MLP Orlando is now in the books, and what a start to the MLP season it was! There were close matches, blowouts, champions playing like champions, arguments, controversies, and interesting court color choices. Best of all, MLP Orlando brought out one of the very best things about MLP — partnerships that are different from what we see at PPA tournaments. This week, we had partnership fun in spades, with Anna Leigh Waters, Anna Bright, Catherine Parenteau, and Rachel Rohrabacher all playing against each other, soon after the breakup of the two top women’s doubles partnerships. So, how'd it all go?

 

 

New Jersey faced off against LA, and with the new MLP format, that meant Anna Leigh Waters would lead off playing against Catherine Parenteau in women’s doubles. It is one game to 11 now, so fast starts are crucial. Parenteau got the better of this one, 11-8. Parenteau was clearly energized for this match. She held her own in firefights against ALW, which is a good accomplishment. Jade Kawamoto played her usual steady game and a few extra errors by Meghan Dizon was the difference.

 

 

Anna Bright took the court with her St. Louis teammates against Brooklyn. Again, with women’s doubles being the leadoff game, this gave us Bright against her ex-partner Rachel Rohrabacher. You could see the energy on both sides of the net. Rohrabacher played well. But, Bright played better and St. Louis emerged with the victory, 11-4. Kate Fahey, playing with Bright, was very steady in this game. Fahey has not progressed quite as fast at doubles as she has at singles, but she was a solid defensive player in this one, doing her job to keep the ball in play, allowing Bright to bring the offense.

 

 

 

The highlight of the weekend was the last match in Orlando, with New Jersey squaring off against St. Louis. This match involved two of the three best MLP teams, and gave the fans the specific game they wanted to see, with new PPA partners Waters and Bright facing each other in the opening women’s doubles match. If you thought the intensity of MLP Orlando was high, it went up about three more notches for this matchup. Bright and Fahey took an early lead, before Waters and Dizon tried for a comeback. After 10 game points, Bright and Fahey were able to close it out 11-8.

 

Now that we know who won, let’s talk about why. Why does Waters almost never lose at PPA events, but lost twice in women’s doubles in one MLP weekend? First, remember MLP is only one game to 11. With PPA being two out of three (or three out of five in the finals), the better team has more time to overcome a slow start. Second, one of the best things about MLP is that the best player in the world cannot just team up with the second best player. Meghan Dizon is a fine player. But she is not a top 10 player. This really showed in the NJ/STL match. Bright and Fahey hit 70% of the balls to Dizon (per RealClearStats). Bright and Fahey did what everyone should always do against Waters and that is to freeze her out. Third, Fahey played well in Orlando. She hit a bad streak in the game against Waters/Dizon that allowed Waters/Dizon to almost catch up. Fahey struggled for a bit with the pressure, but in the end, Fahey played well enough to win. She did her job, playing a solid defensive right side game. Fourth, Bright played very well all weekend. Bright shines in MLP, and she played her best in both of the St. Louis matches.

 

Parenteau and Rohrabacher are very good players. They are both right on the edge of the top 5 in the world. But Waters and Bright are better. The whole reason Waters is switching from Parenteau to Bright is because Bright is better, not because Parenteau is bad. In MLP, even the best players will lose because they have weaker partners. Ben Johns is going to struggle to win playing with Collin Johns and Tammy Emmrich. Again, Dizon is a good player. But she is not Anna Bright and is not Catherine Parenteau. Teams can and should hit every possible ball to Dizon. The only shot that should be hit to Waters is to go behind her enough to keep her honest. Otherwise, every serve return should go to Dizon, every dink, every speedup. When facing opponents of disparate skill levels, pickleball 101 is to focus on the weaker player. Dizon will simply have to improve and play steadier than she did in Orlando, or the better teams will be able to win at women’s doubles.

 

MLP Orlando was memorable. On to MLP Columbus next, to be followed by MLP Austin. Unfortunately, we will have to wait awhile for the New Jersey v. St. Louis rematch.

 

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