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October is already shaping up to be a big month for paddle nerds. Six buzzy new releases are hitting the market, including fresh drops from JOOLA, Gearbox, RPM and more. We break down the ones worth watching below.

In This Issue:
— 6 hyped paddles dropping soon
— One pro’s trick to play bigger
— 3 fastest ways to improve

Spooky season, indeed.

The 2026-27 College Pickleball Tour kicks off this weekend, and there’s already plenty of intrigue. Big-name transfers, loaded rosters, and an Indiana-Purdue rivalry highlight the biggest storylines to watch.

Playing more pickleball isn’t necessarily the fastest way to improve. PPA pro Ava Ignatowich says purposeful drilling, studying film, and treating every point like it matters can help accelerate the process.

Slow-rolling the ball under the net. Ruthlessly targeting the weakest player in rec play. Serving before anyone can hear the score. Reddit’s pickleball community is airing its grievances, and some of these hit a little too close to home.

Men and women have been part of the same pro pickleball product from the beginning — and that matters. From mixed doubles to league structure and the sport itself, here are three reasons equal pay took hold in pickleball when it hasn’t elsewhere.

PPA pro Nico Acevedo joined the PicklePod this week to talk about his rapid ascent through the ranks of pro pickleball, capped by a fantastic MLP season with the Texas Ranchers and a PPA Arizona men’s doubles finals appearance alongside Yuta Funemizu.

The fiery Chilean isn’t the tallest player on tour — he stands just 5’ 6” — but his presence looms far larger.

To get himself in the right headspace, he told Zane and Nico, he follows a simple but effective routine: When he steps on the court, he actively switches his brain into “Airplane Mode.”

No outside stimulus. No distractions. No concerns whatsoever aside from the next shot and being the best partner he can possibly be.

And it shows. The dude is locked in on every point, unruffled by opponents’ trash talk, questionable line calls, getting violently body-bagged… you name it. Nico plays Nico’s game. And he’s ruthless in his commitment to winning every point possible.

Like any skill or muscle, this can be trained to your advantage. It might not come easily at first, but commit to it every time you play and you, too, can play with an outsized presence just like Nico.

And who doesn’t want that?

➡️ Hear Nico explain.

What makes the Franklin ACV Pro special? Nobody designed it like a tennis shoe.

Franklin brought in Bryan Cioffi, whose résumé includes Nike, Reebok, and Converse, to design the ACV Pro from the ground up.

You can tell they’re built around how pickleball is actually played: a wide toe box, herringbone tread, and a build that doesn't fade.

No break-in, and the grip, cushion, and lockdown keep holding up. Pros like Hayden Patriquin play in them.

Try the Franklin ACV Pro.

Six Zero didn’t build its reputation by slapping a logo on someone else’s paddle.

From its early thermoformed designs and the Double Black Diamond to today’s Coral Pro and Diamond Tough surface grit, the brand has made R&D a core part of its identity — even when the experiments don’t work.

Founder and CEO Dale Young is refreshingly candid about that reality: in a paddle market moving this fast, one miss can hurt. And he should know… the Boulder Opal was technically ahead of its time, but hit the wrong market at the wrong time.

Still, Six Zero keeps swinging.

Its Australian R&D facility can now manufacture and thermoform prototypes in-house, and the company has already logged more than 600 prototype paddles in 2026 alone. Diamond Tough, its durable grit technology, helped reignite momentum this year and has become a defining feature of the popular Coral Pro. Meanwhile, the original Double Black Diamond remains one of Six Zero’s bestsellers four years after launch.

And they’re already working on what comes next.

Six Zero is mapping energy return across 54 different points on a paddle face, experimenting with AI-assisted optimization and developing future generations of technology extending into 2028.

As Young puts it: “What we’re working on now is what people will be scrambling over two years from now.”

➡️ The story behind Six Zero.

Hearing specialists spend their careers knowing exactly what great clarity sounds like. When they point to one device above all others, it's worth paying attention.

Horizon IX is the world's first dual-processing hearing aid that separates speech from background noise in real time. The result? Warm, natural sound, anywhere life gets loud.

Nearly invisible, rechargeable, and trusted by over 670K people. To see why audiologists call it the best, claim your 45-day no-risk trial.

Claim your trial.

Happy October — the official beginning of spooky season and, perennially, a big month for exciting new pickleball paddles.

This year is no exception.

There are six new paddles coming out from brands big and small that The Dink team is particularly hyped about. New grit surfaces, new tech, and brand-new horizons for one of the most established brands in the sport.

And before you ask, because we know you're going to ask, yes: the majority of these come with a durable grit surface texture.

Our guy Nico the Lefty, co-host of the PicklePod, walks you through each one.

➡️ Time for an upgrade?

A review from the Dink Fam...

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