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Happy Major League Pickleball Playoff Weekend to all who celebrate. The top 10 Premier teams hit the court in sunny San Diego starting today to determine who makes it to the finals next weekend in the heart of New York City. It’s sure to be high stakes and high drama. We can’t wait.

In other news, adidas Pickleball has a crafty new sponsored pro. The president of the PPA Tour is selling his Utah mansion, complete with a backyard pickleball court. And we go back to third grade math to learn “The Rope Rule.”

Last time, we swear, but we’re doing this for you…

In This Issue:
— A monumental weekend for pro pickleball
— After a serve return, follow ‘The Rope Rule’
— A pickleball palace fit for a CEO

Is this thing on?

After a smashing success in NYC, The Dink is bringing its Courted social pickleball mixer series to Chicago. Well, a bit outside of Chicago. But trust us, the drinks will be flowing, the vibes will be immaculate, and the pickleball? Just the right blend of competition and connection. Tickets are on sale while they last.

Jaume Martinez Vich is having a banner month. After a men’s doubles finals run in Bristol, TN, just last week, a new career milestone became Instagram official: He’s the new face of adidas Pickleball. “Adding a power side to my game opens up new weapons for me,” he told The Dink.

This model single-family “barndominium” features three bedrooms, 3.5 baths, a full gym, and a game room, all spread across 4,175 square feet of luxurious indoor/outdoor living space. One more thing: The floor plan calls for a regulation-size pickleball court smack in the middle of the living room. Now we’re talking.

Tom Dundon, majority owner of the PPA and MLP, and owner of the Carolina Hogs and Carolina Hurricanes (NHL), has reportedly ponied up for the Portland Trailblazers NBA franchise at a valuation of more than $4 billion. Does this mean more West Coast pro pickleball ahead? Time will tell.

Here’s a quick but useful tip to bring into your weekend matches and beyond.

It’s called “The Rope Rule.”

After every serve return, your goal should be to get to the kitchen line as quickly and efficiently as possible, right?

So take a page from your elementary school math book and think in straight lines: Take your first two steps directly toward the spot where the ball lands, as if a rope is pulling you.

If the return was hit deep enough, you should be able to get all the way up. If not, you might need to split-step and defend from the mid-court.

Either way, this strategy will help ensure you’re not leaving any gaps between you and your partner when defending the third shot, especially through the middle.

➡️ Tanner Tomassi demonstrates.

Those flip-flops? Retired.

The NOBULL Allday takes you from the street to the pickleball court without missing a step.

The breathable upper keeps you cool before the first serve. Comfortable. Versatile. Built to handle it all, while looking damn good doing it.

Plus, they look good enough to wear long after the last point: dinner, errands, wherever the day takes you.

➡️ Grab them for just $99 with code RUN99 (normally $149).

For months now, the UPA, the governing body that oversees the PPA Tour and MLP, has been working with each and every signed pro to extend their contracts in line with a new incentive-based model.

The TL;DR: back in 2023, before the two leagues merged, there was a fire sale for talent, where execs from MLP and PPA were doing everything they could to sign the best players to their side. That translated to lucrative contracts. Some of those pros have panned out. Many others, not so much.

In order to right the financial ship, guaranteed contracts are being cut by a third annually, but the available prize pool for winners is now much bigger. It’s more of an eat-what-you-kill model; make podiums and you make the big bucks. But underperform and the checks look smaller.

For this model to take effect, a certain percentage of all signed pros need to agree to it. And the deadline for that is today.

Will the deadline be extended? Will some top holdouts like Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters sign just in the nick of time?

We don’t know. But while we all wait, here’s a full overview from Pro Player Committee President Zane Navratil

Pictured above is Connor Pardoe, founder and CEO of the PPA Tour.

Pictured beside him is reportedly Connor’s house, a sprawling 8,000-sq-ft, seven-bed, six-bath stunner located in a private, gated Utah community just minutes from ski resorts, golf courses, hiking and biking trails, and shopping.

Not that you’d ever want to leave the house. In the backyard sits a lighted, regulation-size pickleball court. And in case a drone flies over and wonders who could be so lucky, Pardoe has made that clear: “Pro Pickleball Association” is stamped in white behind each baseline.

Mouth watering yet? A cool $3,650,000 and it could all be yours.

Nobody likes the friend who’s always dragging. You know, yawning through dinner, complaining about being tired, acting like they’re on their last ounce of energy. The human rain cloud.

If you don’t want to be that person, start giving your body what it’s missing. Magnesium Breakthrough from BIOptimizers packs 7 highly absorbable forms of magnesium, plus vitamin B6 and fulvic acids so your body can actually use it.

Take it before bed to actually sleep, or in the morning so you’re not running on fumes by lunch. Your friends will thank you and they might even start asking what you’re taking.

➡️ Go ahead and code THEDINK and get 15% off.

If there was ever a time to see what all the pro pickleball hype is about, today would be that day.

It’s Major League Pickleball Playoff time, with the first rounds going live from San Diego this afternoon beginning at 1pm EDT.

It all starts with a play-in round. One match. The winners move on, the losers go home.

✅ Matchup #1 - #7 Texas Ranchers vs. #10 Miami Pickleball Club

✅ Matchup #2 - #8 Orlando Squeeze vs. #9 Utah Black Diamonds

These winners become the new #7 and #8 seeds. Then the fun begins: The #1 seed gets to choose their opponent from the 5-8 seeds. Then the #2 seed chooses their opponent from the remaining 5-8 seeds. And so on.

The drama!

➡️ How to watch. When to watch. Why to watch. We break it all down.

A review from the Dink Fam...

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