Hey... so... got a ball?

SUNDAY | JUNE 25, 2023

It’s time to wake up!

It’s Sunday and we’ve got a weekend off from pro pickleball. The APP will be coming to us live from Newport Beach, CA next weekend and then the PPA will be in Denver on July 12.

Grab your coffee, read the newsletter, then grab your paddle… It’s DINKING time.

If you’re enjoying the newsletter or podcast, please share it. Go ahead and forward this to one person who needs more pickleball in their life.

DINK A LINK

• If you’re here for the hottest gossip around the league, look no further than Riley Newman. Riley announced this week that he’s breaking up (or maybe mutually agreed upon 🤷‍♂️) with Matt Wright, but didn’t announce who his new partner will be.

  • It’s worth noting that Matt and Riley have played in 27 tournaments together and have medaled in every. single. tournament 😯.

  • Here’s who the people speculate will be his new partner.

• The APP is going global this Fall (September 22 - 25) with the Gamma Sweden Open. Note: The Gamma Sweden Open took place in 2022 as well, but now with the APP’s involvement and the growth pickleball has seen, it’s likely to be a much bigger event.

• (more) Pickleball headed to New York City. Life Time, the fitness facility that hosts almost all of the PPA event is opening up shop at the new Penn Station in New York City. Their facility at PENN 1 will cover three floors, with seven pickleball courts on the ground floor.

• Want to hit harder drives? Check out this video from @davispickleball where he breaks down the swing of his hardest hitting friend.

• 782,000. Paul Rabil, former professional lacrosse player and founder of the Premier Lacrosse League posted his highlights of the past PLL season. One of which was the record single game viewership of 782,000 they achieved this year on ABC. I bring this up because the PLL has been pushing since 2018 and the PPA achieved 1.2 million viewers earlier this year during the Newport Beach Shootout.

• Missed the Major League Pickleball super finals? Watch it here.

  • Fun facts: 1) The Super Finals paid out $60k per winning player 2) the state of California took 7% of the payout for taxes 😬

  • This July, Major League Pickleball is gearing up for the second (half) season of 2023. First up, “the flop”. Where all Premier level teams will become Challenger level teams and vice versa.

  • With the “flop” comes the redraft. Yes, all players will go back to square 0 and be redrafted to new teams for the second half of the season.

  • But… the teams (read, team names + owners) will still retain their points for the first part of the season so they can continue accumulating points for the remainder of 2023.

  • Read more about the top prospects for the upcoming draft, here.

• Did you know that amongst the 36.5 million pickleball players, 18-34 year-olds make up the largest percentage of pickleball players?

• Should you be allowed to play singles during open play when there’s a line of players waiting? Watch here.

• If you’re a former tennis player, you’ll definitely recognize this guy (from Essential Tennis), who recently had a pickleball training session with Joran Briones. Watch him immediately play 4.5’s, here.

PADDLE TECH

• New paddles are hitting the market every week recently. Here’s what you should care about:

  • The JOOLA Perseus is all the buzz right now. Because there are too many review videos out there, take your pick of them by clicking, here.

  • Selkirk launched its new 005 and 006 models to their “Labs” members, but detailed information isn’t going public until the 27th. For now, here’s a video that was published by a Selkirk influencer that goes through which is best for drives, drops, power, etc.

  • NEW Volair Forza via Building Pickleball

  • Is the Filth a less expensive CRBN 1x alternative? Pickleball Studio thinks so.

  • The Vatic Prism Flash might be the best Joola Hyperion competitor under $100 via Pickleball Effect

  • The CRBN 3x is here to give you even extra real estate if you need to grab balls from those hard to reach places.

If you enjoyed this week’s newsletter, share it with someone you’re dinking with later. Or better yet, send it to your entire group. Please?

Until next week…

– “Downtown” Logan Brown