A few thoughts from the single biggest win of my pro pickleball career.

First off, let’s keep this win in perspective: The top 5 seeds are out of the draw, which says a lot about the state of men’s singles.

I don’t think that trend is going anywhere either; singles brackets are going to be looking more like March Madness brackets for the foreseeable future. I even think this will be the case in doubles in three to five years.

But anyway, I did have the biggest win of my career and I’m going to talk about it!

I think what I’m most proud of is how aggressively I returned, despite missing a bunch.

Game 1: Return Big

I haven’t watched it back but I bet I missed 7-8 returns of the 26 points he won. This was the plan.

I’ve been getting better at the cat and mouse, but I’m not ready to hang with Ben in those rallies consistently yet. The only chance I had was to make his third shot tough enough to avoid those rallies. 

Ben came out a little off, and I was NOT ready to pounce. I was a little nervous, but more excited and over-played early. I called a timeout at 6-6 and thought I already blew my chance to win game 1.

Thankfully my forehand begged to differ and I was able to run it up and close the first one out.

Game 2: Stick with the Plan

Ben came out in the second serving deeper and harder, which caught me a little off guard. I stayed back on the return a few times which didn’t work, and after missing a few, I started taking pace off my drives, which did me in.

I couldn’t get the ball past him and he was hitting short volleys which is not where I want to be in this match. 

Throughout the match my mentality was pretty consistent – just keep going.

I’m also at the point in my pickleball career where I have some confidence in rising up to the occasion, because I’ve done it before.

I’ve beaten Jack Sock twice, Garnett once, won big MLP matches on the road in front of big crowds.

I’ve missed enough thirds in front of hundreds of people to not give a f*ck anymore. And that’s what I did! I kept missing returns and thirds, but enough went in to give me a chance.

I was down 9-5, strung a few together. Next thing you know Ben is calling a timeout at 9-9. 

At this point I am not nervous. I’m curious. I’m about to play like 2-5 points against Ben to decide the winner and no one including myself knows what’s going to happen.

When I’m fully locked in that’s how I’m thinking. Strategy is out the window at this point, the less thinking the better. I’m going to hit the shots I’m good at and see if they work.

They happened to go in, I won, and it was pure elation.

I almost said no to the post match interview because I just wanted to go in the car and scream my head off.

I ended up getting humbled in the next round by Grayson Goldin in three games, but it was a day I’ll remember to say the least.