It was a beautiful day in Mesa, Arizona on Tuesday, and the Phoenix-area crowds responded. We had standing room only around showcase courts. The matches started early and were not done until after 6pm. Hotly-competitive matches were the order of the day, and what was a pickleball fan to do? Too many good matches to catch them all. But I did try!

 

MLP announced their team roster drops on Tuesday. So, it was a good day to hunt young talent, maybe rustle up a few names of newer players who could be sneaky good picks for an MLP team doing a good scouting job.

Let’s focus on who I saw who would make a good addition to an MLP team.

 

 

 

Helena Jansen and Helena Spiridis won their first round match and now will play #8 Lea Jansen and Vivienne David. Spiridis came over from Australia and has a more developed singles game. Jansen has some power and pop. Jansen also paired in mixed with Craig Johnson and they gave veterans Riley Newman and Lea Jansen all they could handle, finally going down 11-8 in the third game. Premier teams will now have six players on their rosters in 2025. Rather than take a veteran player to sit on the bench, how about a young and up and comer who might develop a lot over the course of 2025?

 

The next pair I would point to would be Audrey Brown and Victoria DiMuzio. They romped on their first round match and now will face #7 Lucy Kovalova/Etta Tuionetoa. Brown and DiMuzio are clearly tennis coverts, who rely a lot on drives and power. They will have trouble against a veteran pair like Kovalova/Tuionetoa, but they have potential. They need to learn the soft game and to play pickleball, not tennis. But again, the potential is there.

 

 

A final name I will give you is Liz Truluck. Truluck has been making progress toward the top 10 in singles, but today she had a breakthrough win with Eric Roddy in mixed doubles. They defeated the #20 seed Allyce Jones/Travis Rettenmaier 11-4, 11-6. That is a nice win for a young player looking to match doubles success with singles success.

 

 

There is a lot of young talent on the men’s side. Tom Evans, another Aussie import, built on his win from last week over Federico Staksrud in singles. This week, he took down Gabe Tardio in the first round. His doubles game definitely needs improvement, but he is the type of young player a Premier MLP team might pick as their 6th player and just stash him on the bench and see if he can improve over the course of 2025.

 

 

Jace Morris, all of 16 years old, gave Ben Johns a little bit of a workout in singles before losing. No shame in losing to Mr. Johns. Morris then added a win in mixed doubles, alongside Emma Nelson. They now face Jade Kawamoto and Hunter Johnson in the round of 32.

 

Finally, here’s a name I have been hyping for awhile: Zane Ford. Ford is known as a singles player, but he has doubles game. He has good touch and is able to hit with good topspin off both sides. He and Gabe Joseph notched a win in men’s doubles. Ford added a win in singles over veteran AJ Koller. Ford would be a solid addition as the third man on a Premier MLP team.

 

Wednesday will have round of 32 action in all five events. Some highlight matches to see are JW Johnson v Noe Khlif in men’s singles; Liz Truluck v Mari Humberg in women’s singles; Kate Fahey/Dylan Frazier v Brooke Buckner/Connor Garnett in mixed doubles; CJ Klinger/Quang Duong v Jack Sock/Eric Roddy in men’s doubles; and, Milan Rane/Alix Truong v Martina Frantova/Genie Bouchard in women’s doubles. Of course, there are a lot of other great matches to see. Once again, my toughest decision will be which match to watch throughout the day. Catch it all in person if you can. If not, Pickleballtv will be there for you.

 

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