The PPA Tour moves to Sacramento for the Pickleball Central Sacramento Vintage Open. The big story this week will be the use of old school wooden paddles by the pros. No JOOLAs, no Protons, no Boomstiks, this week it is all 1970s paddle technology. How will it all play out?

 

 

This is the big question of the week that will not be answered until the matches start. No one in the field is old enough to have started playing when wood paddles were in vogue. So, it will be a question of who can adapt best to using a wood paddle. Wood paddles have the same size and shape of modern paddles, but lack the core for power and the grit for spin of today’s paddles. A wood paddle is also less forgiving of an offset hit.

 

Thus, the advantage should go to the technicians, those who can play a dink-oriented game. Third shot drops should be much more prevalent than we have been used to seeing, as wood paddles will negate the advantage of a power game. The game has changed significantly in the last two to three years, with power, drives, and speedups becoming the prevailing style. The use of wood paddles sends us back in time even further, and thus players who can go “old school” on their style should benefit the most.

 

 

 

The women’s doubles draw, like all the draws, is significantly smaller than normal. Only 16 teams are entered. The top seed goes to Tyra Black and Jorja Johnson. The wood paddles are not great for their style of play, but they have a fairly significant skill advantage over the other teams entered. The #2 seed goes to Allyce Jones and Mari Humberg, the #3 seed to Tina Pisnik and Kate Fahey, and the #4 seed to Etta Tuionetoa and Lacy Schneemann. I would keep an eye on the #6 seed, Callie Smith and Jessie Irvine, and the #7 seed, Meghan Dizon and Lucy Kovalova. Those two teams seem better fits for the style that a wood paddle will benefit.

 

 

 

The top seed goes to the interesting pair of Andrei Daescu and Collin Johns. Of everyone in the tournament, if I had to pick one person that I think will benefit the most from the switch to wooden paddles, I would pick Collin. The physics of the wooden paddle fits his style perfectly. Daescu is capable of playing any style, so I like this pairing a lot. The #2 seed is Federico Staksrud and Matt Wright, another pair I like with wood paddles in their hands. Both of those teams should benefit from the soft game that wood paddles will prompt.

 

In the top half of the draw, JW Johnson and Dylan Frazier reunite as the #4 seed and it will be interesting to see how they play together. In the bottom half of the draw, both the #3 seed, Gabe Tardio and Noe Khlif, and the #6 seed, Riley Newman and Jay Devilliers, should have games that can translate to wood paddles.

 

 

The three top seeds are all very familiar, with #1 Jorja and JW Johnson, #2 Tina Pisnik and Andrei Daescu, and #3 Jessie Irvine and Gabe Tardio. The #4 seed is Lea Jansen and Federico Staksrud, #5 is Etta Tuionetoa and Jay Devilliers, and #6 is Tyra Black and Pablo Tellez. I do not see any of the high seeds having a particular advantage from the use of wood paddles. I do like Black playing with Tellez, as it allows Black to play left side where she is much better.

 

One interesting early match to see is a Round of 32 contest between #12 Callie Smith and Jaume Martinez Vich and #20 Angie Walker and Jack Sock. That should give us a good look at how wood paddles will effect a match. Sock’s power advantage will be negated, while JMV’s shotmaking and athleticism will not be impaired by the wood paddle. I expect to see Smith and JMV prevail in that one.

 

 

The women’s singles event has only 19 entrants. In this small draw, Kate Fahey gets the top seed. Her main challengers will be #2 Brooke Buckner and #3 Lea Jansen. My best guess is that Jansen’s style of relentlessly getting to the net should give her an advantage, as players like Fahey and Buckner, who rely on passing shots, will have trouble executing with a wood paddle. 

 

Right off the bat, in the Round of 16, #5 Genie Bouchard will take on #10 Layne Sleeth. It will be interesting to see if Bouchard’s tennis background will help her cope better with the transition to a wood paddle.

 

 

The men’s singles event will be an interesting clash of styles. We have power players at #1 Hunter Johnson, #5 Jack Sock, and #7 Roscoe Bellamy. We have players more oriented to finesse and cat and mouse with #2 Federico Staksrud and #9 Noe Khlif. Then we have the super athletic players at #3 Connor Garnett and #4 Jaume Martinez Vich. Which style can prevail with a wood paddle in hand?

 

Watch out as always for #13 Chris Haworth. He can play multiple styles and is dangerous in any singles draw.

 

 

It is not easy to pick winners in PPA events, and this week will be tougher than ever with the complication of trying to guess who will adapt best to the wood paddles. There may well be a lot of upsets. But we will give it our best shot!

 

Black/Johnson over Dizon/Kovalova in women’s doubles

Daescu/Johns over Khlif/Tardio in men’s doubles 

Irvine/Tardio over Black/Tellez in mixed doubles

Jansen over Fahey in women’s singles

Khlif over Haworth in men’s singles

 

As always, tune in to Pickleballtv to see the action. 

 

Follow me on X @pickleball_jim.