SAN CLEMENTE, CA - A heater of a match occurred on Tuesday afternoon at the PPA Select Medical Orange County Cup when Matt Wright and Lucy Kovalova faced off against Zach Taylor and Carolina Lopez-Ascarate in the round of 64.

The usual shenanigans ensued after Wright and Kovalova went down 9-11 in game one, with Wright employing his familiar call of “That’s out!” in game two.

After one of Wright’s balls flew long with Wright/Kovalova leading game two 4-0, Taylor called the ball out by saying (amid a few laughs from the crowd): “No. Never.”

Wright responded on the next ball when Taylor put it in the net: “Never.”

Taylor remarked audibly, “11-9,” likely referring to the score of the first game that Wright/Kovalova had just lost to them.

Wright replied with something that is mostly inaudible, but, “just two hacks,” sounded like it might have been a portion of his monologue.

At that point, Taylor began using Wright’s signature, “that’s out” call back at him.

At 4-2, Taylor disputed a call on the back line that Wright/Kovalova made and asked if there was a challenge system on the court that he could use. There was not, and the referee upheld the call on the court.

A firefight ensued at 6-3 between Taylor and Kovalova, with Kovalova coming out on top. Wright followed this up by saying, “Yup, slow hands there” as well as another comment that is inaudible.

At 7-3, Taylor stretched in to take a ball out of the air and landed it in the net. 

Wright: “Yeah, I would say ‘never’ on that one.”

Taylor: “Yeah, probably not.”

Next point, Taylor (in response to a winning ball from his partner): “Yup, all day, let’s go.”

Next point, Wright (forcing an out ball from Taylor): “That’s out, that’s not the shot.”

Finally logging a point with a smash past Wright to take the game to 4-7, Taylor let Wright know: “Yes, that’s the shot.”

Wright (after Taylor missed a defensive ball at the back): “Let her play, it’s better.”

Taylor responded by knocking the ball over to the far corner of Wright’s side of the court to retrieve.

Wright (sarcastically): “Thank you.”

Taylor: “You’re welcome. You need the extra steps.”

Taylor/Lopez Ascarate lost the next point to take them to 4-8 down and called a timeout, with Taylor climbing into the first row of the stands and walking around the ref to his bench in order to avoid passing by Wright.

A miss from Taylor upon returning to the court prompted Wright to say: “Uh-oh.”

Kovalova and Wright closed out game two 11-4, taking the match to a game three.

The chatter continued throughout game three, with Wright making the bulk of the comments to Taylor which included:

“You have no backhand, believe me.”

“Uh-oh, that hurts (referencing a foot fault called on Taylor)”

“How many forehands is he [Taylor] going to miss? Keep going there, return to him every time.”

“Oh, that’s a bad miss.”

“I think he was trying to hit a lob on that one (referencing a high, deep ball from Taylor).”

Taylor tried to bring his partner up, who seemed to be letting the chatter get to her: “Hey, forget what he says. Just play pickleball. It’s what he does.”

Taylor/Lopez Ascarate called a timeout at 2-9 down, prompting Wright to let them know: “Good timeout.” and remind them of the score, “9-2-1.”

Wright: “How could we lose a game to these guys?”

Kovalova: “I played terrible first game.”

Wright: “… 4.0s…”

Taylor/Lopez Ascarate went on to lose the match 9-11, 11-4, 11-2.

Wright: “That was close, I said [it would be] 2 and 2, [and it was] 4 and 2.”

What do you think of the chatter in this match? Over the line or part of the game? Let us know by tagging @pickleballdotcom or commenting on our social media post detailing this exchange.

To rewatch the full match, head over to PPA Grandstand Court.