Got back late last week from the US Open in Naples, Florida.
Was lucky enough to get two golds, one in doubles 35+ and one in doubles 35+ 5.0. My partner Jason was solid all weekend, and we had a little more consistency than our opponents in both our draws. Looking forward to playing open/pro draws going forward.
Impressions of the US Open event itself
Wow that’s a big event, 66 courts, 2750 players. Kind of a circus to be honest, big enough that parking, food, logistics are inevitably kind of a mess. The management of the event seemed good, things ran smoothly, but I didn’t love the overall feeling of the event.
I was there 5 days and never set foot into the stadium court. They had sold tickets beforehand and it was sold out prior to the event. I understand the economics of running an event and selling tickets, but I still didn’t love it. Pickleball events at this point are a mix of amateur and professional tournaments, it feels much more intertwined than at a pro squash or tennis event. I think they should have had more free access viewing earlier in the days.
Thoughts/Analysis of the pickleball
Playing with a Franklin ball in Florida heat was sooo soft, slow, and different to playing a crisper ball in colder temps or a dura. You could literally push the ball in with your thumb like you can with an indoor juggs ball. It was a huge adjustment to timing the ball and how the ball reacts and takes spin off your paddle. The word MOOSHY seems to describe the feeling pretty well.
Returns of serve – I missed around 4 or 5 returns of serve in our ~20 games during the week. I believe all 4 were into the net, and not a single miss long all week. That tells me I wasn’t going for nearly enough power/depth with the soft and slow ball. Most of my returns (and returns in general seeing everyone play) were super short. I needed to make a more dramatic change in height and power on the returns to get it much higher over the net and deeper in the court. Impossible to hit a sharp backspin return with that soft of a ball. Probably come out ahead even if I miss 5% of returns deep as long as most of them end up in the back 3rd instead of the middle 3rd.
We needed to get forward more aggressively, even on marginal shots. We started to make this adjustment as we played further into the week. With the super soft ball, everyone is struggling to put pace and spin on the ball, even if it is a bit high. So when we hit a 3rd drop or reset, we should be more aggressive going forward to the kitchen line, even on a slightly high reset where the opponent has a somewhat attackable ball. It’s easier to defend, and people had to be more tentative with their rolls because the ball doesn’t bite the way a crisper ball does. I could feel myself needing to be more conservative when reaching for a ball that’s hanging in the kitchen, and I should have immediately realized that opponents would be facing the same challenge and by moving forward quicker that would add to their stress. Go forward, go forward, go forward.
