No. 4 seeded CJ Klinger and JW Johnson claimed the victory against the No. 2 seeded Christian Alshon and Andrei Daescu in the semi-finals at the Jenius Pickleball World Championships. 

The final score was 11-2, 11-4. 

As the final match of the day, the playing conditions had shifted so much since the morning, that spectators were fascinated by just how efficiently this team was able to adapt and secure the win. 

Klinger, shared the secret to his gameday success:

“Actually, before the match, I slept for an hour and a half. So after having some good rest and coming up with a gameplan with JW who has the fastest hands in the world, I was ready. Christian and Andrei are such great competitors that I really had to stay solid with JW,” said Klinger. 

To get to the semis, Klinger and Johnson had an intense battle in the round of 16 against Roscoe Bellamy and Wyatt Stone in which Klinger and Johnson narrowly evaded an upset in three games. 

Did early adversity in the tournament help prepare them to have a dominant run in the quarter and semi-finals?

“Adversity definitely helps. It gives me and CJ more playing time together, so we were able to come out here with our A game today,” said Johnson. 

Their opponents tomorrow on Championship Sunday will be Federico Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin who just upset the No. 1 team, Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio. 

However, Johnson and Klinger previously won a title together earlier this year at the Veolia Atlanta Pickleball Championships, so they’re hungry for another big win. Here’s how Klinger is planning to prepare for Championship Sunday: 

“Federico and Hayden are great players. So the plan is to eat some Chipotle, get some Powerade, go to bed, and be ready for tomorrow,” said Klinger.

Tune in to PickleballTV tomorrow, Nov. 9 to watch the gold medal matches live from pickleball’s biggest tournament of the year.