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In the past five years, some 4,000 paddles have been certified by USA Pickleball. But since 2024, numbers have been declining steadily. This year is no different.

Is the paddle bubble bursting, or is the pickleball market just growing up? We crunched the numbers and identified the factors behind the contraction. The good news: all signs point toward better, more affordable options for the consumer.

In This Issue:
— Here’s how to reach 5.0 fast
— We watched ‘Pickleball’ the movie
— Should teens be allowed in MLP?

No newsletter Friday. Happy 4th, Dink fam.

Winners of regular season MLP events earn 25 standings points. But the winner of next week’s Mid-Season Tournament receive just 10. What gives? It’s a question going around right now. So we asked MLP Commish Samin Odhwani to weigh in. Turns out, it’s all by design.

Hundreds of the region’s top amateurs came out for The Dink Minor League Pickleball in Randall’s Island, New York. But in the end, the teams from Brooklyn stormed the podiums. They’re not just playing for pride, either — $100,000 is ultimately on the line. Think you’ve got what it takes?

Someone took to Reddit to make a shocking confession: After years of pickleball obsession, they’re just not feeling it anymore. To make matters worse, they’ve turned to golf instead. As one commenter put it: “Blasphemy.”

A lot of you responded to our poll on Monday, with the majority decreeing your passion for all things MLP. To be honest, we were pretty surprised with the results. So much so, we want to run it back one more time to get as many responses as we can. So please, tell us…

There isn’t a pickleball player alive who doesn’t want to be a 5.0. Not really. Claim you’re just in it for the exercise or the social outlet all you want. But if you could wave a magic wand and be a full DUPR point (or more) better, you would.

We don’t have a magic wand. But we do have a few solid tips from Tanner Tomassi, a guy who rose from humble beginnings just like us to become one of the top pros on the APP Tour.

✅ You need to be a menace at the kitchen line. Not a passive observer. Not a crossing guard simply directing traffic. Every dink should be penetrating. Every opportunity attacked. Yes, this is easier said than done. But like every advanced strategy, it starts with your feet. Now get moving and start being nasty already.

✅ Always aim at the moving target. This applies most critically to your third shot drop. In this scenario, one opposing player is at the kitchen line, the other is coming in. That’s your target. Make this player hit a ball at their feet while moving in and your odds for an unforced error go up exponentially.

✅ Develop a heavy backhand counter. At a certain level, speedups are coming fast and they’re coming often. Know how to protect your body with a devastating backhand counter and you’ll establish early that you’re not to be trifled with. Attack at your own risk.

The common thread here is proactive, aggressive pickleball. That’s what it takes to be a 5.0 these days. Not reckless. Not impulsive. But calculated. Methodical. And ready to fight fire with fire.

➡️ More 5.0 tips from Tanner.

Aurelius is Latin for golden.

Anna Leigh Waters has more gold medals than anyone in pickleball history, plus a spot on the TIME100 Most Influential People in Sports list.

Franklin and ALW built the C45° Aurelius paddle series together — the shape, build, and feel she competes with on tour.

That's a different thing from slapping a name on an existing mold.

The idea was simple: build the gold standard for the best player in the world, then put it in everyone else's hands.

Shop the Franklin Aurelius here!

From May 2021 to May 2026, paddles certified onto the USA Pickleball Approved Paddle List have seen a dramatic rise and precipitous fall.

It’s tempting to say the bubble is bursting. But there’s far more to it than a simple contraction or correction.

More than 4,000 paddles were approved in a five-year span. Sure, there are millions of people playing the world over. But no sport can realistically support hundreds of suppliers of the same singular piece of equipment. Look at soccer, hockey, golf, lacrosse, tennis... the list goes on and on.

At some point, the cream rises to the top. The best brands separate from the pack and the masses start to gravitate toward those that have successfully built a reputation around performance, quality, and price.

The maturation will continue. And that’s a good thing.

✅ Of the 1,214 distinct brands on the approved list as of May 2026, 611 certified exactly one paddle and never came back. That is half the pickleball paddle market: one paddle, one approval, gone. These one-hit-wonder brands won’t last forever. There’s simply not enough demand to keep them afloat.

✅ Foam cores are the new normal, accounting for more than 70% of current paddle certifications (before January 2025, 91.5% of submitted paddles had polypropylene cores). These require more R&D and time to market. Simply put, they’re not as easy to copy and paste and produce en masse.

✅ There’s an increased emphasis on patent infringement and protection, headlined most recently by JOOLA filing suit against 11 competing brands. This will increase in the near term, as brands are pushed to protect what’s theirs.

When try-hards and wannabes and copycats are filtered out, only serious brands will remain. From there, the spotlight will shine even brighter on what matters most: performance, quality, durability, price, and customer service.

New brands will rise. Established brands will wither on the vine or go the way of mergers and acquisitions (like we just saw with Bread & Butter and Selkirk).

Behind it all, innovation will continue to win out. And so will you, the consumer.

➡️ Take a closer look at the numbers.

Before Ben Stiller and Jake Johnson and Mary Steenburgen steal the spotlight later this month with their highly anticipated pickleball movie aptly titled "The Dink," there's another feature-length film on the sport that's worth two hours of your time.

It's called "Pickleball"... and it's ridiculous. In all the right ways. Zany plot. Over-the-top characters. Questionable pickleball skills. And more than a few pickle puns.

It's available now on Amazon and a few other streaming platforms.

We watched it already (because duh). In a nutshell, if you love pickleball puns and raucous storylines with a bit of raunchy humor mixed in, you might be pleasantly surprised by this.

Fun fact: the only paddle anyone plays with is the Selkirk Luxx. Just throat holes as far as the eye can see.

Yes, the plot is fairly predictable. Yes, there’s a bit of cringey dialogue. And yes, the dinking is atrocious. But honestly, that’s all part of the fun.

The lead character is played by Kevin Farley, younger brother to the late, great Chris Farley and a successful comedic actor in his own right. He's funny, believable, and does a lot of heavy lifting to keep the plot moving along.

Our official review: You’re reading this, aren’t you? “Pickleball” is worth two hours of your time.

➡️ Watch the trailer.

A good pickleball bag is one you stop thinking about. CRBN builds the kind you forget you're carrying.

Every style's built a little differently, around the features that actually earn their spot. Dedicated paddle storage. Vented shoe compartments. Thermal pockets and insulated sleeves.

Bigger tournament bags for when you're hauling the full setup. Backpacks for everyday play. Totes that look at home at the office and on the court.

We're picky about what we carry, too – and CRBN's the rare line that covers all of it. Whatever you're hauling, there's a CRBN bag built for it.

Upgrade to a CRBN bag and use code THEDINK for 10% off.

MLP New York was packed with storylines:

It was also a coming-out party of sorts for a bunch of very young and very talented players.

Notably, Elsie Hendershot (13) and Kelly Goodnow (14) hit the court for some primetime minutes against some of the best players in the world. And they more than held their own.

And they’re far from the only teenagers absolutely balling out on MLP teams right now: Will Mackinnon, Kiora Kunimoto, Cailyn Campbell, Tama Shimabukuro, John Lucian Goins, Jalina Ingram…

On this week’s PicklePod, Zane and Nico discussed some online discourse they’ve been seeing debating whether players this young should be eligible for pro pickleball at all.

The only argument with any merit, as they see it, is whether playing pro now could impact potential college eligibility down the road. That’s uncharted territory, so it’s a fair question.

Still, they both contend: If you’re good enough to play now, you should play now.

➡️ Watch the PicklePod.

A review from the Dink Fam...

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