Nashville's First Minor League Pickleball Team Event Was A Huge Success!
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Dear Dinkville Community,
What an incredible weekend at Paddle Creek Pickleball Resort in Bon Aqua, Tennessee, for the first-ever Minor League Pickleball (MiLP) Team event! The event was nothing short of amazing, with top-tier talent from our local Nashville players showing up and giving their all on the courts.
A huge shoutout to Blake Wilke for building such an outstanding facility and leading the charge in bringing high-level competition and exciting tournaments to our area. Your dedication to growing the pickleball community is truly inspiring. If you want to stay and/or find out more about Paddle Creek Pickleball Resort please click HERE
We also want to take a moment to celebrate some of the medalists from this event and share some great pictures of the action—be sure to check them out!
Medalists from MiLP Team Event at Paddle Creek Pickleball Resort
Up Next: Super Dink Pickleball Tournament January 31st–February 2nd
Get ready for another exciting event! The Super Dink Pickleball Tournament is just around the corner, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. Here’s what you need to know:
• Dates: January 31st – February 2nd
• Location: Diamond Pickleball (Bowling Green, KY)
• Over 20 brackets including men’s, women’s, and mixed all skill levels
• Seniors 50+ Age brackets Friday, January 31st (Men's, Women's, Mixed)
• 6 Moneyball Brackets (3 Senior and 3 Open) with a $3,200 Prize per Bracket
• DUPR Recorded games
Today In Pickleball Brought To You By The Dink
Up Your Game
Avoiding the Cone of Death
As the serving team, your goal is to reach the kitchen line quickly to neutralize the point. That, however, does not give you permission to sprint to the line with reckless abandon.
Your approach should be strategic. It depends and multiple factors including the quality of the third shot, placement of the third shot, and your partner’s willingness to move forward.
Selkirk pickleball coach and former pro player, Morgan Evans, shows how you can avoid the cone of death in a new video.
- As a general rule of thumb it’s a good idea to maintain the same depth as your partner to avoid opening large gaps that can be exploited.
- The cone of death is created when one player moves forward, their partner stays back, and the ball is hit in front of the partner who stayed back.
- The gap between partners is an easy and obvious target for the opposing player to end the point.
Evans recommends only staggering with your partner when the player advancing is on the same half of the court that the ball is dropped. This eliminates the advantageous angle from the opponent and opens up poaching opportunities.
The Last Hurrah for the Johns Bros
The PPA Masters is one of the most unique stops on the tour. It is the only event where players are required to wear all-white resembling the scene at Wimbledon. It is also one of four ‘Slams’ on the schedule offering winners 2,000 tour points compared to 1,500 at Cups and 1,000 at Opens.
Calling it Quits … For Now
This event is also unique because it might be the last time we see the Johns Bros partner for the foreseeable future. Ben has announced a new partnership with Gabe Tardio, but wouldn’t it be fitting to see the bros put together one more title run before the hiatus?
We will also get a look at what could have been. For this event, Tardio will partner with JW Johnson who he was originally believed to be partnering with in 2025.
Tennis Fans Unite
Speaking of Wimbledon, a new Jack Sock/Genie Bouchard mixed doubles partnership might make you double-check that you’re watching PickleballTV and not the Tennis Channel.
These tennis champions had a dominant start in their first match yesterday, winning 11-1, 11-2. They’ll face Meghan Dizon/AJ Koller today for a spot in the round of 16.
2000 Points Up For Grabs
The points available for this Slam could dictate player totals for the remainder of the year. Hunter Johnson, who had a tremendous finish to 2024, could make a strong play toward closing the gap on Federico Staksrud with a win in Palm Springs.
Our guy Erik Tice is predicting a finals run for Judit Castillo who was forced to start in qualifiers. Find a full preview of the event with predictions for each division here. Tune in starting at 1 pm ET today through Sunday on PickleballTV.
Quang Duong Paddle Dispute
One of the major storylines coming out of the PPA Masters revolves around Quang Duong. Duong was seen changing paddles mid-match from a Selkirk paddle to Proton paddle.
This caught viewers by surprise because Duong is a Selkirk-sponsored player and is contractually obligated to use Selkirk paddles. Chatter about the situation sparked a response from Selkirk which revealed ongoing issues between the two parties.
- The Selkirk statement cites contract breaches by Duong including “unauthorized auction of unreleased paddles and prototypes to the public” and using other paddles at in-person events and in social media posts
- It also denies claims of “serving” Duong while on-court and indicates that a cease and desist letter has been issued
A couple additional items of note. Selkirk players were required to use the Project 008 paddle for this event (as a result of ongoing complications with the paddle certification process), which could understandably present problems for players who have not trained with that paddle.
Lastly, it is no secret that The Dink has an active partnership with Selkirk; regardless, we’re committed to non-bias coverage of this story.
Duong’s contract is set to expire in April of this year, but it sounds like there will be plenty to sort out for one of the game’s breakout players in the upcoming months.
94-Year-Old Sets World Record
Joyce Jones just earned a spot in pickleball royalty. Her efforts at the Huntsman World Senior Games awarded her a new World Record.
Guinness World Records recently recognized Jones as “The oldest competitive pickleball player.” She learned to play pickleball from one of the game’s inventors, Joel Pritchard, more than 44 years ago.
Jones competes at the USA Pickleball Nationals Championships every year, including this past year in Arizona. Listen to Joyce tell her story of learning the game and what pickleball has meant to her life over the past four decades.
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Thank you,
Landon Hallam
Dinkville Founder/CEO