Latest news with #MajorLeaguePickleball
Forbes
a day ago
- Sport
- Forbes
St. Louis Wins The Major League Pickleball Regular Season Title and LA Mad Drops Makes Noise In Dallas
St. Louis' Kate Fahey gets excited on the court as the Shock clinch the regular season title. Major League Pickleball (MLP), presented by DoorDash, rolled into the 9th of its 10 week season, inexorably grinding to the finish line of the regular season. The tour was in the Dallas Metroplex, specifically at the Pickler Universe in suburb Carrollton for the Advil Targeted relief MLP Dallas 2025 event. For the third week in a row (Beer City's excitement and then St. Louis' debut event within an arena), the sentiment is that MLP as a league has set a new bar, with massive crowds and an electric atmosphere inside the club. The weekend's slate was a collection of 'haves' and 'have not' teams in the league: it included the top three teams in the standings (STL, home-team Dallas, and NJ), new-look LA (more on that later), the frisky Texas Ranchers, and then basically the four worst teams in the league playing out the string in Carolina, Phoenix, SoCal, and the last-place NY Hustlers. This made for, in the same weekend, the best collection of matches we've seen all year amongst the top teams alongside some of the worst blow-outs of the year. There were no Challenger teams playing this week; they'll finish up their season at Event #10 in a week's time in Salt Lake. Key Links for tracking the event this weekend, which featured livestreams from the two primary courts at the facility on MLP's YouTube channel and on Transaction Recap Ben Johns sporting the LA Mad Drops gear for the first time post-trade. The MLP trade deadline for the season was the Monday before this event … and it was a banger. Headlined by the Ben Johns trade, there were twelve separate transactions conducted in this last-minute window, as some teams clearly are waving the white flag for the season, while others are doubling down to push for a title. Here's a brief summary of all moves team by team (some of these conflate multiple moves): At the end of the day, Carolina is left with basically six waiver wire/challenger players to go along with half a million dollars of cash. Miami traded away their two best players and is probably looking at next year. LA could be the favorite going forward, New Jersey probably likes its chances by improving their weakest link, Orlando, and Utah both marginally improved their starting lineups, and Dallas now has a solid bench just in case. All the involved Challenger teams improved a bit, looking to move up on the top dog Las Vegas for the one promotion spot up for grabs. News and Noteworthy Premier League Recap Day 1 Observations Blaine Hovenier is a big reason SoCal competes in 2025. Day 2 Observations Day 3 Observations Noe Khlif (L) slams an overhead with New Jersey as partner Will Howells looks on. Day 4 Observations Team Standings Update post Event Here's the teams who made moves up or down the Standings in this event. In Premier What did we learn this weekend? What were our top three Takeaways from the competition this weekend? Media Pick' Em Contest Update MLP Super-Fan Matty Pickles (aka Matt Klitch) runs a season-long Media MLP Pick'em Contest on Twitter, where all the pundits in the sport are participating. Here's how we did this week, and where we stand overall. Summary: This was the hardest week yet to predict, since we were all just guessing how well the new Ben Johns-led LA Mad Drops would perform. I only hit on 4 of the 8 picks this week, but got a bonus point for my 'lock' of the weekend and netted 5 points. However the race is tightening; 2nd place Jim Kloss missed on his lock but otherwise went 7-8 in his picks to climb within 3 points of the lead. Next up on the Pickleball Calendar? According to my Master Pickleball Schedule ... Next up for the MLP? Their next event is .... All match stats quoted in this article are courtesy of PickleWave. Visit for the premier source of Pro Pickleball data, including match replays, highlights, stats, and discussion. PickleWave has more than 22,000 matches in its database across all the pro tours. Also, a great thanks to The Dink's Erik Tice, who maintains a fantastic MLP detailed data breakdown and makes it publicly available at this Google XLS link. Tice's data has proved invaluable this year as MLP does not make match data available at this detailed level at present.
