PPA Texas Open Shootout – Live Random Thoughts

📸 PPA Tour

We will have our mock draft up a little bit later on Thursday but you know we’ll have some thoughts on the action this weekend. We may be sticking with the live random thoughts for the time being though.

In one of the dumber moves we have seen, the streaming is on a one match delay. The PPA commented on this saying it is Fox Sports’ decision to do all weekend for better streaming quality, even though Fox is only broadcasting championship sunday (not sure what Fox as it is obviously not big Fox). People like to follow live sports not tape delayed sports. If this is Fox’s decision, was this discussed prior to entering their contract? Going on record that this is a bad idea (Edit: assuming it is not just a one time venue specific decision).

Sunday, October 3rd – Championship Sunday

5:20 pm EST (Gritty) – Match isn’t on until later but don’t write the obituary just yet. Simone and Lucy come back from 2 games down to beat the Waters. While the Waters are back to competing at the highest level, Lucy and Simone remain on top for the time being.

Ben and Matt won.

12:56 pm EST (Gritty) – Another Jansen vs. AL championship match, another AL 3 game victory. The first game was very close and you wonder how the match goes if that ends up Lea’s way. The 3rd was close but Jansen’s mistakes let it slip away. This is starting to trend towards a bit of a Ben and Tyson situation with the two of them the clear top 2 in pickleball for female singles but, right now, a clear 1 and 2 as well.

11:14 am EST (Gritty) – It’s unclear what is going on today with some of the matches not on FS2 until 6 pm EST, and whether those will be shown on delay.

Anyway, Tyson and Callie get a 3 game straight games victory over Jay and Jessie. Smith was so good all match as her hands are either the best or 2nd best in the female game. It’s a game changer for the woman to be able to speed up the guy and still be able to win a bunch of the hand fights. Callie is one of the very select women that can. They got a lot of net luck today but they were also just better.

Saturday, October 2nd – Gender Doubles

5:35 pm EST (Gritty) – Wilson and Koller with a stellar 4th place day. They are the giant killers this weekend with wins over Tyson and Riley and Jay and Pat. While Newman and McGuffin pull out a bronze, they barely squeaked by Yates/Frazier 16-14 who showed that they could hang with the best of them at least today.

The Waters are back at the championship Sunday thing as they down Parenteau/Irvine for the second straight tournament in 2 games. They’ll face off against Simone/Lucy who are trying to show they are still on top. The bronze is in a rain delay now with Stratman/Koop winning the first game 11-5 over Parenteau/Irvine.

It’s a giant day for the Rob’s though as they do get the benefit of Yates/Frazier and Wilson/Koller’s upset wins to be able to get to championship Sunday without having to go through a top end team. You only beat the team’s you play and this has got to feel good for a pairing that has been a tough out all year.

12:33 pm EST (Gritty) – Just as soon as we discuss Koller/Wilson, we see a big upset over Tyson and Riley in 2 games. Koller’s rise is something else right now.

12:12 pm EST (Gritty) – After being leaving Kyle Yates undrafted in our MLP mock draft, Yates goes out to prove today that he is not washed and is deserving of the #10 male selection in the MLP draft. Him and Frazier had a very nice come from behind win against Jay/Pat. When Yates plays that right side with patience and doesn’t get into a pattern with his attacks, he is still very strong in that role. We just don’t see him in that role much anymore. Frazier is a good fit for him with being able to be a more dominant player. They were able to come down a game and 8-5-1 in game 2. Their match against Nunnery/Cassidy is one I hope we get to watch.

Wilson/Koller also had a very nice close win over Jeff Warnick and Zane Navaratil. Thomas Wilson continuing to get some wins with his cousin, Koller, and we keep mentioning that you have to keep an eye out for him so long as he wants to play more tournaments.

Friday, October 1st – Mixed Doubles

3:58 pm EST (Gritty) – Huge day for AL and JW Johnson. They get through Matt and Lucy, then handily beat Dekel and Vivienne. They went down 4-0 in game 2 and then cruised 11-6 from there. They do get the benefit of the Simone/Ben withdrawal (not sure why but maybe Ben’s exam) as that was a match both of them looked discouraged in earlier in the day. Not a shocker with them on the podium but this podium is a no doubt shocker with all 3 teams on podium not in our top 3. Callie and Tyson were due for a breakout Slim thought and they did it this weekend. Fun day!

