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Have your weekly play sessions become mundane? Boring even? It might not be who you’re playing with, but rather a sign you’ve upped your game. That’s right, you stud: It could be time for you to move up a level. Five signs you’ve outgrown your open play, below.

In This Issue:
— Top pros launch a new podcast
— Is the PPA’s new ranking system unfair?
— MLP Playoffs get underway in Dallas

In it to win it.

Top pickleball pros Anna Bright and Kate Fahey, teammates on the MLP's St. Louis Shock, have dipped their toes into the podcast waters, debuting their first episode just hours ago. It’s fun and insightful and worth a watch. Check it out.

The APP Tour is in Chicago, fighting each other and sweltering humidity for a chance at a podium spot. Big names like Jack Munro, Richard Livornese, Kat Stewart, Megan Fudge, and more are in the mix. You can follow along on YouTube. Here’s what to watch for.

You know the sound. That dead rattle that means the ball cracked two points ago, and everyone silently agrees to finish the game on it anyway. We keep the Franklin X-40 in the bag because it holds up longer. Consistent, durable, and just fast enough to stay fun. Grab a fresh pack so the cracked one can finally retire. Restock here.

In a few years, the pickleball landscape will look dramatically different… but only if we can build enough infrastructure here in the U.S. to meet the demands of the massive youth movement that’s about to crest. Start drilling now, folks — the kids are coming for our lunch money.

You’ve been playing “high intermediate” open plays for months now. Everyone knows your name. The games are fun.

And yet, you can’t help but feel like something is missing.

That void in your chest could very well be a longing for more competition. You, my friend, are ready to move up to the next level.

There’s no one-size-fits-all here. Everyone progresses at their own pace. But here are a few surefire signs it could be time to seek out better players.

✅ Routine shots are now running on autopilot. You’re not actively thinking about your court positioning or how open your paddle face is anymore. Your body just knows where to be in space and intuitively moves there.

✅ Friendly teammates or opponents have stopped telling you what to do. You’re not the newbie anymore, still learning the game. Now you’re viewed as the competition.

✅ You don’t leave a coaching session or clinic feeling like you got better. Been there, done that.

✅ You’re bored. This is a big one. Are you less enthused about your weekly play session? Do you find your mind wandering during play? Pickleball should be both physically and mentally engaging. If it’s not, you’re in the wrong place.

✅ You still win most games on your bad days. If you’re going through the motions and still wiping the floor with your opponents, you’re the problem. You’re officially sandbagging. And nobody likes a sandbagger.

One disclaimer here: Moving up a level when your skills aren’t up to par yet creates a whole new set of problems. So be honest in your assessment. When it’s time, you’ll know. But don’t force it.

➡️ Are you ready?

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Listen up, everyone. We know we say this a lot. But it really is time to tune into Major League Pickleball.

Hear us out. MLP Playoffs start today in Dallas. The stakes are real. The storylines crystal clear.

Eight teams. Head-to-head in a best-of-three series. The winners advance to round two next week in Newport Beach. The losers go home.

Here’s who’s fighting it out:

→ Brooklyn Pickleball Team (5) vs. SoCal Hard Eights (10)
→ Dallas Flash (6) vs. Las Vegas Night Owls (11)
→ Palm Beach Royals (7) vs. Chicago Slice (12)
→ Texas Ranchers (8) vs. Atlanta Bouncers (9)

To add to the intrigue, the top four seeds got to choose their opponents from the bottom four seeds in order of rank, beginning with Brooklyn, then Dallas, Palm Beach, and Texas.

We expect the top seeds to advance, with the exception, perhaps, of Texas vs. Atlanta. That one is more of a coin toss.

But the beauty of the playoffs is you never know who will rise to the occasion.

➡️ Read our full playoff preview, right here.

As recently as a few years ago, most pro pickleball players weren’t all that serious when it came to fitness, nutrition, and recovery.

“The off-court culture reminded me of a rec league,” says pro trainer Connor Derrickson, who works with Anna Bright (above) and Hayden Patriquin, among others. “Warm-ups were optional. ‘Nutrition’ was whatever the tournament venue was selling. Recovery wasn't even a conversation.”

But that has changed dramatically among the top ranks of players.

Top pros are traveling with full entourages now. They aren't seeing the tournament-provided therapist, but one on their payroll who knows their body, flies to every stop, and has hands on them before and after every match.

“Some pros are spending 5 figures a month on the team around them: private chefs, nutritionists, massage therapists, strength coaches, functional medicine, peptides, and more,” he says.

This is the new, cutthroat reality of making it in pro pickleball.

The money got real. The schedules got brutal. And the margins between good and great got razor-thin.

“Pickleball has sold itself as the sport you don't have to be fit for. That pitch built the sport, and I'm grateful for it,” says Derrickson. “But the pros are proving the opposite is true at every level: the healthier body wins more, hurts less, and plays longer.”

➡️ Read more from Connor.

Spin is the whole game now. The meta moved from smashing the ball to shaping it, which is why every big brand now has its own grit technology and its own big spin claims.

The problem is that everyone says their paddle spins. Almost nobody proves it.

JustPaddles does. Their Paddle Lab fires a ball cannon at a fixed paddle and films the result, so the RPM numbers are the paddle's own doing, not a reviewer with a good wrist.

They ran about 500 paddles through it and pulled the seven that spin the most.

CRBN, Honolulu, Selkirk, RPM, and more made the cut.

Check out 7 paddles with the most spin.

This week, the PPA Tour introduced a new universal World Pickleball Rankings system, aimed at settling the age-old question: Who is the best overall player in the world?

“Greatness isn’t one-dimensional,” PPA Tour founder and CEO Connor Pardoe said. “The World Pickleball Rankings is about clarity and credibility — one number and one global standard that tells the story of who the best players in the world truly are.”

Unlike the existing discipline-specific rankings, the new system will measure performance across singles, mixed doubles, and gender doubles, rewarding the players who consistently compete — and win — in every format.

Each player’s ranking will be calculated using their 14 best results over the previous 52 weeks. The top eight men and top eight women will compete across all three disciplines for the PPA Finals Championship.

Here’s the scoring breakdown:

Not everyone is enamored with the implications, though, especially when it comes to singles.

Under this system, top singles players like Chris Haworth, Hunter Johnson, Kaitlyn Christian, and Brooke Buckner wouldn’t get to compete in the finals, since their aggregate scores across disciplines won’t place them anywhere near the top eight.

Does the new system encourage more complete athletes or overlook those who specialize in a certain discipline?

➡️ Learn more.

A review from the Dink Fam...

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