Forbes
17-07-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
On The Ground In Grand Rapids At The Beer City Open
An aerial drone shot of championship court at Grand Rapid's Belknap Park shows just how packed the ... More grandstands were for the event. Earlier this year, someone asked me the following question: 'If you could go to just one pro event all year, what would it be?' My immediate answer: The Beer City Open. My reasoning at the time (I had never attended before in person) was simple: Major League Pickleball's Mid-Season tournament being held at the 2025 Beer City Open is a throwback to the early days of the league, where every weekend crowned a winner and every match was on a knife's edge in terms of pressure and excitement. Win and move on, lose and your chances of breaking a profit for the weekend were badly damaged. However, now that I've been in Grand Rapids and seen the facility and witnessed the excitement, I've only doubled down on my answer. The Beer City Open is the best pro event I've been to, and I can't wait to go back. I met with a slew of people connected to the tournament, the host club, and those who sponsored the event this weekend and came away with a distinct opinion that Grand Rapids is a fabulous pickleball town that's only getting better. While in Michigan, I had the chance to catch up with some of the key operators of the Pickleball scene in Grand Rapids; here's what I found. I arrived at Belknap Park straight from the airport at 11am on a Thursday and the place was packed and already rocking for the tournament's first pro matches. Every one of the remaining courts were filled with players, those who were among the 1,100 lucky amateurs who won the lottery to get entry into the event. There was a large food truck garden with good (and cheap) alternatives, easy access to facilities, and the pro player's lounge was a spacious business across the street from the park that the players loved. The popularity of the tournament is obvious, and there's high demand for entry. 'Our registration process is a lottery and it's open for just three days. Before that, it would sell out in 20 minutes; If you had a problem with your computer you weren't getting in,' says Paul Richards, the co-founder of the Beer City Open and the long-time tournament director. Andrea Koop, who is an event co-founder, full-time attorney and full-time Pickleball Professional, talks about the event's origins. 'We started this event in 2018. We had just ten courts at the time. Over the years, we've gone from 400 players in 2018 to just under 1,100 amateurs this year. We have 21 dedicated courts now. The Beer City Open is responsible for, along with the Grand Rapids Pickleball Club, over a million dollars of improvement to the park. All of the proceeds from the event go back into the Belknap Enhancement Club." These funds have more than doubled the number of courts on site, built stadium courts, and most recently built an 'Owner's Box' permanent two story structure that overlooks the two stadium courts (which, on non-tournament weekends, hosts the 4.5-5.0 'King of the Court' play every night). The event predates the 'pro tours' that we're now familiar with, and over the years has been affiliated with all three major pro institutions in the sport. In its early days, it was a pre-pro tour stand-alone event that began drawing players nationally for a pittance in prize money. It was an APP-affiliated event in 2021 and 2022, then pivoted to being a non-sanctioned but tacitly PPA-affiliated event in 2023 (it wasn't an official pro event, but the PPA, notoriously jealous of its exclusivity clause, gave approval for its contracted players to play, which led to a very PPA heavy pro draw). In 2024, the event changed direction and played host to a new MLP construct; the mid-season tournament, a relationship that continues today. Tournament Director Andrea Koop pulled double duty this weekend, competing for her MLP team and ... More running the event. Koop comments, 'Those [affiliation] decisions are driven by relationships with those particular organizations, and we're friendly with everybody. So we don't play favorites, Whatever's best for the pickleball community in West Michigan, if they're willing and interested in coming, we're happy to have them. And even the ones we don't deal with anymore, we're still good friends with them, and they may come back at another time.' Irrespective of pro tour affiliation, the pros like coming to this event. The hotels are close by in downtown Grand Rapids, and are practically walkable. There are multiple excellent hotel options. There's a slew of eating options walkable from whichever hotel you choose. For those not interested in a walk to downtown after playing, the preferred method of travel is a massive fleet of Lime electric scooters that can get you from door to door inside of 10 minutes. I made good use of the scooters while there, saving a ton of money on Ubers and managing not to crash once, even when I had to pull my suitcase along for the ride. Fortunately, I was fast enough that none of the PPA staffers at the coffee shop I cruised by had enough time to snap a photo as they doubled over in laughter. My uber for the weekend was actually a Lime e-Scooter, which proved quite handy getting me to and ... More from the hotel to the park. Says Michelle Esquivel, who won the APP Pro Singles title here in 2021 and who has been coming since the event's beginning, loves the event and says she'd come even if it wasn't sanctioned. 