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Formula 1. The PGA Tour. The NFL. Any professional sports league worth its salt has a big-budget reality series showcasing the lurid details of what goes on behind the scenes, when the bright lights are off and the athletes are just people like you and me (albeit with multi-million-dollar contracts and private jets).

Well, professional pickleball has finally arrived. The six-part series “Partners” debuted yesterday, following life on the PPA Tour for some of the sport’s brightest stars. Why (and how) to watch, below.

In This Issue:
— Anna Leigh’s shocking news
— A very sneaky power paddle
— Learn it: the chip volley

Let’s roll.

Citing a nagging knee injury, #1 seed Anna Leigh Waters has pulled out of singles for this week’s PPA Finals event, a surprise (shocking, even) move few saw coming. She’ll still compete in women’s doubles and mixed doubles. That breaks the field wide open.

You’ve seen Zane’s ruthless, full-send bodybag against Jack Sock. Now hear him defend it. “I feel like we played within the unwritten rules of pickleball,” he explains on this week’s PicklePod. Jack went after his partner. So Zane went after him. Should you emulate this behavior in rec play? ”Don’t start it. Finish it.”

Running in parallel to PPA Finals, PPA 500 gives all other pros a shot at prize money and points to end their season. The brackets are still stacked, too. Here’s who’s in contention.

True story: a guy recently made a big fuss on social media saying his opponent’s paddle was “too hot” in a moneyball match. Joke’s on him. The paddle in question was a FLiK F1. And it was brand new. Full power. Under the radar.

Few online content creators are also proven on the pro pickleball court. Tanner Tomassi is an exception.

He’s made a career of creating useful instructional content, so when he shares four essential dinks you need in 2026, we’re going to pay attention.

And it paid off. All of them are shots you should have in your arsenal, but one in particular caught our eye: the chip volley.

Here’s why (and how) to add it to your arsenal now.

✅ This shot is specifically designed for when your opponent is hitting aggressive topspin dinks. Letting these bounce puts you on your heels. So don’t. Instead, the second you see them winding up for an aggressive shot, you lean in and chip their ball out of the air to neutralize it.

✅ Make sure you have a nice wide base with bent knees, keep your paddle out in front with a loose grip, and come underneath the ball without trying to be aggressive with it. You’re not slicing here, you’re just stabbing at it. Compact, controlled, precise.

✅ The best spot to direct these is into the middle of the kitchen. Don’t lean in too much or your timing and aim will be off. Just anticipate and chip it back over the net. No frills. Nice and easy.

Ben Johns is a master at this shot. In fact, he’s so good at it, it helped cultivate the shot he’s now famous for — the backhand flick. A bonus of anticipating an aggressive cross-court dink and setting up for a chip is it puts you in position to be aggressive should the dink come in a bit high.

That’s what we call strategic pickleball. Now go practice it until it’s second nature.

➡️ Allow Tanner to demonstrate.

Some gear is made for players. Some is made with them.

The Stria G1 falls into the second category.

Built with input from top players like Gabe Tardio, it’s designed around how pickleball actually moves—quick lateral cuts, hard stops, long days on court.

That shows up in the details. More stability when you plant. More control when you change direction. A shoe that keeps up when the pace picks up.

Not hype. Just design that makes sense once you’re playing in it.

Shop the Stria G1 and get 10% off with code THEDINK.

It’s PPA Finals week, the year-end tournament held in beautiful San Clemente, California.

As a reminder, this is an invite-only tournament extended to the top-seeded players in each discipline. You either make the cut or you don’t. This is quite literally the best of the best.

As such, this isn’t a typical field or a typical tournament. Here’s how it works:

Storylines positively abound. But for the casual observer, here’s what you should know:

✅ Only three players qualified in all three events (singles, doubles, mixed): Anna Leigh Waters, Christian Alshon, and Federico Staksrud
✅ That said, ALW announced late Monday that she’s pulling out of singles only, citing a knee injury (Liz Truluck is taking her place)
✅ Teenager John Lucian Goins edged his way into men’s singles in the #8 spot; Chris Haworth is #1
✅ In doubles, players actually get to choose their partners based on rankings
✅ That said, there are no real surprises in the doubles pairings this year

Eric Oncins surged his way into mixed doubles given strong performances in the last two events. And same goes for Connor Garnett in men’s doubles, drafting off his silver medal with Roscoe Bellamy at PPA Atlanta.

As always, the action will air on Pickleball TV beginning today.

➡️ For a full preview — plus predictions — click here.

On this week’s PicklePod, Zane and Nico wrap up PPA Atlanta and preview this week’s PPA Finals, but not before dishing on the hardest bodybag Zane has ever hit, how Quang Duong is faring over on the APP Tour, and drawing the line between questionable line calls and just plain cheating.

Other highlights include:

Everything you need to know about the state of pickleball in one highly entertaining hour.

➡️ Watch it now.

You’re already putting in the work.

Playing more. Trying to improve. Fixing things.

That’s the hard part.

Now it’s about making sure everything else supports that.

A grip that holds. Gear that stays consistent. The small details that don’t get in your way mid-point.

Midwest Racquet Sports makes it easy to lock in those pieces at great prices—so your setup keeps up with your game.

Lock in your upgrades and get 15% off with code THEDINK.

After years of filming, all six episodes of the pro pickleball documentary/reality series “Partners” aired yesterday. And yes, we binged all of them.

We won’t spoil it for you, but we will say this: it’s very well done and highly entertaining, pulling in a broad cast of characters from pros to top execs to members of the media to paint a picture of what life is really like on the PPA Tour.

It’s not a fluff piece, either, exploring tour relationships (and breakups), partner splits, and what happens when a promising young pro violates his contract and gets sent packing.

The best part? This is just season one. We’re already hearing rumors of a season two in the works.

➡️ Go watch it for yourself.

A review from the Dink Fam...

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