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

One simple tweet posted by The Dink’s founder has escalated into an assault on his pride (and his DUPR rating). After exchanging some friendly trash talk, our fearless leader Thomas is now set to face world #2 women’s player Anna Bright in a winner-take-all, best-of-three singles match next week in Miami.

To the winner goes, well… nothing, really. But it should make for one hell of a story. More on how this all unfolded, below.

In This Issue:
— Now live: The Dink Holiday Gift Guide
— Top pros are loving this new hydration brand
— Zane and Erik roast pro pickleball players

Careful what you wish for.

The Dink Holiday Gift Guide is back and bursting with great ideas for every pickleballer in your life. From paddles to shoes to bags and more, we’ve rounded up the best of the best all in one place. Go ahead, get a little something for yourself while you’re at it.

It’s finally here: The Dink Minor League Pickleball National Championship is in full swing in Dallas, with hundreds of the world’s top amateurs from 35 states and eight countries preparing to battle it out for their slice of the $100,000 prize purse. Don’t miss a minute — follow all the action on The Dink’s YouTube channel.

Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright are the current queens of women’s pickleball. But their former partners are coming for the crown in 2026: Catherine Parenteau and Rachel Rohrabacher are officially teaming up. Get your popcorn ready.

A few weeks ago, we told you about a pickleball spat in the picturesque California community of Carmel-by-the-Sea. Well, we’ve got an update. And it’s not great. If the vote goes through city council, it could make playing the sport a criminal act punishable by a $1,000 fine. We love you, readers — but we're not bailing you out on this one.

When it comes to technique and strategy, Collin is the absolute GOAT. And he just dropped this nugget of wisdom on our third-shot choices.

Firstly, when you’re about to rip a third-shot drive, what’s going through your head? You’re probably thinking winner, winner, chicken dinner, right? WRONG! (says Collin).

Why you’re wrong: As the serving team, you’re at a positional disadvantage. Your goal shouldn’t be to win the point outright on a drive. Instead, it should be to get to neutral, or rather, gain the kitchen line.

So, what do you do?

✅ Don’t swing out of your shoes. Even on a drive, placement is more important than power. There’s no room for missing long, or even worse, in the net.

✅ Encourage your opponents to make contact. “Hitting to a small open space is a bit of a trap,” says Collin. Your drive should aim at bigger targets, earning yourself a better fifth shot and court position.

✅ Take the easier fifth shot drop. Your drive should land you a shorter mid-court ball that gives you more margin for an effective drop, bringing you and your partner to the kitchen.

✅ It’s all mental. As the serving team, you’re beginning each point from a place of weakness. A low, third-shot drive is the first shot toward gaining net neutrality. And that’s your ultimate goal. Get your team to the kitchen and you’ve brought your odds back to even.

Naturally, you’ll sometimes get a clean winner on the drives (which is great). But that shouldn’t be your goal when ripping that third.

It’s the next shot that really matters. Consistency is everything in advanced pickleball. It’s not always about speed and power; sometimes, setting up your next shot is the smartest move you can make.

➡️ Collin shows you the way.

Quick confession. On Cyber Monday, we gave you all the paddle deals. Very helpful.

But we kinda gatekept something important. Hayden Patriquin’s entire “Big H” collection. That’s our bad.

His signature paddle is now live, you can also grab the Big H hat, and the tee that ties it all together. If you want the full Hayden kit (obviously you do), consider this your official heads up.

Go look before we forget to mention it again.

Unforced errors. Lost firefights. Sluggish reaction times.

You can drill until your legs go weak, but the way you fuel your body before and during a match plays a major role in your on-court performance. Plain water isn’t enough to keep you playing at your best. You need performance hydration.

SLAMIT launched today with two products already trusted by top pros like Anna Bright, Zane Navratil, Tanner Tomassi, and Kyle Koszuta. And they should know; they’ve spent the last year working hands-on with the SLAMIT team to get the formulas just right.

More than 80% of the minerals you lose in sweat come from sodium, or salt. And yet, most electrolyte brands use plain old table salt. That’s like putting unleaded gas in your Ferrari.

SLAMIT, instead, is the only electrolyte brand to use premium Baja Gold® Sea Salt, a rare and expensive ingredient that’s 20 times more expensive than the generic alternative but for good reason: it boasts 90 trace minerals to support hydration and health at a cellular level.

Their marquee products, SLAMIT HYDRATE and SLAMIT FOCUS, are packed with 2,278 mg of total electrolytes — more than double what many electrolyte powders deliver.

The result is science-backed hydration that’s proven to increase focus and reaction time by more than 25%. That means fewer mistakes and more points going in your favor.

If it’s good enough for Zane and Anna, it’s definitely good enough for us.

➡️ Learn more, and get yours today.

No one pickleball player is perfect. Not even the guys in the top 20 of the PPA pro ranks.

To prove it, Zane Navratil and Erik Tice, never ones to shy away from a little controversy, decided to up the ante from building their best pro pickleball player to… you guessed it… building their worst.

On this week’s PicklePod, the guys pick a different top-20 male pro for 11 different categories, based on who they feel is the worst at that particular skill.

It wasn’t easy. Zane isn’t impressed by Riley Newman’s drives, for example, while Erik singled out Tyson McGuffin for his speed-ups.

Whose final player is the best (worst) pro? You be the judge.

After some friendly trash talk caught fire online, world #2 women’s pickleball player Anna Bright has agreed to “humble” The Dink’s founder Thomas Shields in a one-on-one singles challenge next week in Miami.

It all started with Thomas defending his honor — and his 5.0 DUPR rating. Soon enough, he was catching strays from around the internet. Including from Anna, who offered this zinger: “If you’re a 5.0, so is my mom.” Burn.

Thomas countered with a challenge: “Play me in singles, best of 3, stakes can be whatever you want.”

And Anna accepted. Because she’s quite literally one of the best pickleball players in the world. And also because “I’m bored and humbling men is my favorite pastime.”

Now the stage is set. Saturday, December 13, at Sip & Pickle in the heart of Miami. Anna vs. Thomas. Best of three games.

At stake? Thomas’ pride. But also his precious DUPR rating.

➡️ Welp, that escalated quickly.

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.