'This place feels like what Pickleball should be. It's community based, and we're in the community park. We're not playing at some bourgeois country club; we're playing at a park like pickleball used to be. Plus, the people here are so welcoming. I love coming here.' The 'people' of the Grand Rapids Pickleball Club come out in force to support this event, supplying more than 500 volunteers to help staff the event and make sure that the event runs smoothly. Says Susie Williams, a volunteer and amateur player who was a constant presence at the Media entrance this weekend, gave me a bit of background. 'The membership to the club and to play at these courts is just $35 a year. You don't have to pay it, but everyone pays it to support the courts." The club was started in 2012, relatively early in the pickleball boom. Says Richards, 'Early club founders Keith Wolverton and John Schowalter did all the groundwork for us. We just worked to expand it and fortunately we got a great relationship with the City of Grand Rapids. The city's Parks and Recreation department lets the Grand Rapids Pickleball Club run 100% of the pickleball activities out of this park. So when people ask us how do you do it, it's years worth of building relationships with the City and proving to them what you're doing is of the best interest in the pickleball community and the City as a whole.' I can attest to this directly; it was the city of Grand Rapids who reached out to me to discuss this story, wanting to highlight the great work of the club and the tournament directors. Edward Jones managing director and event title sponsor Becky Anderson chats up the tournament ... More co-founder Paul Richards in-between the courts. In a nod to how close-knit the pickleball community in the area, Williams turned out to be the sister of Becky Anderson, General Partner and onsite representative of Edward Jones, the title sponsor of the weekend's tournament. Anderson was on double duty for the weekend, serving as both fan and corporate representative, excusing herself at one point to don an Edward Jones logo shirt so as to present the Las Vegas Night Owls their winner's check on behalf of her employer. Dinks and Dingers uses these repurposed conex shipping containers as two-story dining areas in a ... More cool feature alongside its brand new courts. Anderson then turned out to be the husband of entrepreneur Andy Anderson, who just this week is opening up a brand new indoor pickleball facility just outside of the Grand Rapids airport titled Dinks and Dingers. Grand Rapids may have a fabulous outdoor park, but it also has Michigan weather and a lack of indoor court availability, something this brand new eatertainment-focused facility hopes to fulfill. With six courts now, another six on the way, and enough land to build another dozen outside, this facility should be popular soon. Not only that, but it has quite the unique feature: the country's first indoor Whiffle-ball field (hence the name 'Dingers' to go along with Dinks). Public Relations lead Denise Kolesar was kind enough to give me a sneak peek on my way out of town (along with a lift to the airport), and pickleball fans will be big fans of this facility. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend with great competition, great people, and clearly a great pickleball community.
Montreal Gazette
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Montreal Gazette
Genie Bouchard to retire from tennis after Montreal tournament
Tennis Eugenie Bouchard announced Wednesday that she will retire after the National Bank Open in Montreal, for which she received a wild-card entry. 'You'll know when it's time. For me, it's now. Ending where it all started: Montreal,' she wrote on her social media accounts, along with four photos of herself. You'll know when it's time. For me, it's now. Ending where it all started: Montreal ️ — Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) July 16, 2025 Bouchard lost 7-5, 6-2 in her last singles match at the tournament in Newport, Conn., on July 8. She also reached the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament at that event with partner Olivia Lincer of Poland. The 31-year-old stole the spotlight in 2014 when she became the first Canadian tennis player, in any category (male or female), to reach the top five in the world. In May of that year, the Westmount native also won her first and only WTA title, in Nuremberg, Germany. And she reached the semifinals of two Grand Slam tournaments, the Australian Open and the French Open, before becoming the first Canadian singles player to reach the final at Wimbledon. She peaked at No. 5 in the world WTA rankings. 'We are very honoured that Genie decided to retire at her home tournament in Montreal and we look forward to celebrating her career and lasting heritage with our fans,' said Valérie Tétreault, tournament director of the National Bank Open. 'She has been one of the most important figures in the history of our sport in Canada and a trailblazer who redefined what Canadian tennis could be. We are proud of everything she has done, as a player and role model, and we can't wait to see her in action one last time at IGA Stadium this summer.' Bouchard was never able to repeat the success of 2014, however. She will hang up her racket after maintaining, prior to the National Bank Open, a winning record of 299 wins and 228 losses as a professional and having accumulated total earnings approaching US$7 million. In 2023, Bouchard announced she would join Major League Pickleball. The National Bank Open will take place from July 26 to Aug. 7 at IGA Stadium in Montreal's Jarry Park.
