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There’s a misconception about firefights that needs to be addressed. Yes, fast hands and superior coordination give you an edge. Anticipation goes a long way, too. But your ability to reload your paddle to a ready position in between heated exchanges is the difference between success and failure. Every time.

Master this skill and watch the points start piling up. We show you how below.

In This Issue:
— Full drama at PPA Sacramento
— Need a paddle? Use this data
— We want your pickleball questions

Getting better every day.

Shock and awe: Anna Leigh Waters dominated the US Open, winning mixed doubles with fellow PPA pro Jay Devilliers and women’s doubles with her mom Leigh. For highlights and more results, check here.

In a singles quarterfinal match against Zane Ford, a frustrated Hunter Johnson tossed his paddle at his bag during a timeout. Except he missed. And it bounced up and lightly made contact with a fan. New rule: that’s an immediate match ejection.

Yesterday marked the 100th career PPA medal for JW Johnson and the 200th finals appearance for Ben Johns, reports PPA statistician Jim Ramsey. It wasn’t all so predictable, though. Plenty more on this event below.

From vibrant cyan blues (shoutout CJ Klinger) to moody matching leopard print (looking at you, Johnson siblings), the pros brought the on-court style once again at PPA Sacramento. Here’s who wore it best.

Firefights are fast, intense, and aggressive. They happen in the blink of an eye. Success, we’re often led to believe, boils down to hand speed, anticipation, and reflexes.

That’s all true. But it ignores the most critical key to coming out on top: the reload.

Between every shot should be a moment of calm. No matter how intense the hands battle is, you need to flip back into patient, controlled mode as fast as possible between every exchange. Every time.

Here’s what a reload looks like in real time:

These exchanges may look wild. But at the highest levels, they’re actually surprisingly calm and calculated.

Speed-up. Back to neutral.
Counter. Back to neutral.
Block or reset. Back to neutral.
Kill shot. Back to neutral.

Mentally, you must always expect the ball to come back. Technically, your paddle has to be ready to handle it.

The player who reloads the fastest in a firefight wins the next exchange. It's really that simple.

We’ve compiled a complete guide to winning heated hands battles at the kitchen.

➡️ Check it out.

You know the routine.

New paddle shows up. Feels stiff. You tell yourself it just needs a few games.

Sometimes it never quite gets there.

CRBN’s TruFoam Genesis line skips that whole process.

Because the core isn’t traditional, the feel doesn’t really change over time — what you get on your first hit is what you’re playing with weeks later.

At a certain point, consistency stops being a “nice to have.” It’s the whole game.

Shop the TruFoam Genesis line and use code THEDINK for 10% off.

Buying a pickleball paddle used to be simple. Then the sport exploded.

Now? It’s overwhelming.

Hundreds of brands. Thousands of models. Endless shapes. Performance buzzwords claiming superiority in every conceivable metric. It feels like everyone claims to have the perfect paddle.

Most players, especially recreational ones, are left guessing.

Kansas City-based JustPaddles is out to solve one of pickleball's most enduring problems: translating paddle jargon into measurable performance data.

Their proprietary, in-house Paddle Lab isn’t a marketing gimmick. It’s a full-scale testing operation. And they’ve got decades of specialization in baseball and softball to prove their bona fides.

Every paddle that enters their inventory is put through a standardized testing process measuring metrics like exit velocity, spin rate, consistency, and more, ensuring the data reflects the performance output that customers actually feel.

The best part? The resulting data isn’t buried behind dense, technical dashboards. It’s integrated directly into the shopping experience.

With so many new paddles hitting the market every day, how can we tell the difference between promise and performance, imitation and innovation, inaccuracy and authenticity?

Data is a great place to start. Paddle Lab has it for more than 500 paddles and counting.

➡️ See it for yourself.

Just like that, PPA Sacramento is in the books and we’ve got just one event left before PPA Finals in San Clemente next month.

As we’ve mentioned, Sacramento was notable for a host of top pros who weren’t playing, namely Anna Leigh Waters, Anna Bright, and Christian Alshon.

But that doesn’t mean the level of competition suffered at all. Here’s who took gold on Championship Sunday.

Familiar faces all around. But it wasn’t a tournament without its headlines.

→ Hunter Johnson was ejected in the quarters for throwing a paddle that hit a spectator, albeit extremely gently
→ Jack Sock made a deep singles run, losing to Zane Ford in the semis
→ Teenage sensation Kiora Kunimoto crushed Catherine Parenteau in the quarters before falling to Fahey in the semis
→ The Johnson siblings are still seeking gold in 2026; shockingly, this was their first finals appearance all year
→ Ben and Gabe won another gold, a feat even more impressive (and scary) when you consider that Gabe Tardio wasn’t his normal x-factor all match

The PPA Veolia Atlanta Championships are up next in Peachtree Corners, Georgia.

➡️ Full Sacramento highlights.

Ever wonder how much pro pickleball players really make? Or why you keep missing your speed-ups? Think Nico can’t possibly be a 5.0 like he claims he is?

Each week on the PicklePod, hosts Zane and Nico will be fielding real-life questions and grievances from listeners just like you. Want your voice to be heard? Now’s your chance.

➡️ Submit a question.

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