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You want to get better at pickleball, right? Of course you do. Well, you can keep playing with the same four people on repeat and hoping for a miracle…

Or you can watch the best pros in the world play the biggest matches of their lives and see if maybe, just maybe, you can pick up a thing or two. MLP quarterfinals start now. Tune in, take notes.

In This Issue:
— Court wars heat up in Cape Cod
— Pro Zoey Weil previews MLP playoffs
— Random rec guy won’t wear a shirt

Who’s coming with us?

One intrepid newbie was feeling timid about committing to his first open play. “Not gonna lie, I'm more nervous about looking dumb than actually losing.” Luckily, he received some sound advice in return: Announce you’re new to this and the pressure instantly fades. Most importantly, have fun. It’s not that serious.

Dude Perfect posted a video ranking the “Top 10 HARDEST impossible walls” — progressively smaller holes participants send different objects through. Tom Brady nailed the smallest target in just 10 tries. It took Christian Alshon more than 1,000.

We told you about the $50 3D-printed ball being mandated on public courts in Cape Cod. Well, it’s in effect. And players are not loving it, to say the least. A petition to fight back has 600 signatures and counting.

We know, we know. It’s not the tools, it’s the carpenter. But when it comes to hitting a two-handed backhand, it does help to have a little extra handle real estate to get a good grip. These prime paddles can help with that.

Tanner Tomassi is probably the most prolific content creator in all of pickleball. The dude has been at it so long, he literally wrote the book on how to improve every facet of your game.

But he doesn’t just talk the talk. He’s been a pro on the APP Tour for four years now, amassing plenty of podium spots along the way.

Through it all, of course, he’s kept careful notes. Here are a few of the most important tips he’s discovered the hard way.

✅ Time is currency. Advanced strategy really boils down to this: You want to take time away from your opponent and buy as much of it as possible for yourself. The single best way to do this is to be an active hunter at the kitchen line, leaning in and taking as many balls aggressively out of the air as possible.

✅ Play smart, not stubborn. Dink battles start neutral, but soon enough the advantage shifts. If you’re getting pushed out wide or short-hopping every cross-court dink, you’ve ceded the upper hand. Recognize this, and hit reset — quite literally by resetting the ball back to the middle of the kitchen. Just like that: clean slate.

✅ Be a master of disguise. Predictability is death in pickleball. Your best shot isn’t all that great once your opponent catches on and starts expecting it. At the kitchen, the easiest way to add deception is deliberately pausing before you hit a dink. Vary the length for effect. Just know that adding this slight delay wreaks havoc on your opponents’ timing and ability to read where the shot is going.

Tanner has a few more up his sleeve as well. Some of them you might know, but a handful, we guarantee, you’re not incorporating into your game as much as you think you are.

➡️ Tanner walked so we can run.

Some days you draw the opponent who hits everything as hard as they can, and you'd give anything for a little more control.

Other days it's the one who just keeps resetting and never hands you a ball to attack, and you'd love more power.

Most paddles make you pick a lane and live with it.

The Selkirk Omni doesn't. The weights pop on and off in seconds. More control when the pace is too hot, more power when you need to make something happen, balanced when you're walking in blind. One paddle, set for whoever's across the net.

It still hits and sounds like a Selkirk. It just stopped making you choose.

Start hitting with the OMNI (and don’t forget to use code ADV-THEDINK for $40 back at checkout).

If you’re into Major League Pickleball, today should feel like Christmas. Or your birthday. Or some other occasion that gives you endless joy. You get the idea.

Quarterfinal action begins this evening (5 pm EDT) from Newport Beach, CA. First up is Ranchers vs. Shock, followed by Flash vs. Mad Drops.

If you want to know what’s going on before the first serve, Zane and Nico have you covered.

And if you’re sick of all this MLP talk, well, good news: it’ll all be over soon.

Here’s a fun debate lighting up the comments section over on Facebook:

“I play at a public court in the morning. There is a guy who will routinely play with his shirt off. It doesn’t bother me too much, but I can tell it makes the women uncomfortable. Has anybody experienced this? How did you handle it?”

The general consensus boils down to this: Get over it.

If the courts are outdoors and public, there’s really not a whole lot you can do about it. Maybe try focusing on your unforced errors instead?

But you tell us…

Most pickleball apparel is one of two things. Golf gear with a different logo, or a t-shirt that happens to fit a court.

Six Zero skipped both. Their first full men's and women's collection was built around how the sport actually moves, not adapted from something else.

Four-way stretch that doesn't fight a lunge. Quick-dry fabric for the third match of the day, when your first shirt gave up an hour ago. Wear-tested by real players before it ever shipped.

Get a new set for the court.

It’s one thing to religiously watch and analyze every minute of professional pickleball (looking at you, Erik Tice), it’s another to live it on the court.

On this, the opening day of MLP Newport Beach, we asked pro Zoey Weil to share a few storylines she’s most excited for.

Here’s what’s on her quarterfinals bingo card:

🎯 What Texas Ranchers team shows up? “As a former MLP champion and one of the fiercest competitors on tour, I know Lea Jansen can find another gear. I’m not sure Kaitlyn Christian will be able to bring it out of her though.”

🎯 Ben’s revenge. “If Ben Johns wanting ‘revenge’ for his performance in San Diego was part of the Drops’ reasoning in choosing Dallas, I think the Drops will win. If it was something else, then my money is on JW and the squad to keep their level up.”

🎯 Rusty or rested? “The Sliders haven’t competed in nearly a month. If playoff Andrei shows up in Newport, I wouldn’t want to be the Brooklyn team.”

As a reminder, action gets underway today through Sunday, with matchups as follows:

Want to impress your friends with your MLP playoff ball knowledge? Zoey Weil is your new official cheat code.

➡️ More from Zoey.

A review from the Dink Fam...

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