Forbes
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
Dallas And Las Vegas Win Titles at The Major League Pickleball Beer City Open Mid-Season Tournament
Dallas Flash win again. It was a banner weekend for Major League Pickleball (MLP), with all twenty-two (22) MLP teams and nearly every top player in the sport in Michigan for the 2025 Edward Jones MLP Mid-Season tournament. For the second year in a row, the league took a break from its season-long event structure and held a winner-take-all tournament that harkens back to its roots as a league. The fans were not disappointed, as they saw some of the best matches and most exciting competition the league has ever seen, at one of the best venues in the land. We'll cover Grand Rapids Pickleball and the accompanying annual Beer City Open later this week, as I was onsite this weekend to see firsthand the festivities. For now, let's recap the weekend. Key Links for tracking the event this weekend, which featured livestreams from the two primary courts at the facility on MLP's YouTube channel and on Player Replacements for the Event The grind of the nearly every week nature of the sport right now is starting to take its toll, as a slew of players were absent from this event, some with lingering injuries and others with pre-arranged conflicts. Usually just one or two of the designated 'on-site subs' are used per weekend, but Grand Rapids saw a host of them. - Brooklyn: AJ Koller subbed for the still-injured Dekel Bar, in his near-season long 'super-sub' role that I interviewed him about for a forthcoming special interest story. - Atlanta: Collin Johns stepped in Sunday for Eric Roddy, who had to leave for a family emergency. Roddy was already covering for the absent Vich, so Atlanta was down two players here by the end of the event. - Carolina was without recent acquisition Etta Tuiotenoa, which put bench player Liz Trulock into action all weekend. - LA Mad Drops: Rafa Hewett subbed in for the missing Quang Duong, who we learned mid-event that his absence wasn't necessarily 'excused' and had his contract terminated. - Miami used one of its bench players Yuta Funemizu all weekend to cover for Jay Devilliers, at home celebrating the birth of his latest child. - Phoenix used Pesa Toni all weekend in the place of Jack Sock, who was in Newport Beach to play in an ATP qualifier with Billionaire Bill Ackman instead. Given the fallout from Duong's unexcused absence, I wonder if there will be some reaction here from the league from this heavily criticized decision by Sock, especially when it comes at the expense of this high-profile event. - Phoenix was also without Genie Bouchard all weekend, playing Alex Walker alongside Jesse Irvine instead in a team chemistry situation that may still be broiling from the previous event. - Utah used Yates Johnson to replace the injured Tyler Loong, who had hand surgery earlier this week stemming from a Bike accident. - Bay Area also used Collin Johns earlier in the tourney to cover for the recently acquired Sam Querrey, who was in London finishing up TV broadcast duties for Wimbledon. Did Bay Area know that Querrey was going to be unavailable when they acquired him just a couple weeks ago? - Rafa also helped out DC pickleball a bit to cover for Auvergne's brief absence. Some of these absences played a big role in the competition, especially with the Mad Drops as we'll discuss. Premier Competition Recap St. Louis' dynamic teen duo of Hayden Patriquin (L) and Gabe Tardio (R) are all smiles leading the ... More Shock to the finals. I'll cover just the highlights of the early rounds for brevity. Round of 16s Quarters Semis Finals Consolation Bracket highlights and 3rd Place Match Challenger Competition Recap A solid win for the Las Vegas Night Owls. Pictured from L-R are coach Steve Deakin, Brooke Buckner, ... More Chao Yi Wang, Pablo Tellez, James Delgado, and GM Chris Patrick. Quarters Semis Finals and 3rd Place Player Stats Analysis for the Weekend Jorja Johnson was the most dominant player in Grand Rapids. In Premier: In Challenger: General Observations from the weekend Matt Klitch Media Pick' Em Contest Update MLP Super-Fan Matty Pickles (aka Matt Klitch) runs a season-long Media MLP Pick'em Contest on Twitter, where all the pundits in the sport are participating. I finished the weekend going 14-2 (or