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The Wimbledon of pickleball has arrived in Rancho Mirage, California, the year’s first major pro event. Anna Leigh Waters is going for an absurd new record. A monster men’s doubles team is switching things up. And a ton of players will be swinging new paddles thanks to fresh sponsorship deals. And yes, everyone will be wearing white.

The brackets are stacked and the pressure is on. We lay out all the juicy storylines below.

In This Issue:
— How to win a pickleball tournament
— Try this 1-2 trap for clean winners
— Full preview: PPA Masters

We’re so back.

A trending Reddit thread is tackling a common rec-play etiquette question: eight people roll up to open play, follow all the rules, but never mix in with other people. Is this pack mentality legit or lame? The commenters seem to agree: totally fine.

Chris Haworth is often called the biggest baseline hitter in pro pickleball. And as of yesterday, he’s got a very potent new paddle to maximize his firepower even more, going from Babolat to Chinese up-and-comer Luzz Pickleball. Bombs away.

If you love your local pickleball facility, now’s the time to show it. New this year, The 120/Life Dink Awards has introduced a brand-new category: Best Pickleball Facility. And voting is open now. Go ahead… show a little appreciation.

Last year, Christian Alshon and Andrei Daescu were the second-most dominant men’s doubles team behind Ben and Gabe. But beginning this week at PPA Masters, they’re going their separate ways: Christian is playing with Hayden, Andrei with Fed. It’s an all-out attack to take down the top team. More on this below.

There are few PPA pros playing with more confidence right now than Eric Oncins. Coming off a stellar 2025 season, it’s no wonder he’s a nominee for The 120/Life Dink Awards Breakout Player of the Year.

So when he hits a court with APP standout Tanner Tomassi to talk speeding up off the bounce, you best listen.

His recipe for snappy, consistent winners through the middle goes a little something like this:

Now here’s the 1-2 punch to pull this all together.

✅ Oncins uses a simple but deadly pattern to consistently open up space through the middle. He’ll hit two sharp, inside-out dinks in a row, pulling his cross-court opponent out nice and wide. That third shot? You guessed it — a nasty speed-up right down Main Street.

➡️ Watch Oncins execute it.

Indoor pickleball season has a very specific dress code.

Something warm enough for the walk in. Comfortable enough to stretch in. And good enough to wear straight to wherever you’re headed after.

Selkirk’s winter apparel checks all those boxes — joggers, long sleeves, hoodies, and jackets designed for cold-weather play and everyday wear. Clean, comfortable, and built to hold up through a long winter.

Your winter uniform starts here. Use ADV-THEDINK for $20 in Selkirk Bonus Bucks.

After a few weeks off, pro pickleball returns to the spotlight in iconic fashion: it’s PPA Masters week, where new partnerships take center stage, fresh faces are gunning for glory, and everyone is dressed in white so it looks extra fancy and prestigious.

This year, more than ever, there are a host of storylines to stir the pot and make each day’s action must-watch pickleball.

Our pro writer Erik Tice breaks it all down:

Finally, men’s doubles is seeing a big shakeup: Christian Alshon and Andrei Daescu are splitting up, doing whatever it takes, apparently, to reclaim the top podium spot from Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio.

Will the new pairings of Christian and Hayden Patriquin, Andrei and Federico Staksrud fare any better? We’re about to find out.

Early PPA Masters action gets going from the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, this week, streamed live on Pickleballtv. Bonus coverage: noon to 2 p.m. on Sunday will air on CBS.

➡️ For more of what to watch, including all of Erik’s predictions, check out our full article.

Kyle Koszuta had a big 2025 on the APP Tour. So big, the dude just announced a new paddle deal with Friday Pickleball (he’s in good company there).

In a new video, he gave some illuminating advice on how he was able to go so deep in so many big tournaments. And how you can too.

✅ Be a supportive teammate above all. Lead with positivity. And over-communicate. This is a big one. Communication in a tournament isn't just about being "nice," he says. It’s about reducing brain power. And constant chatter actually helps here. By consistently calling "yours," "mine," or "watch it," you’re locked in on what’s important, which means you’re not overthinking the small stuff that leads to unforced errors.

✅ Know yourselves, study your opponents. Advanced pickleball comes down to patterns, and who can recognize them first. The best players lead with their feet, then finish the point with their hands. This means your drilling sessions should always involve the first shot, then the next one. Every time.

✅ This last one is our favorite. The teams who always end up on the podium, the pairings you hate to match up against, they’re the ones who just refuse to let a point die. They never quit. They’re never down and out. They just always seem to get the ball back over the net. That’s not luck. It’s skill. Physical, yes. But above all, it’s a killer mentality: wins aren’t given, they’re earned.

Nobody likes to lose. Maybe it’s time you did something about it.

➡️ Kyle lays it out.

We know there’s a very good chance a Franklin X-40 is already sitting in your bag right now.

They’re durable, consistent, and they hold up whether you’re grinding indoors or braving the cold outside. That’s why they’ve quietly become the ball of choice just about everywhere.

And it never hurts to have a few extras on deck. Grab a 3-pack of Franklin X-40s and keep your games rolling all winter long.

We’ve said it, now let’s do the math.

Anna Leigh Waters signed a big, multi-year contract with Franklin last week. And while details are under wraps, our guy Zane Navratil has it pegged at $10 million — pro pickle’s first-ever eight-figure sponsorship deal.

So how’d he get there? He breaks it down like this:

“Ben Johns made $2.5 million in 2024, right? That's obviously split between PPA contract and JOOLA contract. My guess is that based on what PPA contracts were from Tour Wars, I'm thinking he's getting $1.5 million from PPA, $1 million from JOOLA per year to get that $2.5M."

That deal has been public record for the past few years (it’s a lifetime deal, for the record). So Zane figures, conservatively, ALW is demanding double that at this point in her career.

That puts her paddle deal alone in the $2 million per year range. Assume a “long-term” partnership is likely five years or more, and bam… $10 million baby.

➡️ Crunch the numbers.

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