Max Freeman is redefining the partnership game in pro pickleball, which generally involves players asking each other if they want to team up for tournaments.

There are tandems like Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright on the women's side and Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio on the men's side, who are locked for the foreseeable future, while others need to conduct a search from time to time.

That process can be difficult, especially at a time when face-to-face interaction typically takes a backseat to texting for convenience sake and because it involves far less effort than striking up a conversation.

Talk about a forgotten art. 

Freeman does not have a steady mixed partner, and he hopes to change that come 2026.

With that in mind, he delivered handwritten notes to eligible pro women during the Veolia Lakeland Open presented by Six Zero in hopes of finding his match.

Alix Truong shared her note on Instagram, and she was flattered by Freeman’s boldness. 

Hurricane Tyra Black also received one.

Freeman appealed to her fashion sense, but it’s still the same note pleading for a steady mixed partner next year.

Along with Truong and Black, Freeman ultimately gave notes to Waters, Bright, Kate Fahey, Mari Humberg, Callie Smith, Layne Sleeth, Jade Kawamoto, Jackie Kawamoto, Lea Jansen, and Tina Pisnik. 

“When I lay my head to rest at night, the only thing I dream of is playing mixed doubles with you,” Freeman wrote to Bright. “When you hit your backhand dinks, the world stops spinning. I even love when you do that half Erne thing and then yell ‘You!’”

“Ever since we stopped playing together, I haven’t felt like myself,” Freeman wrote to Truong. 

Freeman is quite the wordsmith, isn't he?

While his strategy is unconventional, I think it’s excellent.

It adds a personal touch that appeals to a fellow player’s heart. 

Freeman also put some thought into each note, personalizing things with mentions of a player's history, their signature shot, or how he can best support their game.  

This could definitely go south, however, since multiple candidates were solicited.

Fahey felt like “the other woman.”

“I thought I was special. I didn’t realize I was one of 15,” she mentioned after seeing Freeman give a note to Smith. 

So if you want to try this, perhaps just write a note to the woman you’d really like to partner up with. Don’t hand out five copy-and-paste notes because you’ll probably end up in one of those “Are we dating the same guy?” Facebook groups, and that’s going to wreck your pickleball game. 

Freeman played the numbers game, though, and it seems to have worked in his favor.  

“Look at that,” he concluded. “It’s just that easy.”

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