1:55 pm EST (Gritty) – First update of the day and so many fascinating results. Let’s start with the rough day for Riley Newman and Catherine Parenteau. Coming off their first gold together in Orlando, they lose in two tight ones to Callie Smith and Tyson McGuffin, then drop in the losers bracket 15-9 to Jansen and Koller. There’s more talent and it shows how hard it is to be the best all the time as Simone/Ben have been since 2020.

Jade Kawamoto had a solid day with Yates. After losing to Jansen and Koller, some good wins in the backside ultimately bowing out 17-15 to Dekel Bar and Vivienne David. Even if Yana Grechkina took down Jackie Kawamoto earlier, both the sisters are legit and this result confirms that. They just need to play more.

Another upset is Lucy and Matt going down to Jay and Jessie. I liked the upside of this team, but regretted my selection a bit after seeing McGuffin and Smith have their upset win. No longer any regret as they are playing on championship sunday and we get another new mixed final to look forward to. Mixed days are starting to get fun!

Thursday, September 30th – Singles

6:00 pm EST (Gritty) – Tyson does get a bronze and you know the man is never going to give up. He is public about liking the single elimination but he has had a couple of these days where you know he wished he had a shot to get back to gold.

Catherine Parenteau does get bronze and it’s really a good win for her after losing to Callie Smith recently. It’s not going to feel great for Parenteau having been so close to AL, but a solid bronze nonetheless.

4:20 pm EST (Slim) – The women’s gold medal match is set, after Anna Leigh squeaked by Catherine 11-13, 14-12, 11-2. It will be interesting to watch this match when we eventually get it on the stream to see what happened. What changed between the first two games and the third where Anna Leigh ran away with it. The Anna Leigh vs. Lea Jansen gold medal match on Sunday will be interesting, Anna Leigh ran away with it, the last time these two played, but Lea was talking on Tyson’s podcast about having more of a game plan, the next time they played, it will be interesting to see what she comes out with.

The men’s bronze medal match is set between John Cincola and Tyson McGuffin. Cincola reached the bronze medal after another loser’s bracket withdrawal from Nunnery. You have to tip your hat to Cincola who keeps getting it done in singles, as a guy who is over 40, it is very impressive.

3:15 pm EST (Slim) – The men’s gold medal match is set with Zane Navatril set to take on JW Johnson. Zane made relatively quick work of Tyson beating him 11-6, 11-5, when Zane’s serve and passing shots are on like they were, he is a very tough match up Tyson. It has to be a frustrating day for Tyson, to not reach the gold medal match on a day when Ben is not in the field. JW took out Rob Nunnery in three games, 8-11, 11-5, 11-1. It has been an impressive day for Nunnery, and will be interesting to see if he has anything left on the loser’s side of the bracket.

On the women’s side Lea Jansen, took out Callie Smith 11-4, 11-9 to reach the gold medal match. She will play the winner of Anna Leigh and Catherine, who are playing in the other semi-final.

I just have to say between the delay, and the attempt by the PPA to hide the scores, it has been a beyond frustrating day as a pickleball fan.

1:14 pm EST (Gritty) – JW Johnson and Devilliers are currently in game 2 on the live stream even though we know JW won in 3 already. It’s a big win for JW who has had a bit of a dip in his singles performance after the breakout at TOC. He’ll be favored against Rob Nunnery who is also having a heck of a day. No back draw withdrawal today for Nunnery but you have to wonder how this might affect his doubles game the rest of the weekend.

Did not notice this earlier but in another weekly edition of terrible PPA seeding, Anna Leigh Waters was not a top 2 seed in this tourney and had to play Irina in round 1. She won 11-1, 12-10 but not a fair match for either player to start the day.

Last comment goes to Thomas Wilson who has just beaten Dylan Frazier in the backdraw and FAD on the winners side earlier. Wilson is playing a bit more these days and is a name to watch if he keeps playing more.

12:12 pm EST (Gritty) – Tape delay aside, we still can talk about results. Rob Nunnery is a talented man and the fact that he can just go out and win singles is impressive. 2 game win against Spencer Smith.

Brandon French also beat AJ Koller quite easily and FAD won over Dylan Frazier. Those results are unlikely to impact the podium but interesting nonetheless.

