International GOLD🥇 + Sometimes You Just Need Some Wood🪵🪵🪵

In my last piece, I wrote a lot about the cultural experiences I had in my trip to Kuala Lumpur, and in this piece I will focus more on what you all want to hear… about the pickleball! And boy oh boy, do I have a lot to talk (write?) about!

I had the pleasure this weekend of carrying Ben Johns to his first (and mine as well, but that’s besides the point) international gold medal in Malaysia🇲🇾.

There is perhaps no bigger pressure in pickleball than playing with either Ben Johns or Anna Leigh Waters. Having a (1) by your name always comes with expectation, both internal and external. But of course, would you truly want to be in any other position? Being the hunted should be the goal of any athlete- it means you’ve made it, at least temporarily.

Playing with Ben Johns this week really made me reflect on how I handled this go-around versus the last time we partnered up, which I believe was in April of 2024. If you weren’t religiously following pickleball then, we got silver in a thinner field, losing in the final to Vivienne David and Thomas Wilson in 4 games. Here is the match if you’re curious.

Candidly, I felt uncomfortable that entire tournament. I felt unsure of myself and just… not good. I never found a flow state with him despite the silver medal. In contrast, this week with him, I felt very free. I think I have reached a level of confidence within my own mixed game in which I no longer felt imposter syndrome, and instead of solely being worried I might mess it up for him, this time I had my own thoughts along the lines of “YOU better not mess this up for ME”😂😂😂. Kind of an FU energy in the best possible way, if you will.

Expanding on this point, it did seem that Christian struggled with the pressure of being alongside Ben… he just was not himself, and especially was not himself on Sunday. Christian was definitely in his head about the ball we were using, and it definitely was an adjustment from the fast LifeTime ball we are accustomed to, but I bet that if they ever were to run it back (like I had the opportunity to do), he would play much better.

Major shoutout of course to Eric Oncin and Tyson McGuffin for their men’s doubles title this week. One thing about Tyson, when presented with an opportunity, he is going to capitalize! I honestly thought that when they failed to close out game 2 they were going to get smoked in the third. What resilience! Eric’s first PPA title and first win over Ben (I think), and definitely Tyson’s first win over Ben in some time.

After playing mixed with Ben this week, I am more in awe of his level than I ever have been. He doesn’t get enough credit for how talented he is and how easy he makes Anna Leigh’s life. Now I am NOT taking anything away from her. But sheesh did Ben make my life easy (I still carried though), and I now think he doesn’t get enough credit for their success. I realize our field was weaker than a true PPA field, but still. The guy reads the line, controls the kitchen, and takes court like nothing else. If you listed out every skill in pickleball, Ben would be top 5 at 90% of them. AL would be the same- this well-roundedness is what makes them so incredible.

I’m writing all of this basically just to say that after playing with Ben I have a newfound appreciation for myself for having beaten him and AL THREE times (how many times have I lost? let’s not think about that!). They are both so good and the fact I have pushed them and taken games off them as often as I have this year is something I now feel more proud of. Don’t think I’m satisfied- I still want to be holding up trophies in mixed far more than once a year, but I feel I am now giving myself more credit than I have been. Good job Anna, now hurry up and get better😂.

Over the course of the tournament in Malaysia, through discussions with other pros, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are noticeable, tangible differences in play-style internationally versus in the States. It’s interesting to see game-play converging to a style that best suits the local environment.

A lot of international pickleball is currently played in Asia in very humid, hot climates. Plus, these events use a ball that is ALREADY far softer than what is used in the USA. What does this result in? A ball that plays softer than a Franklin in Florida. As such, putting the ball away with pace becomes more difficult and putaways become more about getting the ball down.

Subsequently, we noticed that internationally there is a lot more “sitting forehand” and “pancaking” than there is in America. In our match against Eric and Dani-elle Townsend, Ben even started using a full pancake grip just for fun in firefights with Eric. We also saw Rob Nunnery’s partner, Vanshik Kapadia, doing this with extreme success against Ben and Christian in the men’s doubles quarterfinal.

The softer ball + humidity definitely affected play in some other ways, but another interesting tidbit is that the nets we played on in Malaysia are FAR “looser” than nets in the USA. They are less taut, and therefore there are a LOT more net dribblers and pretty much all net cords go over. Christian hypothesized that as a result of this international players play with less margin. I don’t know if this is true or not, but definitely something interesting.

Obviously, I’d be remiss to not shout out the team that took myself and Roos Van Reek out in women’s doubles, Danni-elle Townsend and Nicola Schoeman. They played amazingly and I do think the pressure got to Roos and I. We didn’t have our best and I struggled to find the balance of doing a lot but still staying measured. It’s definitely a tougher balance to find against new opponents with a unique style (Danni in particular has a very unique game due to her ping-pong background). I hope we see more of these two in an American PPA soon!

I’ve rambled long enough, if you’re still reading, I appreciate you! I didn’t get to catch too much of the wood paddle this tournament this week, but of what little I watched, I was absolutely blown away by the level. It honestly didn’t look that different to me from the usual PPA level and it would be fun to see how the tournament would have played out with a full field.

In women’s doubles, Lea Jansen and Brooke Buckner had a statement win over Tyra and Jorja that one would expect had to do a least a bit with the novelty of the paddles. I wish they had made the final, but they were barely edged out by Jessie/Callie! A great weekend for Jessie getting silver and bronze, she seemed to be thriving, which makes sense considering her game style. Congrats to Lacy and Etta on their gold!

In Men’s, Collin did not win his superbowl, but Dylan and JW did! So wholesome to see two good friends reunite and go all the way. I wonder if we will see more of them together in the near future? Maybe sometimes you just need some time apart to grow stronger together?

JW went double gold, also winning mixed with Jorja, but still major congrats to Kate and Dylan for making the final. Kate’s first doubles final! Gold and silver not a bad way to kick off a wedding week! Kate and Dylan were super fun to watch and I love seeing Dylan get fired up. Shoutout Genie Bouchard for her first singles final and to Federico for his title in a bit!

It was a fun week of pickleball, and I think we will see a big confidence boost effect for some players from this week. Despite one-off formats and thinner fields, winning matches is still winning matches. I wouldn’t be surprised if players like Tyson, Eric, Kaitlyn Christian, Kate, Dylan, Genie, and Federico all see a boost in the events they did well in in the near future. Thankfully, that future is not far away at all as play begins in Virginia Beach in about a week! Sorry for this edition being late folks, just have been SLAMMED. Will be happy to land back in the US in a few hours, I’m really hoping I can get some Chick-Fil-A before my last flight back home to Florida, and maybe also a donut! 😂😂