PPA Atlanta: Same Same, but Different + Big News👀

Championship Sunday in Atlanta was definitely a bit lackluster, but that shouldn’t detract from how incredible of an event this was. We had upsets a-plenty, the rise of Tama Shimabukuro, and flashes of much-needed depth in the women’s field. Let’s get into it! 

Even though Tama didn’t win Gold in Atlanta, he is undoubtedly the story of the tournament. The 15-year-old surfing-turned-pickleball sensation stole the hearts of both his opponents and of fans everywhere. 

What Tama did this week is nothing short of incredible. A silver in men’s singles, a semifinal run in men’s, and a R16 finish in mixed doubles. Let’s keep this all in perspective- it would be insane if a woman did this in today’s day and age, but for a man, this is even crazier as men develop later. The kid is a freak. 

I didn’t watch too much of Tama in men’s doubles, but in singles, I was wholly impressed. He plays almost a “junk-ball” esque style and absolutely floats around the court. I kept feeling like guys should be able to just outhit him, but no one could until Chris Haworth in the final. We have to keep in mind that Tama had quite possibly the most difficult run to a singles final anyone has ever had. His run was Jaume, Federico, Noe, and finally HUNTER JOHNSON. That’s insane. He is an absolute giant-killer. What impressed me most about Tama’s singles besides his actual movement was his ability to anticipate and be so balanced at almost complete extension. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like it.

In men’s, I do think Tama is currently a bit limited by a lack of power, but his exceptional ball manipulation help make up for that, along with the scary fast and heavy (and abnormal) hands of Yuta Funemizu. Yuta takes the concept of “pancaking” to an entirely new level and “tomahawks” by default. He does some wild things that are more common among international players whose skillsets developed in different conditions. The combination of Yuta and Tama from a personality perspective couldn’t be more different and definitely made for some comedy. I don’t think Yuta has gotten enough credit for his role in this team’s success this week, and I want to recognize him too, but this is definitely a team I hope to see play together again. 

I think mixed will be Tama’s worst event for a while only because it is where pure power and brute force are most important. His drive is good, but not great, and while his hands are fast, I wasn’t super afraid of him. His overhead is also not the best simply due to lacking a tennis background, but I have no doubt it will improve quickly with reps. The kid is freakishly talented and was the breath of fresh air the pickleball scene needed, and I can’t wait to see what he continues to do this year and next.

There were a lot of upsets this week, in men’s doubles in particular which has typically been a very stable event with the established “big 4” teams typically having the semifinals on lockdown. Christian and Hayden have, perhaps expectedly, been the most volatile team of the four, but both they and JW/CJ fell early here, with neither team even reaching the quarterfinals in a slam. 

There were plenty of other upsets - and I wonder what the primary contributing factor was- was it physical fatigue, the mental fatigue of being at the end of the season, or the inevitable rise of new talent that can push the old guard? I’d reckon it’s some combination of the three, but the sheer volume of upsets on Wednesday and Thursday was really surprising. Some teams that fell early include Jaume/Jon Truong to Tom Protzek and Donald Young, Noe/Matt to George Wall and Kenta Miyoshi, and Max/Tyson to Rafa Hewett and Nico Acevedo. The margins in men’s are so small, it feels like its harder to recover from a poorer day perhaps than it is in women’s where you can rely more on handspeed. I will have to ponder this further if upsets continue to be more prominent in men’s than in women’s.

I don’t feel like writing about this at length, but Ben/Gabe again went three in the round of 32 against Chris Crouch and Connor Mogle. How many times can they flirt with disaster in the early rounds and come out unscathed??? I am not particularly invested in their results and they stress me out😂

Tama is no doubt the breakout star of the tournament, but I’ve long been a bit worried about the not even stagnation, but worsening of female depth at the pro level. With Vivienne David retiring and Meghan Dizon, Etta Wright, and the Kawamotos all moving to lower playing obligations, the depth on the women’s side has actually been poorer than ever this year. But this tournament gave me hope!

I think this was both Sahra Dennehy and Dani-elle Townsend’s first tournament stateside. They are both incredibly nice and very talented. I played against Sahra in mixed (she played with Tama), and I was very impressed. I actually was quite nervous about our match against them, which you can see here from my texts with Hayden the night prior.

I think Sahra is very talented and just hasn’t seen the highest level much before. She moves exceptionally well, has a ton of power, and has a lot of more masculine movement patterns that create a lot of deception. She also has perhaps the best right side erne in the women’s game. I will be excited to see her development. Dani-elle has been talked about more and had a great showing in mixed against Rachel/Christian with CJ where they had real chances. She has a super unique play style (the flick is a thing of beauty), and I’m excited for my first match against her in the USA.

Another couple of newer women I was impressed by this week were Elsie Hendershot, who looked great in her close loss to Lea/Callie, and also Xiao Yi Wang-Beckvall who I played in the round of 32.

There were some pretty epic full bags this weekend. Zane’s on Jack definitely got the most coverage, but Hayden also absolutely murdered Yuta. Both were insane, and I really think more men should be wearing glasses with how prevalent these intentional body shots are becoming. But, I guess, boys will be boys.

But, a bag (or bag attempt), that did not get much coverage is Riley Newman’s attempted full-bag on Sahra Dennehy in the round of 32.

I’m curious your guys’ thoughts on this. If a man did this to me I would be furious. But, it’s competition, and we are all equals out there, and a point is a point. If I’m okay with it in men’s doubles, I should probably be okay with it in mixed, right? Women are, of course harder to hit as we typically are further off the line, but I feel fortunate that most men do not go for shots like this regularly, and I’ve never seen Riley attempt anything like this before either. Just something interesting I wanted to point out that I haven’t seen discussed much.

If you’re still reading you’re an OG and I am forever grateful and thankful for you. I’ve been hinting for a while that big things are coming, and… THEY ARE HERE! I will be posting on social media and writing another newsletter this week that will discuss at length what I’ve been working on, but I wanted to share more it more intimately with you guys before I blast everywhere. My first Brighter Pickleball Bootcamp was such a resounding success and brought me so much joy, fulfillment, and purpose that the only logical next step was to figure out how to bring the same program to more people, so… I am laughing the BRIGHTER PICKLEBALL ACADEMY!

It’s an intensive 8 week program, and the Academy will begin June 1. The first 100 registrants will receive a significant discount, just use code BPEARLY26 at checkout.

You can find more information, and register here💛☀️✨

I love you guys so much, and here’s to another week of pickling at the PPA Finals!!! XOXO, your internet bestie (and hopefully your coach😉), Anna🫦✨❤️