At just 17 years old, John Lucian Goins isn’t your average singles player.

That was crystal clear at the Veolia Bristol Open when he successfully carved his way through the draw by defeating Wyatt Stone, Yuta Funemizu, Connor Garnett, Adam Harvey, Christian Alshon, and finally Gabe Joseph en route to claiming his first PPA title in Tennessee.

The youngster’s outstanding performance caught the attention of veteran Zane Navratil, who recently welcomed Goins as a guest on The PicklePod Podcast for an enlightening discussion on a number of topics, including his proficiency in one-on-one matchups.

“I’ve got an open-ended question. What makes you so good at singles?” asked Navratil.

“I think the best part of my game is probably my anticipation. When I’m at the net and my opponent’s trying to pass, I feel like I can sort of anticipate where they’re going based on their body language or what they’ve been doing pretty well. I try to block off their angles,” explained Goins. “The strategy is very important, too. I feel like I can be pretty good strategically.”

That's where Goins' proficiency at chess comes into play.

That's right, chess.

The "Game of Kings" has apparently worked wonders for his pickleball IQ in the anticipation and strategy departments alike.

"I’m a big chess lover. I love playing chess in my free time. I feel like any strategy I employ in pickleball probably has its roots somewhere in either tennis or chess. I feel like it can transfer over pretty well," said Goins, before expanding on the subject. "Seeing moves in advance and my anticipation, I feel like that comes a lot from chess because in chess, whenever you play a move, you want to know what your opponent’s going to do and then you can look at what their threats are. I feel like in pickleball, especially when you’re returning, you’re like, ‘Well, if I’m going to return to his backhand, I need to watch out for his cross-angle,’ so I need to position myself a little farther over. I feel like you get a sharper mind for seeing those tendencies."

In case you're wondering about Goins' chess rating (Elo), Navratil made sure to ask.

Elo ratings range from 1,000 (novice) to 2,800 or higher for top-tier players.

"Over-the-board right now, I’m like 1,800, and online I’m somewhere around 2,400 in rapid," revealed Goins, which means he can bring the heat in competition.

Fortunately, he went into even further detail about the pickleball-chess connection.

"There’s a bunch of different opening setups [in chess] that each lead to different types of positions, so I feel like knowing what opening they play can help you kind of gauge their preferred setups and positions they like, because each position, there’s going to be a certain piece that’s stronger than all the rest," mentioned Goins. "You can kind of transfer that over to pickleball based on like, if they like running around, then you know they’re not going to like it if you return to their forehand, for example, or if you get it to their backhand, too, especially if you’re able to get it all the way over there."

In other words, Goins knows how to make his opponent's life miserable on the court.

His never-say-die attitude makes him especially tough to handle, too.

And he has chess to thank for that.

"It’s just like never giving up, even when you’re down a lot. You can always claw your way back, no matter what the score is. I learned that from a chess game I played a while ago," said Goins, who, like Navrtail, enjoys watching chess-related content on YouTube from Levy Rozman (@GothamChess), Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru), and Eric Rosen (@eric-rosen). "I was just down so much, I was completely losing, and I just stuck with it and was able to come back and win. I feel like that’s always been the most important lesson that chess taught me."

Cue parents of rising pickleballers everywhere signing their kids up for chess lessons ASAP.

It makes perfect sense.