Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

Want to learn about pickleball’s king and queen? Today we’ll take a look at pickleball royalty, new serve rules, a massive pickleball festival, and a whole lot more!

Let’s do this! 👇

If you follow professional pickleball at all, you know that there are two names that stand out among the rest: Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters.

Why? Because each one is the undisputed best player in the world for men and women, respectively. They are both like Tiger Woods, Serena Williams or Roger Federer in their primes — unstoppable.

So much so that when Ben or Anna don't win a tournament, it's a shocking result. Let's look at each one a little closer...

Ben Johns (24 years old)

• Played tennis and ping pong from a very young age. Started playing pickleball professionally at age 17.

• Won 20 triple crowns — meaning he won every event he played in at a tournament (the men's singles, doubles, and mixed doubles events).

• Won 108 singles matches in a row.

• Ranked #1 in the world in all three divisions for most of the last three years — plays men’s doubles with his brother, Collin Johns.

• Frequently writes a special bulletin for us right here in this newsletter!!!

Anna Leigh Waters (16 years old)

• Played tennis and soccer growing up.

• Started playing pickleball professionally at age 12, partnering in women’s doubles with fellow pro pickleball player, her MOM! 😄 

• Won 21 triple crowns (women's singles, doubles, and mixed doubles).

• Ranked #1 in the world in all three divisions.

As most of you probably know, Anna and Ben play TOGETHER in mixed doubles. 😂. That must be a fun team to go up against. You're not just trying to beat one GOAT, but two — like trying to beat Michael Jordan AND Tom Brady at the same time!

As pickleball continues to build steam throughout America and the world, Anna Leigh and Ben are in prime position to be the faces of the sport for years and years to come. Will their thrones be challenged? You bet.

Will either of them be unseated? Only time will tell.

Play to Your Strengths

Adjust your strategy so that you play to your strengths and hide your weaknesses. Imagine you’re playing a match and your opponent only hits you your favorite shot. You’d probably feel unstoppable! Having a good strategy that plays to your strengths can simulate this.

For example, if you hate hitting backhand dinks, stack so that you’re on the right side (for righties). If you aren’t confident in your hands, hit lots of drops and dinks and don’t speedup. If your movement is weak, work the middle so you take away your opponents’ angles. There are endless possibilities depending on what you’re good at.

Always be aware of you and your partner’s strengths and weaknesses when you’re devising a strategy. It’ll go a long way to help you win more games!

Tina Pisnik was a former top 30 tennis player in the world and is now a professional pickleball player on the PPA Tour. Today, Tina shares some tips on transitioning from tennis to pickleball.

“Hello Fellow Sports Enthusiasts!

Firstly, embrace the differences. Although pickleball shares similarities with tennis, it has its own unique set of rules and strategies. The court is smaller, the ball is lighter, and the pace can be quite different. My first piece of advice? Get familiar with these nuances. Understand the non-volley zone or 'kitchen,' and adapt to the underhand serve.

Secondly, use your tennis skills to your advantage. Your hand-eye coordination, court awareness, and forehand/backhand strokes are transferable skills that give you a head start. However, be prepared to adjust your power and spin techniques, as pickleball requires more finesse and less force.

Another key aspect is to refine your soft game. Pickleball often involves more dinking and less baseline power than tennis. Practice these softer shots to become a more versatile player. Lastly, enjoy the community. Pickleball is known for its social and inclusive environment. Embrace this aspect and use it to enhance your learning experience.

Transitioning from tennis to pickleball can be a delightful and rewarding journey. With a bit of practice and an open mind, you'll find the crossover both fun and enriching. See you on the court!

Warm regards,

Tina Pisnik”

Take It to the Mat!

While we all love pickleball around here, we also know that it entails a lot of movement, which can lead to muscle strain, joint stress, and overall fatigue. (It also leads to tons of fun and improved mood, but we don’t need anything to deal with that. 😃)

We do need to deal with our sore bodies, though, and that’s where Splish Natural’s Rejuvenation Mat comes in! It uses a multi-faceted approach to recovery, employing Pulse Electro Magnetic Field (PEMF), Far Infrared Radiation (FIR), negative ion generation, and more!

Discover this amazing recovery tool and save 10% by using discount code “clinic10” at checkout: www.splishnaturals.com.

Every good hands battle needs to end with a “C’mon!!” 😄💪 

Serving Up New Rules in 2024

If you think about the structure of pickleball, you'll pretty quickly realize that the sport is designed for the server to have a DISADVANTAGE…

• You must hit the serve underhand and below your waist, which limits how hard you can hit it.

• You get one serve.

• You have to let the return of serve bounce.

Despite all of these limitations, players have still found ways to weaponize the serve in pickleball — and the PPA (Professional Pickleball Association) has decided to push back. 

In an effort to prevent servers from making contact with the ball above their waists, the PPA introduced new rules to the volley serve at last week's Masters tournament in Palm Springs. Here they are below...

1. The ball must be dropped, it CANNOT be thrown up.

2. Said drop must start from below your waist.

3. The palm of your dropping hand must be facing down.

While these new rules are not officially part of the game yet, they certainly could be soon. And it wouldn't be the first time that pickleball put restrictions on the serve. Just last year, the pre-spun serve (spinning the ball with your fingers) was banned.

We'll see if these new PPA Tour rules can finally diminish the power of the pickleball serve. If not, then who knows, maybe in 2025, we'll all have to hit serves with our non-dominant hands. 😄

Reading our newsletter together as a couple counts as a counseling session. 😃

🚨Giveaway Alert🚨

We’ve partnered with Franklin Pickleball and The Pick to give 5 winners an AMAZING gift basket including 100 X-40s, glow-in-the-dark balls, a bag, a hat, a water bottle, and a ton of awesome merch. You can enter via Instagram or Facebook.

So that’s the best balls and gear in pickleball (Franklin) and some seriously elegant and sophisticated clothing (The Pick)! “Where do I sign up?” “We just told you above.” “Oh, sorry I missed that.” Why are we talking to ourselves?😄 Anyway, winners will be chosen on January 26. Good luck!

Want to MAXIMIZE power on your serve?

Good thing Coach Tanner is here to show you how!👇

Key takeaways:

• Both your feet and shoulders should be pointing toward your target.

• Use your legs to generate power.

• Coil and uncoil your body.

Billed as the largest pickleball festival in the world, the Pickle Games took place last weekend at the Miami Marine Stadium in Miami, Florida.

100 pickleball courts were set up and close to 5,000 players of all levels attended. Also in attendance were Miami mayor, Francis Suarez, and Hannah Johns, sister of Ben and Collin Johns. “There is no ceiling on pickleball,” Johns said. “Because it is for everyone, it can go as far as it wants to go.”

Thanks for the read. See you next week!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic

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