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Admit it: You’ve toyed with the idea of being a pro pickleball player. We all have. No matter your age or skill level, the temptation is out there. And it’s tantalizing. On this week’s PicklePod, top men’s singles player and recent PPA gold medalist Chris Haworth offers some free advice: If you want to be the best, you have to play the best.

Speaking of players on the come-up, Dennis Uspensky of viral hooking fame sat down for an interview with Zane Navratil. As you might expect, it’s one wild ride.

In This Issue:
— Dennis Uspensky speaks: ‘I didn’t do anything’
— It’s time to chop the chicken wing for good
— The Luzz Cannon comes back from the dead

Buckle up.

Last week’s PPA Virginia Beach Cup reminded us all that when Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters are locked in, the talent gap between them and the rest of the field is vast. Can anyone challenge their thrones? Zane Navratil and Erik Tice discuss on this week’s PicklePod.

Jack Munro is the 21-year-old college senior and ambidextrous APP #1 ranked pickleball pro who was never supposed to play pickleball. A shoulder injury sidelined him from baseball in middle school, so he picked up a paddle to pass the time. “I literally never played another second of baseball after,” he said. Good call, Jack.

Elite pros require elite equipment, sure. But for the rest of us, how much does all this new paddle tech really impact our games? It all comes down to finding a paddle that amplifies your strengths and compensates for your weaknesses. Then sticking with it.

In a candid interview, Zane Navratil talked to “the most hated man in pickleball,” Dennis Uspensky, about his viral hooking video and the subsequent fallout. As he tells it, he and the other player, Noah Torres, have a checkered history and no shortage of bad blood. “There’s always two sides to a story,” he said.

Ultimately, Dennis openly admitted to cheating. But he is not at all sorry. “This is very soft,” he told Zane. “I didn’t do anything.”

There's this moment that happens to almost every pickleball player. You're at the kitchen line, someone fires a speedup right at your shoulder, and suddenly your arm contorts in a way that looks and feels like you must have just picked up a paddle for the first time.

You know the position. The dreaded chicken wing. It's awkward, it's weak, and the resulting shot usually ends with the ball either sailing long or dying in the net.

APP pro Jack Munro recently teamed up with up-and-comer Elliott Schupp to break down exactly why this happens and, more importantly, how to fix it.

✅ Keep your elbow tucked. This is non-negotiable. If your elbow drifts outside your body, you're just chicken-winging your forehand instead of your backhand, which is arguably worse.

✅ Short backswing. Like most counters, this shot demands a compact motion. Take a big backswing and you'll be late, sailing balls 10 feet long. A short punch lets you recover and reload faster. You're back to neutral before the next ball arrives.

✅ Let the paddle face do the work. When you open up on your forehand side, your paddle naturally faces down without any extra wrist manipulation. On the backhand side, you have to break your wrist significantly to angle the paddle down. The forehand counter automatically puts the ball at your opponent's feet, exactly where you want it.

➡️ Watch the full video.

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Chris Haworth made history after not losing a men's singles match in more than a year over on the APP Tour.

Now just over a month into his fresh PPA Tour contract, he's already chalked up a big win, beating Christian Alshon in the finals at the Virginia Beach Cup.

Haworth joined host Zane Navratil on this week's PicklePod to talk about the win. But he also had some candid advice to any amateurs who are aspiring to turn pro.

“It’s so hard right now to break through," he said. “I think the PPA Challenger Series is a great option for people, just to see where your level is.”

Haworth is a big proponent of testing yourself against other aspiring pros, and a great place to do that is PPA Challenger events. If you can't win there, you're probably not ready to take it to the next level.

“If you feel like your level is high, you’ll get some good results, you’ll get some eyes on you," he said. "From there, I think the pickleball world is so good at helping each other. Meeting people along the way, making good connections. The more people you know, the better. Just get your name out there.”

It's not easy, he acknowledges, especially given most amateurs are working full-time, then training and competing on nights and weekends. It's time-intensive. And expensive.

Zane has been there. And he agrees that playing as much as possible, against the best competition you can compete against, is the only path to the top. The deck may be stacked against you, but one thing is undeniable. “Being good at pickleball trumps all,” said Zane.

If you do claw your way into the main PPA Tour, it’s eat what you kill. And Haworth wouldn’t have it any other way.

“If you think you can do it, and you believe in yourself, you’ve got to just go for it and commit," he said.

➡️ Watch Chris on the PicklePod.

Back in April, we told you about the Luzz Cannon being blacklisted by the UPA-A from all professional play.

We don't know exactly what happened – call it a technicality, or a loophole, or just an innocent oversight – but we do know this: One paddle (the Cannon) was submitted as a design variation of another (the ZZ), when in reality it should have been submitted as a separate model.

Basically, the Cannon passed paddle testing under questionable circumstances.

At the time, Luzz was an under-the-radar brand. And the Cannon came out of nowhere. More consequential still, it seemed to live up to its name.

It felt like a bait-and-switch. And UPA-A President Jason Aspes wasn't having any of it: “Violating UPA-A rules has consequences. Our commitment to protecting the integrity of pickleball is absolute… and we will not tolerate actions that undermine that principle.”

The UPA-A responded swiftly and with force, banning all Luzz models from professional use. The brand went quiet for a few months, but came roaring back this fall, reintroducing the Cannon, plus two other models – the Inferno and the Tornazo – to largely critical praise.

Paddle reviewer John Kew took them all for a test drive, and left feeling quite impressed.

➡️ Watch his ‘Quick Hits’ review.

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This weekend at the brand new (and not yet open to the public) Side Out Tsunami Pickleball Center in Seattle, 12 teams will battle it out for the National Pickleball League Championship — a title and tour dedicated to players 50 years old and above.

The top four teams receive a first-round bye:

The remaining eight teams — Austin Ignite, Boca Surge, Denver Iconics, Houston Hammers, Indy Drivers, Kansas City Stingers, Naples JBB United, and Princeton Bruisers — will open tournament play in the first round.

The Boca Surge were crowned league champions in Cincinnati, Ohio, last year.

All matches will stream live on the NPL’s YouTube channel and Selkirk TV.

NPL made headlines recently for expanding its offerings beyond just the 50+ set to include new elite leagues for 40+ and 60+ players.

➡️ Learn more about the NPL.

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