USA Pickleball Tournament of Champions – 5 Takeaways – JW Bandwagon SZN

Photo Credit: Belinda Elaine Photography

The second major of the year led to a lot of scrambling due to the weather in Brigham City, Utah this past weekend. The fact that they have these crazy huge indoor facilities now in Utah made life managable at the Tournament of Champions (TOC) and they were able to get all the matches in. The Picklr facility was able to accommodate all but the final day where they moved indoors for the medal matches. Our brief thoughts on the matches can be found in the live blog. We didn’t have takeaways for you all last week but we’re back at it with our usual post tourney 5.

1. JW Bandwagon SZN (Slim) – This certainly isn’t the first time we have talked about young JW and it certainly won’t be the last time we talk about him either, but I think it is fair to say that TOC was his official breakout party. In a tournament featuring almost all of the sport’s biggest names, he took gold in men’s singles, bronze in mixed doubles and fourth in men’s doubles.

The gold medal in men’s singles was obviously the crowning achievement. En route to gold he had to hand Ben Johns his first loss in 170 matches (stat courtesy of the Dink)! And then follow that up by beating world number two Tyson McGuffin, twice. In doing so he left little doubt that he was the best player on the court that day. I think at this point JW has clearly put himself in the conversation for top men’s singles player (non-Ben Johns Division).

He followed up that singles in performance, in mixed, where after a rough start to the day and his partner Lea Jansen was dealing with some health issues, they were able to battle all the way back through the loser’s bracket to win bronze. Johnson rounded out the weekend with fourth place in a deep men’s doubles field, playing with Dylan Frazier.

We had seen JW have some big weekends before but this was the first time we’ve seen him do it in a field featuring most of the game’s top players. It’s hard not to be excited about what the future might hold for the soon to be 19 year old phenom and it’s also a little hard not to like the ever understated Johnson.

2. Simone Jardim jumping off the bandwagon SZN? (Gritty) – It’s now 2 weeks in a row m without a gold medal in women’s doubles for Simone Jardim. Two weekends ago at the Denver PPA, Jardim and Kovalova lost twice to Jessie Irvine and Catherine Parenteau. They were able to win the 2 out of 3 in the gold match, but then lost a tight one 16-14 in the game to 15. It was essentially the same story at TOC where they lost twice, except they couldn’t quite get to the game to 15. One weekend is an aberration, especially when Kovalova had to withdraw in mixed the day before due to altitude sickness. Two weekends is something to talk about.

The reason the TOC loss is something to discuss is not just because Jardim lost but it’s the way in which she lost. It has become clear that teams are targeting Jardim over Kovalova in these matchups. Jardim can grind the dink battles like no one else in the women’s game but she doesn’t have quite the pop to punish high balls or to counter the speed ups. The last couple of weeks, Jardim has had few answers for Parenteau and Irvine who have been steady as can be. In the gold medal match at TOC, Jardim was clearly frustrated as she was more impatient than I have ever seen her play. Her impatience was sort of working better but the fact that Jardim had to last resort her way to play a style that runs counter to everything she stands for was jarring to watch. 

This is something to monitor going forward from a player who basically never loses with Lucy Kovalova as her partner. It’s only 2 weeks and I don’t want to get too caught up in small sample sizes, but it appears the top teams may have found a formula against Jardim/Kovalova that no longer makes them unbeatable. Irvine came out the past two weeks and showed that it is possibly more a partnership thing rather than her own issues that have led to spotty 2021 results. Can Jardim show that these past two weeks are an outlier rather than a downward trend for the female GOAT of pickleball?

3. Ben Johns Bored (Slim) – In the last three weeks we have seen the improbable, Ben Johns losing in singles and mixed. It was inevitable that Ben was going to lose in both of these at some point and statistically it was likely way overdue. Winning 170 straight matches, as he did in singles, in anything, is absolutely absurd, it’s not supposed to happen. I don’t think there is any need to do some deep dive into Ben’s game. He is still clearly the best player in the world, and losses happen. I do think it is fair though to ask if Ben is bored? I think when you have the period of unmatched excellence that Ben has had, at least a sense of complacency is almost inevitable. Although these losses may provide Ben with some short term motivation, I do think it’s woryh asking if we continue not to get the absolute best version of Ben that we could see until someone comes along who can truly push him on a week in, week out basis.

