^{Advertise | The Dink Home | Shop Gear | Subscribe}

A new report from DUPR seems to confirm what many of us feel on the regular: We love pickleball because it’s fun, socially engaging and good for our physical health. But court availability is still a top pain point. At least for the vocal minority. We get into some fresh numbers below.

In This Issue:
— How Anna Bright won by caring less
— One top pro’s wild new paddle collab
— Zane’s ‘Battle of the Sexes’ hot take

Got room for one more?

A PPA Tour record 225 juniors are playing at this week’s Pickleball World Championships. Don’t be fooled, though. These kids aren’t just there to soak it all in. They’d absolutely school any of us with their eyes closed.

Can you have too much of a good thing? One avid rec player discovered the hard truth after playing pickleball nearly every day for ten months and then… just burning out. To get that love back, the Reddit community suggests taking a break. Or finding a new hobby. Or maybe just smiling a little bit?

Ben Johns debuted a new electric green JOOLA Perseus Pro IV paddle at Worlds that had many scratching their heads, including us. So we asked around. Turns out, it’s a collab with global gaming brand Razer. And it could be yours soon.

Zane Navratil has a different view on April’s “Battle of the Sexes” pickleball match pitting Anna Leigh Waters and Genie Bouchard against Andre Agassi and James Blake. It’s bad for the sport. The women should dominate, he says, but they’ll play nice instead to make it “fun.”

[This newsletter segment was written by Anna Bright, the world’s #2 ranked women’s pro pickleball player. Her team, the St. Louis Shock, just won the MLP Cup. She also writes an amazing weekly newsletter. Subscribe here.]

Could wanting to win less... help you win more? 

This past weekend my MLP team and I, the St. Louis Shock, FINALLY hoisted a trophy after two years together and falling short of our goals repeatedly, despite generally being the consensus first or second best team in the league.

So, how did we do it? What changed? 

Myself, Kate Fahey, Gabe Tardio, and Hayden Patriquin were never held back by our level of play. That has always been insanely high, as evidenced by our 24-1 regular season record this year.

What we seemed to be struggling with was the mental side of things once we were in a position to win a title — the pressure, the expectation, the all-consuming desire to hold up the trophy and be the last team standing.

We were starving, we NEEDED it, we obsessed over it. 

This event, we decided to take a different approach.

So, how do you actively detach from a match emotionally, you wonder?

✅ View your match as not the end-all-be-all, but rather a chance to test your progress 

✅ Try to laugh and smile at things that you'd otherwise find aggravating

✅ When you feel tension, anxiety, or stress rising, focus on the things that calm you down — for me, it's my breath! 

So, just some food for thought, and something for you to consider exploring if you feel like you are repeatedly falling short of getting something you really, really want.

Make sure to subscribe to my newsletter for more insights and behind-the-scenes info! 

Here’s the cheat code for feeling better faster. Not a pill. A tiny lozenge in your cheek. It hits the bloodstream fast because it skips your gut. Effects in 15 to 30 minutes.

Troscriptions built their formulas for this route. Physician designed, pharmaceutical grade, precision dosed and all made in the USA.

Pick your lane. Blue Cannatine for focus and productivity (contains nicotine). Just Blue for cellular energy. Tro Calm to take the edge off. Tro Zzz for sleep you actually wake up from. Tro Mune for immune support.

There’s a completely new way to optimize your health. Give it a try at troscriptions.com/DINK or enter BETTER at checkout for 10% off your first order.

Clean Energy. Clinical grade. You’ll feel the difference.

Anna Leigh Waters turned pro when she was just 12 years old. Ever since, she’s been dominant. The pinnacle of the sport. A paragon of excellence.

Nobody is more accomplished. Unless you’re talking about gold medals. In that one category, Ben Johns still has the 18-year-old beat. By one.

Heading into Worlds, Ben has 166 career PPA Tour gold medals to Anna’s 165. She’s so close! Right?

Not so fast. Consider this: In order for Anna to tie Ben, she’ll most likely have to triple crown the event.

So, if the odds play out, she could tie Ben with 166 career golds. She’ll just have to be perfect. For the 38th time in her career. (One category she’s got Ben walloped: he’s triple-crowned a mere 21 times.)

Pop quiz: Why do you play pickleball?

Of the 1,100+ avid DUPR users recently surveyed, two reasons rose above the rest: health (94%) and fun (93%). Competition (88%) and social connection (83%) followed close behind. Pickleball, that is, is the rare hobby that’s good for both your mental and physical health.

The new pickleball report, co-authored by research firm SFIA and DUPR and not yet publicly available, illuminates a few other trends we’re keeping an eye on.

Even as players gush about their experience, they’re running into friction. The top complaints?

Nearly nine in ten respondents play primarily at public parks, and three-quarters use dedicated facilities or clubs.

We know US participation is leveling off from mid-COVID numbers, but ours is still the country’s fastest-growing sport. Do we really have an accessibility problem, or is this issue just the pain point of a vocal minority?

You tell us — are overcrowded courts a problem where you play?

If your snack tastes like it was made in a lab, you probably haven’t met Maui Nui venison jerky. Wild Axis deer from Maui, aged for flavor, packed with protein, and zero nonsense.

They fit in your pocket like a boss and keep you fueled without the crash or guilt. Snacks should work as hard as you do.

For a limited time, order $79 or more at mauinuivenison.com/thedink and get a FREE 12-pack Stick Starter Pack.

No catch, just more wild, clean protein to keep the game going strong.

Whether you’re a beginner or pushing 5.0, finding the right paddle to suit your game is more important than you think. That dusty Engage or JOOLA you’ve been beating up since COVID? Yeah, it’s not doing you any favors.

The right weapon doesn’t just complement your play style, it gives you confidence with each and every shot.

There are, quite literally, thousands of options to choose from. To help wade through the noise, reviewer Matt’s Pickleball put together a tutorial. It’s worth a watch, but here are three solid places to start.

✅ Paddle shape. Beginners should start with hybrid or widebody shapes, as these provide greater stability and a more forgiving sweet-spot. Elongated, while immensely popular in rec circles, comes with compromises. The longer, narrower shape leads to a higher swing weight and a smaller sweet-spot.

✅ Swing weight is what really matters. It measures how heavy the paddle feels during your swing, and it has a massive impact on timing, hand speed, and fatigue. A higher swing weight adds plow-through and depth, but slows down your hands, especially noticeable in resets or fast hands battles. For most players, the sweet spot is somewhere between 110 and 120.

✅ Twist weight is another underrated metric. It measures how stable a paddle is when you miss the sweet spot, which you will, especially when handling heavy drives or speed-ups at the kitchen line. A twist weight of 6.5 or higher makes those mishits feel more controlled. Any lower and you’ll struggle.

Ultimately, no paddle will magically fix your game, but the wrong one can absolutely make it harder to improve.

A review from the Dink Fam...

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

{{rp_personalized_text}}

Copy & Paste this link: {{rp_refer_url_no_params}}

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