The Mentality of Champions

The MLP Playoffs are the most electric weeks of pickleball of the entire year. Just today, I received a text I have never gotten before in my life that in and of itself demonstrates how much MLP means to a lot of the players.

I share this just to show that this really means a lot. Not just to me, not just to you, dear reader, but to every single player who is boarding a flight to New York City next week. A lot of us will probably end up in tears, and it’s my hope that I cry the happy kind this year.

It was relatively smooth sailing for my team, the St. Louis Shock, in the quarterfinal round of the MLP Playoffs, where we beat the Ranchers in two consecutive sweeps. The scorelines don’t really reflect the Ranchers’ level - they are a great team that I openly shared with you guys that I was very nervous to play. The Ranchers tried to isolate me in women’s doubles, and if it was a result of the rather vulnerable newsletter that morning, I find that super funny.

Being nervous isn’t a good thing or a bad thing; it’s simply a thing. An emotion. A signal that you care. Let yourself feel it, and take steps to let it go. The first few points of every playoff series I thought were very nervy this week, but generally everyone settled in and we got to see some ✨incredible✨ pickleball.

While my series was disappointing from a viewership perspective (but I won’t complain), the other three absolutely delivered. The 5s vs Royals matches were drama-filled (was I inebriated during their DreamBreaker in match 1… no comment!), and AL/Noé even fell twice to Dekel/Tina. I have to applaud Tina for her ATP… this is a legitimate contender for shot of the year, and at her age… we are all lucky Tina is not younger. She is a freak athlete. I was particularly happy that this shot made the Sports Center Top 10 as I feel women rarely make it on there… a lot of the most “athletic” looking shots are owned by men in this game, even if our general quality of point is higher (more extended firefights). @Tina… pop off queen👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

The Flash v Drops series delivered on all fronts, and I have to take a stand that others have echoed. The memes posted that trolled Ben are, in my opinion, not really fair in this instance. Do I think Ben cared as much as I do about MLP this year? No. But there was nothing I saw in his performance in Match 3 that demonstrated he did not care. Can he be a bit pouty? Tough to play with? Sure, but he cared.

The series of the weekend for me was Brooklyn vs Columbus. Everyone knew this would be a barnburner, and it delivered. Was this match the official death of the singles specialist? Or the death of it when you have competent-enough doubles players? One match is truly too small a sample size, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an overcorrection here from some teams. It was beautiful to see the passion in this match. We had weird comebacks, saved match points, perhaps 73 roars at the crowd from Christian and Andrei combined, Parris legitimately trying to murder Jackie, Rachel’s return to women’s doubles, Jackie getting fired up, and much more. Playoff pickle simply delivers.

When we lost to the 5s in Orlando, I was BIG MAD. I discussed this some in the test podcast episode Kate and I did. But now… man I’m kinda glad we lost LOL. Being in the 5s’ position and having to choose between Dallas and Brooklyn is TOUGH!!! Talk about a rock and a hard place. A lot of my peers were surprised they chose Brooklyn, but after thinking more, I think it makes sense from their perspective. This tweet from Real Clear Stats breaks it down… basically, Augie/JW have done very well against the 5s men, and it seems they are more scared of JW than they are Christian in mixed.

As I wrote about before playing the 5s, sometimes not having to choose is a gift. Being chosen in and of itself is bulletin board material, and you do not want to be providing competitors with bulletin board material. It’s something I am actually very aware of in all the content I put out, and I regularly send drafts of this newsletter to people I trust to ensure nothing I say is too incendiary. I have no doubt I’ll inadvertently cross the line soon, but I do try!!!

I haven’t started truly prepping for Dallas, but it’s quite weird to be facing a team we have no real familiarity with besides the team of JW/Augie (though even they are completely revamped and are playing at an all-new level). I have practiced against Danni-elle, but how Kate and I adjust to her very unconventional style in-game will be a huge determining factor in how the women’s doubles series goes. In our previous semifinals series Kate and I have dropped the first game of women’s and won the second. There is clearly no room for another slow start.

Today, I saw this poll on Twitter from the self-proclaimed smartest man in pickleball, Jim Kloss. The vast majority of people voted that my team had a >75% chance of winning this series. I found this: surprising, disappointing, and disrespectful to Dallas.

I acknowledge we are the favorites, and in PPAs, I feel like I am the favorite in every match I play when Anna Leigh Waters isn’t on the other side of the net. But I think great competitors have two ways of looking at things:

I have ALWAYS been someone who believes I could lose to anyone (within reason, obviously, if I showed up to a 5.0 tournament, I’m winning). Anna Leigh is the same way as me. She takes everyone seriously, and we even discuss strategy before our first rounds at PPAs. I believe this is why our scorelines are so ridiculous. There are nerves, always. There is self-imposed pressure, always. There is a sense of our own mortality, always. You can take either of these perspectives too far, but I think the WORST thing you can do is underestimate an opponent. It is ALWAYS, in my mind, better to think too much of an opponent than too little. What happens if you overprepare? You’ll win more dominantly? Boohoo! You wasted so much time, and maybe even got better by preparing extensively. So unfortunate! The inverse, though… I personally would feel regret, shame, and guilt for the people I felt I let down.

We play sports because the outcome is not known. I do not know what the outcome of this series will be, but I have more of an impact on that outcome than anyone not named Kate Fahey, Gabe Tardio, Hayden Patriquin, Hunter Johnson, Alix Truong, Brooke Buckner, Dani-elle Townsend, JW Johnson, or Augie Ge will. As my owner, Ross Chaifetz, has preached ad-nausem, there is PARITY at this stage in the playoffs. Anything can happen, and I will prepare to the best of my ability. It seems people have already forgotten how improbable Columbus’ run felt last year.

I have exciting things to announce, so stay tuned for another newsletter coming soon! Enjoy the calm before the storm everyone… New York is coming (:

XOXO, your internet bestie, Anna🫦✨♥️