4. Women’s Singles (Gritty) – It’s no secret that a lot of the women’s draws, particularly in singles, are often limited in number of teams/players in a given draw at a lot of pro events. Even in the bigger draws, the numbers don’t reach near the size of the men’s draws. At TOC this weekend, the women’s singles draw was sad to put it simply. It was already a small draw to begin with but, on Saturday, it ended up being a 4-player bracket – Anna Leigh Waters, Callie Smith, Irina Tereschenko and Michelle Esquivel. While that is a strong foursome, it’s not good that we can’t get more than 4 teams in a draw for a major event. It’s hard to understand why Catherine Parenteau does not even register in such a small field when one or two wins puts you into the winners bracket final. I will note that Lea Jansen had to withdraw due to health issues.

There seems there is some kind of negative feedback loop going on here. For pros on the level of Lauren Stratman, who was initially registered in the TOC singles draw, it must feel like a waste of time and pounding on the body for a very possible 0-2 day. Money is often discussed as a significant barrier for entry into this sport. Without sponsors helping to cover travel and entry fees, going to a single tournament on your own is an expensive endeavor. In such small fields, there aren’t many wins out there for new players so what is the point of spending a couple hundred bucks on an entry fee to go 0-2 or 1-2. Unlike the men’s draws where a non-pro can legitimately find their way to 2 or 3 wins on a given day, there aren’t enough players in the women’s draws to find your way to some competitive matches. It has to be discouraging for newer players to find themselves playing a top 10 player in both their first round match and possibly their first losers bracket matchup. 

That’s a lot of words for me to say I don’t know what the solution is. The pro tours are paying out the same for the women’s fields compared to the far bigger men’s fields but that is not incentivizing more players to play pro singles events even when it appears there is “free money” that is up for grabs. For a new female entering the sport, singles seems to be the place where you can actually make some money if you are willing to grind through that initial stage of likely failure. However, if the draws continue to be small with top end talent, there’s going to be even less incentive for newer and even 2^nd and 3^rd tier pros to subject themselves to the singles grind.

5. ESPN Plus (Gritty) – What you see on the Pickleball Forum is not necessarily representative of the entire population but every time there’s a tournament that puts some of its matches on a paid streaming service like ESPN plus, there are always complaints about not being able to watch the matches without payinf. It is especially problematic when people pay for the service then the matches just end up being streamed on Youtube and Facebook like they were this weekend due to IP issues from ESPN.

I am always curious with more stuff going on places like ESPN plus, as TOC had for the most part this past weekend, if these networks are helpful for the growth of the sport. My intuition without any inside information about the actual viewing numbers is that the sport would be better served slowly growing numbers through free streaming instead of trying to legitimize itself by paying a network like ESPN to broadcast the sport.

There is always a lot of hoopla about this tournament or that tournament being on ESPN plus or ESPN2 (even if it is ESPN 2 during the Super Bowl, which means no one is watching). The recent “big” news has been the PPA’s deal with Fox Sports where Fox Sports is the exclusive broadcast partner of the PPA for 2022. Assuming PPA’s championship Sundays are not shown on the big Fox station, personally, it’s hard to get that excited about pickleball being on one of their subsidiary channels like FS1 and FS2 that really only get real viewership numbers when they throw an MLB playoff game or a bigger NASCAR event in an attempt to drive viewers to the network. These USA Pickleball run tournaments also seem to all be broadcast on ESPN plus and if there aren’t many people tuning in then it could mean less eyeballs on a sport that needs as many eyeballs as possible right now.

I can’t be fully confident in my gut sense that these partnerships with big name networks like ESPN and Fox Sports are only better for headlines than actually attracting more viewers to pickleball without seeing what the ratings look like. But this should be a long term game and I’m going to continue to be skeptical of the long-term benefits of these major network partnerships until I see proof to the contrary.

Fantasy Update: It was a full on whooping this weekend as Slim smoked Gritty 18-10. Gritty got no points in mixed or men’s singles, and did not get anything from Lea Jansen who had to withdraw in singles. Not getting any points from #1 overall pick Ben Johns in singles wasn’t the difference but it was indicative of the week that was to come.

Slim is now 1 up on the year.

Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments below or email us at nmlpickleball@gmail.com