about the press conference set up.

      The switch in Tyson’s repositioning of his brand is odd and unfortunate because he previously felt like one of the more authentic people in pickleball. He was open about his struggles, talked about players in a more candid way than almost any pro and genuinely seemed to be himself. However, as more money has come into the sport and his brand has elevated, he has really leaned into this new brand that is something more bold than he used to be (mullet, tats, tank top etc.) but at the same time openly proclaiming himself as this sportsmanlike, doesn’t get involved in controversy person. It’s a weird dichotomy as he’s very willing to call others out but then talks about not wanting to be that guy who is doing exactly what he says he isn’t.

      Reply
    • May 10, 2023 at 12:27 pm
      Permalink

      he’s not crafting an image of being a “goody two shoes”. in fact he’s crafting an image of being the bad boy of pickleball. it’s all extremely performative. the mullet. the tats. the ridiculous tank tops. the chest pounding on inconsequential points. the barking. the hyping the crowd, which precipitated an “event” in Newport Beach that effected a fellow pro. the reason he brought up TW’s paddle from a few months ago is he lost that match badly and didn’t look good doing. if he can plant the idea that TW was using an illegal paddle, (like he used at RR) it makes him look better for not being able to handle the pace. Someone needs to ask the question of how many of TM’s recent medals have been from events where Ben (or matt) was not entered in any events. I think the answer may surprise.

      Reply
      • May 10, 2023 at 2:46 pm
        Permalink

        I will never stop giggling at people calling his look “bad boy”, because except for a few extra tats, he literally looks like every upper middle class suburban high school boy who plays baseball or hockey in 2023.

        Reply
      • May 15, 2023 at 11:19 am
        Permalink

        i mean his physical appearance says one thing, but lately he’s become more and more outspoken about how he doesn’t get in people’s faces, isn’t the type of person to call someone else out by name, willingly stopped using his delaminated paddle because he felt something was wrong (conveniently leaving out the fact that that was after Rettenmaier made some comments and said he was going to challenge it) and various statements like that. he’s clearly trying to position himself as a good sportsman.

        Reply
      • May 19, 2023 at 6:05 am
        Permalink

        He’s walking that line both ways. It’s a weird line

        Reply
  • May 9, 2023 at 3:33 pm
    Permalink

    Any ideas why Hannah Johns isn’t doing on-courts any more? Kamryn is doing a decent job and avoids the awkward family interactions we often got.

    Reply
    • May 9, 2023 at 4:07 pm
      Permalink

      We actually have no idea. We’ll see if we can look into. Possibly just a break but that is 100% a guess.

      Reply
  • May 10, 2023 at 11:28 pm
    Permalink

    Where did Tyson say “I don’t lose to kids” on camera, anyone know which tournament and year?

    Reply
    • May 12, 2023 at 6:06 am
      Permalink

      It was at one of the MLP events this year, either before or after playing against Hayden Patriquin and Anna Leigh Waters.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *