Day in the life with Rachel Rohrabacher for semis at the Lapiplasty Pickleball World Championships
Rachel Rohrabacher turned pro in 2023 and in just the short year of her pro pickleball career, she has quickly solidified herself as the current No. 4 player in the world in women’s doubles and No. 9 in mixed.
Rohrabacher shared her day in the life at pickleball’s largest tournament of the year, the Lapiplasty® 3D Bunion Correction® Pickleball World Championships, on semi-final Saturday.
Based out of Tampa, Florida, Rohrabacher had the opportunity to stay with her assistant coach from her undergrad South Carolina tennis team, who’s now the current head tennis coach at Southern Methodist University. So on this Saturday morning, she spend quality time with his family.
“I hung out with his kiddos who are five and eight years old which was so nice,” said Rohrabacher.
“Every morning I’ve been in Dallas I’ve been going to a place called La La Land Café and I get the milk and honey latte with almond milk and the almond butter toad with overnight oats,” described Rohrabacher.
Because Rohrabacher doesn’t play singles, she arrived on site at Brookhaven Country Club around noon. But stopped to watch the women’s singles semi-final match between Kate Fahey and Salome Devidze.
Then, she met up with friend and women’s doubles partner, Anna Bright to warm up before their mixed matches. And while they warmed up their dinks, speed ups, and third shot drops, the girlies chatted about fashion, hair, and had a dance break for Sabrina Carpenter’s song “Espresso.”
Then, it was time to get her right knee taped up before she hit center court.
“Think of it like a compression band. It makes me feel supported and secure. And some people think of it as just a placebo but if you believe in it, I feel like it helps even more,” said Rohrabacher.
For a snack break, Rohrabacher loves Belvita, goldfish, bananas, or any kind of bar that keeper her energy going.
“But at the end of the season like this, I have my fair share of Reign Energy dinks and Celsius before every match,” shared Rohrabacher.
After an energy drink, Rohrabacher likes to decompress before every match and sit in some peace and quiet for just a few minutes to mentally prepare for the match.
Rohrabacher and Federico Staksrud at the No. 8 seed were unfortunately taken out of the run by No. 5 seed Christian Alshon and Etta Wright.
“I’m a really sore loser. I hate losing more than I actually like winning,” said Rohrabacher. “But we play so many matches in the season that there’s always another match. You can’t carry a loss with you into your next match because it doesn’t define your entire day.”
Rohrabacher recouped, then got ready to play women’s doubles with Bright against Hurricane Tyra Black and Allyce Jones.
“Women’s in my favorite event because I love playing with Anna and I feel like the women’s game allows me to be a little more creative than in mixed. It’s the strategy. You have to be a little more disciplined in mixed, which I don’t prefer,” said Rohrabacher.
And after the exciting battle where the girlies were down in game one, then made quite the comeback in game two and three, Rohrabacher and Bright hit the Pickleballtv desk for their post-match interview.
After that, Rohrabacher stopped at Chipotle for dinner. Tomorrow, she and Bright will go up against the No. 1 seeds Waters and Parenteau who they’ve upset before. But her night will not be spent studying film.
Instead, Rohrabacher shared that she’s, “Going home, taking my bra off, watching the Great British Baking Show, and going to bed.”
To keep up to date with Rohrabacher’s progress on Championship Sunday, tune in to PickleballTV and Pickleball.com match recaps.
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