The call that left this player visibly shaking

Use hesitation to your advantage. No. 1 player hit with two point penalties.

February 26, 2025

Does replacing your overgrip correlate with your level of play? Beginners rarely re-grip their paddles, if at all. Players like Ben Johns? They’ll slap on a fresh one every couple of games.

We’ve even spotted him re-gripping mid-timeout. Add it to the list of ‘Reasons I’m Not a 5.0’. But, we’re curious…

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In This Issue:

⏳ The power of hesitation
🦶 Is there a right way to call a foot fault?
1️⃣ World no. 1 hit with two-point penalties

Grip it and rip it.

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Kean University in Hillsdale, NJ is experiencing a pickleball revolution. The club has grown more than 10X in recent years thanks in big part to club founder and President Emily Lari.

🏟️ Attendance: PPA Mesa Packs Center Court, Sets Attendance Benchmark

The PPA Tour made a bold claim yesterday: The 18,965 paying ticket-holders at the Mesa Cup event, they said, is "higher than the average regular season game attendance of both the NBA and NHL." A single 3-hour game vs 6-day event may be a bit apples to oranges, but hey - we also love making the sport look its best.

🏉 Football: Pickle Is More Than a Hobby for this NFL Hall of Famer

Terrell Owens stepped onto the pickleball and hasn’t left since. One of the best all-time receivers says he’s “Coming to a court near you.” Also, never knew TO was a lefty.

🎙️ PicklePod: Can You Guess What Made Zane Make This Face?

Reply to this email to submit your guess or find the correct answer here.

The Power of Hesitation

Most people would assume being hesitant is a bad thing, but well-timed hesitation can be the right formula for easy wins on the court. The Pickleball Playbook outlines a strategy to use tempo to your advantage in this video.

Instead of rushing to the net after a drop shot, slightly hang back and observe your opponent's reaction. Most players assume you're staying back and will try to keep you there by hitting the ball deep. The moment they commit to their shot, sprint forward and take the next ball out of the air, catching them off guard. To execute:

  • Hang back slightly after a good drop

  • Watch for your opponent’s movement—when they start their swing, move forward

  • Take the ball out of the air to gain the advantage and control the point

  • Use this trick at the kitchen line too—step back, bait the dink, then step in and attack

Mix this in with your usual strategy of getting to the line quickly to keep your opponents guessing. Try it out and let us know how it works for you.

A 50mph Serve Straight Into The Ground

The average pickleball lasts about 1 pro game then spends its next 100 years in a landfill.

Komodo’s Bioball™ biodegrades in 5 years and lasts 5x longer on the court.

They cost & play the exact same. We promise.

Voice raised, tears in the eyes, visibly shaking…

Pickleball passion is a good thing. But just like other sports, that passion can make us a little crazy on the court. One example that is sure to set off some fireworks is calling a fault on an opponent who steps on the kitchen line.

The violation occurs all the time in pickleball, yet somehow no one ever believes they stepped on the line.

A recent post on Reddit discusses this exact issue. After calling two NVZ violations in a game @FL_Swole, had this interaction:

  • We finished the game and this guy lost it on me. Voice raised, tears in the eyes, visibly shaking kind of lost it. Mostly screaming about how he was 90% sure they would never accidentally commit a kitchen violation.

  • I checked the video recordings of the match after I got home and was definitely right in calling them out. Not only that, but I counted 7 other missed foot faults that I should’ve called.

Take this as a warning. If someone says you stepped on the kitchen line, there’s a good chance you did. Don’t get mad about it or let it ruin your day, it’s part of the game.

If you’re the type of player who gets a little too emotional in that situation, break out the camera for your competitive matches. After a little film study, you might have a different disposition.

And if you catch a highlight or lowlight on tape, share it with the class at [email protected].

Two Point Penalties Slapped on World No. 1

The subjectivity of line calls continues to plague professional pickleball, a truth that was on full display at last weekend's Mesa Cup.

One match in particular — a semifinal men's singles bout between Federico Staksrud and Hunter Johnson — seemed to strike a particular nerve with the players and fans alike. Between challenges, appeals to match officials, mysterious timeouts and even some audible booing from the crowd, it quickly became more than a matchup between two of the best players in the sport.

An exchange during the side switch in the third and deciding game — involving some choice language from Staksrud and subsequent technical warnings and failed appeals — resulted in Staksrud forfeiting two points to Johnson, pushing the score from 6-2 to 8-2. Johnson would go on to win the deciding game with an 11-5 finish.

The match lasted nearly 100 minutes, half of which went down without anyone actually playing any pickleball. Staksrud was outspoken during and after the action. "They messed me up," he said of the match officials during a post-match interview. "I don't get what we're doing here."

It kind of makes you wonder ... when is close-call replay coming back for good? We caught up with Fed on a new episode of the PicklePod. Subscribe here to get notified when that episode drops.

🤔 Newsletter getting clipped? Click ‘view entire message’ or click here to read online

Rip Up Vegetation & Increase Bite Force

Primates’ grip strength is 9x that of humans.

Don’t just hold your paddle the way pros do.

Hold it like Jane Goodall is the only person in the world who could get it out of your hands.

Pickleball Invades California’s Capitol

A shot at history is on the line as the APP Tour returns to the Johnson Ranch Pickleball Complex for a fourth straight year. The APP Sacramento Open kicks off today.

All-Time Medal Leader
Megan Fudge is on pace to make history in Sacramento. If she can secure three medals on Sunday, she will become the tour’s leader in all-time career medals.

Haworth Era
Chris Haworth will be busy chasing a record of his own on Sunday. A gold in Sacramento will give Haworth 10 career men’s singles titles and tie the all-time record.

Find out who Erik Tice is predicting for a podium run here and tune into the event starting tomorrow at 1 pm ET on APPTV.

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