Officially Unofficial MLP All Team Awards + Singles Return?!

Played a little singles yesterday! Had a lot of fun. Some fun battles and got a couple of good wins before losing to Judit Castillo in the quarters. I honestly don’t think I played unbelievably, but I do think I played very smart, which is probably more important. Got a lot of questions on why I played - I often make decisions based on what I can do to minimize possible regret in the future, and that’s why I chose to play today. With how stacked the playoffs are going to be, the probability of never playing a dreambreaker has to be close to zero- wanted to do everything I could to feel confident in them and to minimize my ability to hate myself if I had a bad one. If I played a poor dreambreaker and didn’t get any singles reps to prepare myself I would have a lot of regret and shame. So I played!

Anyways, without further ado! The MLP regular season is over! So it’s All-Team award time! This was not easy, but was definitely fun. Enjoy!

HAYDEN PATRIQUIN, GABE TARDIO, ANNA LEIGH WATERS, TYRA BLACK

The first three players on this list were no-brainers for me. Gabe and Hayden are playing some incredible pickleball right now. They are 27-2 in men’s doubles in a league in which people generally consider men’s doubles more variable than women’s. There is nothing variable at all about their record, and their play has buoyed the Shock to another level this year. Kate and I often joke that we carried in gender last year, so it’s fair that they carry a little more in gender this year. 

In mixed the boys are both playing great - Hayden is the human embodiment of “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” out there. He has every shot, is dangerous from every spot on the court, and his floor is higher than ever. Gabe has also reached another level in mixed, along with Kate. You have to realize that we often send Gabe and Kate out against #1 mixed teams and they have delivered, they are not only 21-6, but have done this playing teams with DUPRS an average of 0.1 higher than the teams Hayden and I have played. The boys, ahem, excuse me, men of the Shock deserve to take a bow for their regular season performance. 

Anna Leigh Waters is, well… Anna Leigh Waters. 49-7 while bearing the burden of feeling like anything less than 2-0 is a team loss. The Fives, to their credit, have done a TON to lessen this burden on her. Meghan is bringing so much offense and firepower to the right side when loose in both gender AND mixed, Mari brings flexibility, and the Noe trade was a swing for the title. TBD whether Noe or Zane is a better bet for the Fives but I have nothing but respect for the organization for doing all they can to lessen AL’s burden and bring the queen and Fives fans their first MLP title (even if I do find all the activity occasionally amusing and the chant annoying). 

The last female spot was very hard to decide. To me, Jorja Johnson and Tyra Black are the only real options here. I decided to go with Tyra even though Jorja’s record is better because Jorja has the luxury of playing with her brother, JW. They are the clear #2 mixed doubles team in PPA, and I will take the stance that Tyra’s 21-7 record in mixed with Augie is more impressive than Jorja’s 27-2 with JW, especially considering JW and Augie have been struggling relative to last year and expectation. A bonus, Tyra has also dominated Real Clear stats this season- she is playing some absolutely unbelievable pickleball. 

JORJA JOHNSON, ANNA BRIGHT, JW JOHNSON, WILL HOWELLS

If Jorja barely missed out on my first team, stands to reason she has to make the second team! Jorja is the heart and soul of her team and the sweetheart of the Flash. Hard not to root for her (unless she’s opposite the net from me). She is the engine and often the source of offense in her and JW’s partnership and I do not think they pull off some of the incredible comebacks they have this year without Jorja’s fire and belief. Major shoutout to her this season. 

I was considering whether I should exclude myself from my analysis entirely, but decided that would be tackier than just putting myself where I think I should be. I’ve gone 47-10, Kate and I kind of stumbled a bit in St Louis unfortunately but I think there is much more parity in WD this year than there was last and I am still very proud of our record in such a stacked league. Hayden and I are playing good ball as well - I’m doing my thing making balls and getting out of his way, lol. 

I find it interesting that of the maximum 4 possible mixed partnerships there could be between the 8 players in my first and second teams, 3 are set MLP partnerships. Just goes to show how important partners are AND just how impressive and important the records of Tyra and Gabe are in mixed for their teams. For Will and JW, can’t argue with record. They are 45-15 and 43-15, respectively. Both are getting it done in mixed and doing well in men’s with partners I would not consider adding to this list. 

ANDREI DAESCU, FEDERICO STAKSRUD, RACHEL ROHRABACHER, JADIE KAWAMOTO (please please please don’t make me choose one of them)

Andrei and Fed have both gone 38-20 in the regular season. Andrei has been the most solid player for Columbus and is the true pro’s pro. I’m excited to play with him this weekend and hope to recreate some of the magic we had in Austin last March. He always gives 110% effort no matter the situation. He’s also underrated in singles. Can’t teach 6’4”. 

Along with his solid record, Federico has stepped into a role this season I have never seen him take on - he has often taken on the responsibility to be his team’s source of energy and fire. He has willed Orlando to some wins they may not have otherwise gotten. An anecdote, but in Columbus I saw him taking time to teach Samantha Parker how to hit an ATP - feeding her balls and coaching her on exactly how to hit the shot. I found it heartwarming. Though she is no longer on the Squeeze, should you ever see her hit a sick forehand ATP, know Federico and the initiative he took to help her and his team get better contributed to the polished, final product you saw on Pickleball TV. 

Rachel was the obvious pick for third team - she has been playing amazing and has been asked to do a lot since Dekel fell ill. This season it was like everyone was simultaneously allergic to AJ until they needed him and then suddenly he was hot shit. Made no sense to me why no one picked him up permanently but literally everyone wanted him temporarily. Rachel and AJ went 13-5, and while AJ is amazing, you can’t undersell how well Rachel played for Brooklyn to achieve that mixed record. Rachel and Jackie found their stride in women’s and went a supremely impressive 22-8 to carry their team to the 4th seed while Dekel was unavailable for most of the season. Kudos to the Brooklyn women.

Jadie Kawamoto. You’ve never heard of her, but she’s amazing. Simultaneously lefty and righty, simultaneously has a western grip and insanely flexible wrist but also some of the funkiest and unreadable and scoopiest nonwristy technique in the game. Ugh. Okay. I’ll drop the joke. I literally do not know how to choose between them. As I type this I am holding a rhetorical gun to my head and I will go with … Jade. Jackie don’t kill me! I’ll go with Jade over Jackie only because I think her record with Hunter is slightly more impressive than Jackie’s with Riley. Even though it was a different time, Riley has won PPA mixed titles after all. Both girls were put in a situation where they had to carry their teams (Mad Drops with all the subs and obviously Dekel for Brooklyn). The Kawamotos are both amazing, but I will reluctantly give the nod to Jade. 

Oh, Kloss considered Jade for his most improved player. That’s absurd. The way pro women think of Jade is so different from how media in pickleball think of Jade, and it’s been this way for a while. Her game is not conventional, not the prettiest, but she is f****** good and the funkiness is VERY hard to read. I hate being in front of her, no one covers the middle better than her, and she is a reset bot. She HAS BEEN a beast and honestly considering her for most improved is disrespectful to her.