I traveled to Salt Lake City where I meant to make a singles comeback, but we had a miscommunication, and I ended up doing commentary on Thursday instead. I really enjoyed it and could certainly see myself doing more of it! The tournament itself was in the Salt Lake City Convention Center, which was awesome because it was right in the middle of downtown. Andrea and I lost in the first round, unfortunately, and I pulled out of men’s doubles to attend a celebration of life for my good friend Joe Pulliam. More on that a little later in the newsletter.
Next, I headed to a clinic at Clear Creek in Lake Tahoe. Thanks to Nate Gross for setting it up! If you’re in charge of a facility, please reach out if you’d like me to come for a clinic!
Last but not least, Dekel and I partnered up for the very first time (other than pros vs 5.0s where we let them serve overhand) to take silver in Las Vegas. Our road to the final including defeating the #22 seed Jack Sock/Collin Shick; #4 seed Hayden Patriquin/Pablo Tellez, and #6 seed Christian Alshon/Riley Newman.
Pickleball has brought me a lot of very cool opportunities from playing at the New York Stock exchange, Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Billie Jean King National Tennis center, and more, but playing pickleball with Andre Agassi and Justin Gimelstob has to be at the top of the list. I was fortunate to be able to play with Andre and Justin while in Las Vegas, and Travis the Rattlesnake Rettenmaier set it up!
Andre and Justin are investing heavily in pickleball, so I can’t wait to see what they come up with!
Tune in to my YouTube Channel every week for professional pickleball play, tips, tricks, drills, and more! And while you’re there, be sure to check out the latest episodes of Pros vs 5.0s.
I appreciate all your comments and feedback! I’m having a blast making these videos, so the more ideas you send me the better.
The latest ProXR paddles are available at my shop! The Signature and Sweet Spot Max shapes are available in 2 thicknesses and 7 colors and special edition MLP 5s design! Lightly used paddles are also available. If requested, I’m happy to sign your paddles!
MLP will be in NYC! The 5s will be in action in Central Park in two weeks!! For our friends watching from Canada, be sure to catch Major League Pickleball on the Gameplus Network!
Joe Pulliam lost his battle with cancer in late July. I’m sure just about any of my Atlanta-based newsletter subscribers will know Joe Pulliam. He was one of the kindest and most generous men that I knew, and also one of the best smack talkers I’ve ever met. Joe would build you up with a compliment, tear you down with some smack talk, and build you right back up again.
Check out who Thomas and I have in the hot seat on the Picklepod! Watch on the Dink Pickleball YouTube channel or listen on your favorite podcast app!
Shout out to a couple of our giveaway winners Russ and Mario! They love their samples of Uptime Energy!
