In one of the biggest upsets of the day, newly signed PPA pro Natalia Simson upset Genie Bouchard in the round of 64 at the Opendoor Pickleball World Championships. But here’s the kicker, Simson is only 13 years old.

As the 54 seed, Simson went up against the 13^th seeded Bouchard. The final score was 11-3, 4-11, 11-5.

“It feels really crazy,” began Simson. “I’ve been working on my singles game a lot recently and I just switched to playing with the JOOLA Agassi, but it feels crazy to win.”

Simpson was in complete shock during her post-match interview. She admitted that she came into the match not expecting to win.

“I wasn’t even expecting to win this one because Genie has had a lot of good runs in the past. And we were partners in Virginia Beach so I love playing with her. But I’m excited to pull this one out,” said Simson.

To prepare, Simson watched a little bit of film, but had low expectations going up against one of the best women’s singles players in the draw.

“I was a little bit stressed out and nervous in the beginning, but then I got into a rhythm. My serves were really good in that second game. I was also really focusing on making my shots and just grinding the game. I knew I could come back by just grinding it,” said Simson.

Simson’s dad was also courtside, cheering her on and reminding her to stay focused.

“My dad was telling me to stay positive because I can get down on myself sometimes. And he was reminding me to stay in the game and I was able to come back in and put on pressure,” she said.

Simson previously competed on the Junior PPA Tour before going pro and entering the main draws. She believed that playing with the juniors was incredibly helpful in developing her game.

“Playing on the junior tour helped my singles game a lot. It helped my competitiveness, being able to stay in the rally, and it helped my mental game. I won a few titles there and a lot of the juniors that I used to play are now moving into the pros as well. So it’s pretty cool,” said Simson.  

Even though Simson didn’t expect the win, she couldn’t be more excited about this new career highlight at pickleball’s biggest event of the year.

“I’m super excited, I can’t wait to play tomorrow. Hopefully I can pull it out. But it’s still kind of crazy, I can’t believe I actually won,” said Simson.

Tomorrow Simson will play Samantha Parker in the round of 32.

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