Wednesday started pool play at the CIBC PPA Tour Finals, presented by ROAR Organic. Each event has eight players (for singles) or eight teams (for doubles), divided into two pools of four. With only three matches of pool play determining who advances to semifinal play on Saturday, each match is critical. You can afford to suffer one loss, but a second loss likely eliminates the chance to advance.

 

As the CIBC PPA Tour Finals involves only the very best players, every match is a good one. The competitors know how each match is important, so the level of effort is very high. Here are the things I saw on Wednesday that stood out.

 

1. The Twoey rules. The two hand backhand continues to dominate play. Five years ago, it was unusual to see a Twoey. Two years ago, it was used by some pros, but it was easy to remember who used it, as they were fairly few in number. Today, the majority of pros use it either full time or for at least some shots. Even pros who were known earlier this year as one hand backhand players have switched. I noted how players such as Dylan Frazier and Federico Staksrud are now using it. Expect to see the trend continue. By next year, the players who do not use a Twoey will be notable, as they will be a small minority.

 

 

2. Offense continues to dominate. Old school pickleball with long dink rallies is dying out. Offense is the name of the game now. While dinking will still occur, with some long dink exchanges, players now look to generate offense early and often. Forehand speedups off the bounce are increasingly becoming a preferred shot. Players who used to be fairly passive on forehand dinks (such as Andrei Daescu and JW Johnson) are now looking for a chance to speed it up and hit a winner.

 

3. It’s good to be right. Most players like to play left side. The left side is most active, you get to cover the middle, and it is usually the alpha side. But, players who like to play the right side and can do so effectively are very popular. Tyson McGuffin, Pablo Tellez (due to being a lefty), and Christian Alshon embrace right side play. They are sought after as partners. Be a good right side player and you will never lack for partners.

 

 

4. Practice, we’re talking about practice. Allen Iverson derided practice in his famous rant on the topic, but practice matters. Riley Newman showed some rust on Wednesday, and admitted to me it was due to lack of high level reps. With the holidays and players being tied up in MLP, there weren’t a lot of pros available in Phoenix for Riley to practice with over the Thanksgiving holiday period. You can be a great player, like Newman, but if you aren’t getting in good practice sessions, you are going to be rusty come tournament time. That applies to you and me too. Practice matters.

 

5. A rival for ALW/Ben? Anna Bright and Gabe Tardio are playing together in mixed at this event. They had a strong opening match on Wednesday. Can they emerge as a rival for Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns? Waters/Johns have dominated mixed doubles. The event would benefit from a good rivalry, just as we have seen in women’s doubles with Anna Bright/Rachel Rohrabacher matching up well against Anna Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau. I expect to see these teams face each other in the final here. Will they play together in 2025? They should.

 

 

Thursday will be another great day of play in San Clemente.

Come on out to the beautiful Life Time Fitness facility or tune in to Pickleballtv to catch all the action.

 

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