Today, I’m serving up the first edition of the Sunday Dinking Club newsletter.

I’m Logan (nice to meet you) – a reformed tennis player, who picked up pickleball in early 2022. A 3.5 at best (😉 Chris Olson).

Sunday Dinking Club is currently a newsletter and podcast meant to keep pickleball lovers informed of the top pickleball news, each week. My longer-term ambition is to create a space for raving pickleball fans to not only discuss the growth of the sport, but meet (& play) each other in real life.

Each week, I’ll share the top pickleball news in an easy-to-digest way that will keep you informed and give you more than 3rd shot drops to talk about with your friends. All within a 5 minute read or listen.

Enough warm up. Let’s serve up the first edition.

Here’s what’s happening, Around The Post

14 temporary pickleball courts just opened in Central Park 😮. This is a huge step forward for the sport. According to the Central Park website, 42 million people visit the park each year.

But with two steps forward, we must take a step back. Denver just shut down pickleball at one of its local parks due to noise complaints.

What’s the big dill?

I’m sympathetic to the “loudness” of pickleball.

When 12 courts are playing at once, things get humming.

Us players could care less, but for neighbors who don’t care for the sport, this can cause frustration. Especially when most city courts are open late into the evening.

Could pickle “ball” innovation be the answer? Check out this concept ball the guy from Enhance Pickleball made, specifically aimed at reducing court noise.

On Wednesday, Travis Rettenmaier (Selkirk Pro and owner of the Florida Smash MLP team) took to Instagram to explain his recent run-in with a proposed, “delaminated” paddle while playing singles against fellow Selkirk sponsored teammate, Tyson McGuffin. See the video here.

Lea Jansen also took to Twitter to discuss her thoughts on the topic after playing Salome Devidze. Who she felt played with a delaminated paddle during their match.

The paddles mentioned in both examples above were sent off to PPA officials for further investigation.

Announcers during Saturday’s Championship round mentioned that USA Pickleball and the PPA are working on bringing paddle testing to the tournament so that delamination can be checked for, prior to a match.

What’s the big dill?

Delamination creates a trampoline effect on the ball, increasing your ability to maneuver the ball and speed it up.

I had a ball mark left on my chest for more than a week by a former D1 tennis player’s drive. He was using a regular paddle. I’d probably have a hole in my chest if it was delaminated.

If you’re not familiar with delamination and the drama circulating the pro pickleball circuit, check out this video from The Pickleball Studio.

Lea Jansen has been bringing the hot takes to twitter this week. One of them being the call to remove singles from the PPA tour.

Lea goes on to explain that singles has the lowest viewership, is tough on the body and doesn’t have a big enough financial benefit to make it worthwhile.

Pro singles has typically been reserved as the first event of a pro tournament weekend. It gets the lowest viewership because it’s being played on a Thursday.

In case you missed it, last week’s Pickleball Slam featured former tennis legends Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, John McEnroe, and Michael Chang. It also aired on ESPN. The real ESPN, not ESPN+, ESPN News, or the Ocho.

What’s the big dill?

It ended up pulling more viewership than a few MLB and NHL games as well as the WNBA finals!

This was great exposure for the game of pickleball. The tennis legends came prepared and played great points

However, Andre’s comments at the end of the match make me feel like the game is still not respected or though of as the “next big thing”. As he put it in his post-game interview, Pickleball is… “[ ] where tennis players go to die.”

If you enjoyed this week’s newsletter, share it with someone you plan on beating on the court this week. Or better yet, send it to your entire group.

Until next week, enjoy your Sunday and have a dink for me.

– “Downtown” Logan Brown