Dekel Bar cures your erne blindness

Newman's return to gold. It's Nationals week in AZ.

November 11, 2024

Happy Veterans Day. A big thank you to all who have served and continue to serve in the armed forces.

We’d like to highlight one member of the Oregon Air National Guard, who is not only a pickleball player but has won two golds at Nationals (BTW it’s Nationals week). Nicole Cooper is pictured below holding a fist full of medals.

In This Issue:

👀 The erne opportunity you’re not looking for
📈 98% of matches won had this in common
🏆 Newman back on top at Worlds

Happy Veterans Day.

Our Picks ☝️

🤕 NPR: Meet the 17-year-old defending her title as pickleball World Champion

Anna Leigh Waters made an appearance on NPR over the weekend. Listen to her tell the story of the first time she beat her coach/mom in a singles match at the age of 12.

🛠️ Renovations: Movie theatre turned into pickleball courts

Loyd Center, a mall in Portland, OR, is being repurposed as a mixed-use development that includes shopping, housing, and entertainment venues. The development includes a 45,000 sqft, 8-court pickleball facility in the former Regal Cinemas.

🎥 Video: Trying out for the UCLA pickleball team

Go behind the scenes with student-athlete Stella Tran at UCLA as she attends tryouts for the pickleball team and the badminton team. College pickleball gets more competitive by the day.

📋 Record: Getting it done year after year

Riley Newman’s title in Dallas keeps him in the exclusive club of players who have won a title every year since 2020. Can you name the other two?

Missing Out on Erne Opportunities

We all know the most common erne scenario for left-side players. The opponent straight ahead has their head down as is trying to dink a ball down the line.

Dekel Bar hits more ernes than any other player and shares another opportunity he looks for when trying to line up and erne.

The Cross-court Erne
If your opponent is dinking or even dropping cross-court, you should be looking for an erne opportunity. They’re trying to land a ball near your left foot to force you into hitting a difficult backhand dink.

You can turn that corner into a no-fly zone by presenting the threat of an erne. As Dekel explains in Raise the Bar, timing is everything. You want to wait until your opponent is hitting their shot to prevent tipping your hand.

The timing is hard to learn and you might look like a fool on the first couple. But don’t worry, even the failed attempts show that the erne is a threat and will limit where your opponent can hit the ball.

This adds pressure to your opponent’s shots and could pay off in the form of dink or drop errors throughout a match. It could lead to you winning a point without even having to execute the shot to perfection.

MUEV’S Got You Covered

Tired of pickleball gear that just doesn’t... well, get you? Check out MUEV.

MUEV's collection offers everything from cool blues for the gents to popping pastels for the ladies, ensuring you look as good as your game feels.

And with Kamryn Blackwood leading the style charge, you know you’re in good company.

98% of Matches Won Had This in Common

Are you a slow starter? Does it take you a couple of points to get into the rhythm of a game? Those first couple of points might seem insignificant but could be hurting you in the long run.

A brief look at data from the PPA Rate Championship matches (82 matches) showed that an early lead results in a game win an overwhelming majority of the time.

This research aimed to answer a key question: Is there a tipping point in a pickleball game where the trailing team has little chance of winning, effectively assuring victory for the leading team?

Scenario 1: The First Team to Nine
As you would expect, the first team to nine ended up winning a major of games. In this data set, they won a combined 98% of them. So, let’s take a look a little bit lower of a tipping point.

Scenario 2: The First Team to Six
The winning percentage of the first team to six decreases as expected. It falls from 98% down to 88% which still makes the race to six points, a significant number. Let’s drop the tipping point again.

Scenario 3: The First Team to Four
The most surprising result from this data set was that the team that reached four points first, went on to win 89% of games. The team that took control of the game early, ended up winning the game almost every time.

While this data set is small, it does indicate the importance of not wasting any points early. Take that extra 5 minutes to warm-up before a match and hit the ground running at 0-0-2.

Sweep Sunday at the World Championships

The PPA World Championships came to a close yesterday in Dallas. All five Championship Sunday matches ended in a sweep and one player made his triumphant return to the top of the podium.

The return of Riley
It’s been over a year since Riley Newman found himself in the winner’s circle at a PPA event. Newman’s been doing the partner shuffle for the majority of 2024 and appears to have struck gold with Hayden Patriquin.

Newman and Patriquin defeated JW Johnson/Dylan Frazier in a massive quarterfinal win. In the finals, their fast hands smothered the Dekel Bar/Pablo Tellez duo who also had their best result to date.

The Girlies do it again
The battle at the top of the women’s game has reached full rivalry status. After losing an incredible five-game match at the Rate Championships, Anna Bright/Rachel Rohrabacher came back to sweep Anna Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau yesterday.

“The Girlies” now have three wins over the top seed. We will likely see one more matchup between the top two teams at the PPA Finals in December.

The top seeds take the rest
ALW beat Kate Fahey for the third time this year to bring home another gold in women’s singles. Ben Johns and ALW locked up title number 42 together in mixed doubles.

Michael Loyd reached his first Championship Sunday in men’s singles. His Cinderella run was cut short by Federico Staksrud who brought home another PPA slam victory.

PPA World Championships Results

Give the Gift of Top-Tier Play

GAMMA is getting us hyped for the holiday season with their new pickleball gift guide.

You’ll see the classics like the Gamma Chuck Pickleball and their 16mm Airbender paddle but they’ve also launched some custom items such as winter-themed edge guard tape and a snowflake paddle cleaner.

Want to know our pick? Scroll all the way down to peep Gamma’s pickleball snow globe (we’re obsessed!).

A New Look for Nationals

The 2024 Biofreeze USA Pickleball Nationals will have a new look again this year. The 10-day pickleball celebration will be held at the Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, AZ for the first time ever.

For those newcomers to the game, Nationals is not your average pickleball tournament. You can’t just sign up to play.

Players have to earn their way into the event by winning a Golden Ticket at one of the qualifying events leading up to the tournament. It attracts elite competition from across the country all vying for the title of National Champion.

Another change this year is that matches will be broadcast on QVC+ after a partnership was formed early this year. Pro-qualifying matches start tomorrow leading to championship matches on Sunday.

The prize for a first-place finish is $8,000 in pro singles and $18,000 per team in pro doubles. Find the full competition schedule here.

Headlines & Quick Hits

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