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Apparently, a failed paddle smash is tabloid news these days. Pickleball “star” Zane Ford is randomly catching strays from TMZ for trying, and failing, to destroy his paddle after a bad singles loss to James Ignatowich. The fiery moment, below.

In other pro news, cheating continues to be the sport’s dirty, open secret, according to Dink writer Erik Tice. One particularly egregious example has him scrounging for a solution.

A quick question before you scroll:

In This Issue:
— Avoid these common pickleball pitfalls
— Zane Ford’s sorry paddle smash
— Boiling point: Pro pickleball’s cheating problem

Friday vibes.

The pro ranks are bursting with Florida-based talent, but the Sunshine State has even more to offer in The All Florida Pro League, which makes its third stop of the season in Lakeland, FL, tomorrow. Catch the team-based action live on The Dink’s YouTube Channel starting at 9 a.m. — and don’t miss the finals at 7 p.m.

Riley Inn and Luke Williams lost in PPA Orange County qualifiers, but a player illness brought the “lucky losers” back to life. Now, after a round of 16 upset, they’re facing Federico Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin in today’s quarterfinals. And they’re asking for your help.

Anna Leigh Waters just partnered with U by Kotex in what may be the first-ever menstrual care collab in pro pickleball. The message? Keep playing. The court doesn’t close once a month.

The New Jersey 5s came up just short in last year’s MLP, despite their women’s team losing one game all regular season. Well, half of that duo - Mari Humberg - returns just in time for their playoff push. Once a 5, always a 5.

Play enough pickleball and you’ll start to develop habits. Some, like varying your serves or knowing which way to pivot to defend a lob, are good. Others, not so much.

Pro Connor Garnett is here to call out four common pitfalls seen in intermediate to advanced players and, better yet, how to correct them. Sit back and take notes, the king of Twoey Nation is talking.

✅ Hitting off-balance shots. Yes, this is a fast sport. But moving through every shot hurts your ability to generate power and get back in position for the next one.
📌 How to fix it: Plant your feet under your shoulders before making contact with the ball. A stable base will help you hit more consistent shots. Bonus: You’ll be able to recover your court positioning more easily, too.

✅ Swinging too hard. You don’t need to swing out of your shoes to generate power. In fact, an easy compact swing is often all it takes. Let your legs do most of the work.
📌 How to fix it: Snap your hips open toward your intended target, get your paddle out from your body and let your arm naturally accelerate through the ball. Nice and easy.

✅ Power over placement. Any time you’re swinging above your shoulders, the tendency is to hit the ball as hard as possible somewhere in the neutral zone. But the better your opponent, the less effective this becomes.
📌 How to fix it: Instead, take some pace off and prioritize depth of return or hitting the ball back at a sharp angle. When your opponent is pinned at the baseline, these are much harder to defend.

✅ Getting overpowered on drives. It’s human nature to back away from danger, like a banger repeatedly ripping drives at your chest. We’ve all been there, but you’re doing it wrong.
📌 How to fix it: Lean into hard drives at the kitchen line, rather than backing away. (“Nose over toes,” says Connor.) Lock your wrist and keep swings compact. It’s a plastic ball, after all — don’t fear it, punish it.

👉 Watch the full video.

You’ve seen someone like her. Big smile. Breeze in her hair. Cruising on a Velotric eBike like it’s her favorite part of the day.

She’s probably headed to watch her husband play in that local 3.5 tournament. He’ll probably medal too. Or maybe she’s just off to grab a latte and do some laps around the neighborhood before the heat kicks in.

Either way, the Velotric Discover 2 makes it easy to go wherever the day takes you. 75 miles of range. Top speed of 28 mph. Super smooth. Super comfortable.

Find a dealer near you and take one for a spin. Who knows where you’ll end up.

Either yesterday was a slow news day for the folks over at TMZ, or someone on staff is a pro pickleball fan.

The tabloid site randomly dipped its toe into the world of professional pickleball, covering the crashout of Zane Ford after a bad loss to James Ignatowich, and his subsequent struggles to break his Six Zero Ruby in frustration.

“Pickleball star Zane Ford tried to unleash his frustrations on his paddle after he lost a match this week ... but as he quickly realized, his equipment is tough as hell!!” they wrote.

Ford, a solid player though not yet a “star,” pickled Ignatowich 11-0 in the first game of their round of 32 matchup in San Clemente but ended up losing the next two games 1-11, 4-11.

The ensuing paddle smash was, admittedly, tough to watch. Ford cracked his Ruby, full-force, several times on the court, then attempted to finish the job over his knee, not once but twice. The paddle bent but didn’t break. Yet another loss for Ford.

“I’m sorry for damaging such a beautiful paddle,” Ford said on Instagram, conceding his emotions got the best of him. “I want to be the best player in the world. This is my life.”

Love playing pickleball but can’t be bothered to watch the pros? We get it; with so many events, and so many matches, and so many different pros competing seemingly every weekend, who has the time?

Let us help. Here are three round of 32 matches from the ongoing PPA Orange County Cup that are worth a watch, all for different reasons.

1️⃣ (3) Tyra Black and Parris Todd vs. (35) Nicole Conrad and Amanda Rosati. This entire match takes 10 minutes and ends in the elusive double pickle. You’ve got to see it to believe it.

2️⃣ (9) Jack Sock vs. (6) Tyson McGuffin. These guys are MLP partners on the Phoenix Flames and genuinely good buddies off the court, and it shows. No two guys are having more fun playing pickleball than Jack and Tyson in this match.

3️⃣ Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquin vs. Noe Khlif and Kate Fahey. This is a slugfest between some of the game’s best, with the added intrigue of Kate being MLP teammates with Anna and Hayden. Forty-five minutes of top-tier ball.

Today is quarterfinal Friday, with 20 matches being played across all disciplines. Storylines abound — follow along on X for live updates.

You probably didn’t notice it at first. Same red, blue, and now purple colorways. Still edgeless. Still that clean silhouette.

But Selkirk just gave the LUXX Control Air a serious upgrade.

The new InfiniGrit surface gives you 3x longer-lasting spin than raw carbon. They also added EVA foam in the throat and handle for more power, and reworked the aerodynamic throat.

It’s sleeker now. Some say it kind of looks like the Batman logo. Same feel you love. New tech under the hood.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Cheating in pro pickleball is holding the sport back.

No other professional sport with millions of dollars in prize money on the line puts the rules so subjectively in the hands of the players. As long as pros continue to call their own lines during PPA-sanctioned events, the sport will continue to tread water. No sanctioned betting. No “Olympic Aspirations.” No peace, love and harmony.

A heated exchange at PPA Orange County is just the latest egregious example: In a round of 32 match between (11) Travis Rettenmaier and Connor Garnett and (44) Callan Dawson and Etienne Blaszkewycz, one blatant out call was purposefully countered by another.

“I called it out ON PURPOSE,” Rettenmaier posted to social about an obviously IN ball he called OUT as payback. “Hook me and I’ll hook you back, Etienne Blaszkewycz. I got no time for that sh*t.”

Pro pickleball’s cheating problem is clearly out in the open. So what do we do about it?

Erik Tice breaks down some options, including line judges on every court (probably not happening), retroactive penalty enforcement (more of a deterrent than a solution), or a centralized, real-time review system (now we’re talking).

👉 Read Erik’s full breakdown.

A review from the Dink Fam...

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