French Open says 'Oui' to pickleball

Results from the Atlanta Open. ALW's ridiculous erne winner.

May 20, 2024

All across the nation this weekend, pickleball teams competed for cash prizes and entry into The Dink Minor League Pickleball National Championships.

With 200 events expected this year, chances are there’s an event coming to a court near you this summer. And as Zane Navratil said on the PicklePod, “Once you start playing team based events, you won’t go back. The energy is just next level.”

Ever thought about a pickleball side hustle? Organize 'The Dink Minor League Pickleball' event in your city today.

Think you've got what it takes to write for The Dink? Respond to this email or reach us at [email protected] with an idea or a writing sample if you’re interested in freelancing for us.

In This Issue:

👑 ALW a 3X champion at PPA Atlanta
🇫🇷 French ‘Open’ to pickleball
📐 The finesse erne finish

Here ‘Oui’ Go.

Create the Right Angle

It’s no secret that meeting the ball closer to the net gives you better angles to attack. That’s why getting to the kitchen is a must.

Anna Leigh Waters took things a step further with an erne in Atlanta this weekend. ALW jumped the kitchen to get a favorable angle on this ball and sent it skidding past Lacy Schneemann.

The key here is that Waters doesn’t try to overpower her opponent like you see with most ernes. She uses the favorable court position to create a sharp angle.

Waters is slightly behind on the read and doesn’t have time to hit the forehand erne. She uses the backhand instead, which allows her to make contact on the left side of the ball and send it crosscourt.

In this scenario, the crosscourt erne is a perfect option:

  • Since the ball is on the left side of court, Vivian Glozman has to guard the line

  • Schneemann is forced to slide to the middle of the court, which opens up the crosscourt angle

An added benefit of this erne is that it gives you time to recover. A straight-ahead erne comes with the risk of a counter to the open court.

ALW shuffles along the kitchen line to decrease the distance she needs to cover with her jump. She jumps off of her right foot and lands on her left.

An alternative that will cover more distance is to load your weight onto your left foot for takeoff. Stride with your right foot over the kitchen while you make contact. Then land on your right foot outside of the sideline.

Be sure to recover with both feet and get back into position to help out your partner.

Selkirk x Rhone Backspin Collection

Rhone, the performance powerhouse known for championing mental fitness, has teamed up with Selkirk to drop the Backspin Collection.

As part of the collaboration, they created a co-branded Rhone x Selkirk Luxx Control Air Epic pickleball paddle in a Stormy Sea Green color (we're big fans of this). They also dropped Backspin Lined Shorts and Backspin Tee with their special edition colorways.

Check out the Backspin collection for yourself and show up to your next game in style.

ALW Returns and Earns Another Crown

Atlanta has become one of the cornerstone stops on the PPA Tour. The 2000 point ‘Slam’ event last weekend was the second of four slams this year, with the next one also scheduled for Atlanta in September.

Ms. Triple Crown
Anna Leigh Waters is right back to triple-crown form after taking some time off last month. ALW was challenged in a tight singles final against Parris Todd, but prevailed in the third game, 12-10, 10-12, 11-5.

Fed tops Ben … in doubles
The latest head-to-head between Federico Staksrud vs. Ben Johns was much anticipated heading into the weekend. The top two seeds were on a crash course for the finals and both players qualified.

But before Championship Sunday, things took an unexpected turn. Staksrud and Matt Wright surprised the field with an upset over the Johns Bros in the semifinal of men’s doubles.

The Staks/Wright combo is off to a good start but fell to JW Johnson/Dylan Frazier in the men’s final.

Ben takes back the singles crown
Fed may have passed Ben in the rankings and in DUPR, but Ben still owns the head-to-head. Ben is 10-2 all-time against Fed and made a major statement yesterday with his latest singles win.

No. 9 seed snags silver
Andrea Koop and Jade Kawamoto made a surprise run as the No. 9 seed to Championship Sunday. They knocked off Bright/Rohrabacher and Jansen/Smith before losing to Waters/Parenteau.

Pickled in mixed doubles
One of the more bizarre scorelines of the weekend came in the mixed doubles final. Ben and ALW had a pretty smooth run to finals but then were pickled in the third game yesterday. It didn’t cost them more than 10 minutes out of their Sunday, as they claimed gold winning the match, 11-7, 11-9, 0-11, 11-3.

We’ve got you covered from all of the happenings at PPA Atlanta, including the best shots from the event and some brewing line call tension.

Next up for the PPA is a trip to the Lone Star State. The Texas Open starts Wednesday, May 29th.

Pickleball at Roland Garros

How do you say pickleball in French? We will find out next week as The French Open plans to feature pickleball on a few of the side courts at Roland Garros. This little sport has a certain je ne sais quoi.

The French Tennis Federation is jumping on the opportunity to grow the sport in France and in Europe, they stated "This discipline, which has recently been incorporated into the FTF's regulations, is not just fun to play but very accessible."

The feud between tennis and pickleball won’t be resolved anytime soon. But it’s hard to talk about one sport now without at least mentioning the other.

Pickleball is just beginning to have a presence at major tennis events, but imagine a world where people are trying tennis for the first time as an exhibition at a major pickleball event.

Find Your Perfect Pair

Just like a good paddle can take your pickleball game to new heights, so can the right pair of shoes.

K-Swiss has got you covered with their Pickleball Supreme and Express Light Pickleball models, tailored to boost your performance with top-notch comfort, grip, and responsiveness.

Plus, they come in striking colorways—with the men's shoes featuring an electric blue and yellow combo, and the women's in a cool turquoise and purple mix—making sure you'll stand out every game!

Give K-Swiss's pickleball-specific shoes a shot and get moving in style.

NPL Kicks Off Season 2

The National Pickleball League held session one of its 2024 season last weekend in Chicago. The senior (age 50+) team-based league expanded during the offseason, doubling in size from six teams to 12 teams.

It was the Columbus Hot Shots and Houston Hammers that stole the show in Chicago. Both teams went 4-0 over the weekend, winning all four of their TeamBattles.

The TeamBattle is more than a match, it truly is a battle. Teams of 12 players face off to play in a best-of-12 matches format. If there is a six-six split, the TeamBattle ends in a TeamBreaker. There is no ‘I’ in NPL.

The NPL has four more regular season events before Championship Weekend, October 18-20.

Headlines & Quick Hits

Highlights

PPA Atlanta Open Results

A review from the Dink Fam...

What did you think of today's newsletter?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Share The Dink Newsletter, Get Rewards

Share the best newsletter in pickleball with your friends and we’ll give you free stuff. What’s not to like?

You currently have 0 referrals, only 1 away from receiving 20% Off The Pickleball Box.

Copy & Paste this link: https://newsletter.thedinkpickleball.com/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER

Want to advertise with us?

If your company is interested in reaching an audience of active pickleballers, you may want to give us a shout.

Reply

or to participate.