alternatively, earning 14 of 16 available 'points' in the competition) to remain atop the season standings for the year. The two picks I missed were my 1st round upset pick in Premier and the Challenger champion (I thought Nashville would win). Next up on the Pickleball Calendar? According to my Master Pickleball Schedule, the MLP trade deadline is technically today 7/14/25, and I wonder if we'll see some moves given some of the news we broke over the weekend. Then, MLP is right back in action next weekend in St. Louis for an event that Shock owner Ross Chaifetz promises will be 'the best all year.' As noted above, I've got another piece coming this week that talks more about the event and my experiences onsite later this week. Thanks to Eric Tice's Public MLP data with per-event stats breakdown for his season-long work to track such information.
Business Wire
09-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Jenius Bank Named Title Sponsor for 2025 Pickleball World Championships
DALLAS & LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Carvana PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball presented by DoorDash (MLP) are excited to announce Jenius Bank™ – the digital banking division of SMBC MANUBANK, a member of the SMBC Group – has joined as an official partner for the Carvana PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball presented by DoorDash (MLP) throughout the remainder of 2025. Jenius Bank will also serve as the title sponsor of the Pickleball World Championships in Dallas, November 3-9 – the biggest weeklong festival in pickleball, America's fastest growing sport. At the Pickleball World Championships in 2024, more than 57,500 attendees enjoyed daily festivities on the festival hub of Pickleball Boulevard, including exciting amateur pickleball tournaments and programming, diverse food and beverage options, and shopping – all while witnessing the world's highest level of pickleball competition in the pro divisions. The event accounted for $15.7 million in local economic impact, according to an economic impact study by the city of Farmers Branch. Jenius Bank will also have a large presence at the remaining 2025 PPA Tour tournaments, MLP events, and the World Championships, with unique giveaways and experiences for fans. 'As a digital-first bank, we are built on consumer data and see the proven connection between physical wellness with financial wellness. We're thrilled to partner with the MLP and PPA Tour to promote pickleball, America's fastest growing sport,' said John Rosenfeld, President of Jenius Bank. 'Whether it's simplifying banking or bringing fans' favorite sport to a city near them, we're committed to helping people live richer lives – on and off the court.' 'Partnering with Jenius Bank marks a major milestone for our sport, reflecting not only the rapid growth and mainstream momentum of professional pickleball, but also the increasing interest from forward-thinking, national brands that recognize the power and potential of our community,' said Connor Pardoe, CEO of the PPA Tour and MLP. 'This partnership is a testament to how far pickleball has come and where it's headed as we continue to elevate the game alongside the biggest sports in America." The official partnership between Jenius Bank and the Carvana PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball (MLP presented by DoorDash) benchmarks the growth and health of professional pickleball and pickleball's largest event and contributes to the elevation of pickleball alongside other major American sports in terms of celebrated corporate partnerships. About Carvana PPA Tour: Founded in 2019, the Carvana PPA Tour is where pickleball's top athletes go head-to-head to determine the best male and female players in the world. The Carvana PPA Tour organizes and conducts tournaments at world-class facilities across the country, establishes player rankings, and showcases the world's best pickleball week in and week out. Inviting amateur players to also compete and 'play where the pros play,' the Carvana PPA Tour offers divisions for every age group and skill level. Characterized by a uniquely festive and fun atmosphere, Carvana PPA Tour events deliver unparalleled experiences for fans on-site, including pro player meet-and-greets, clinics, food, beverages, live entertainment, giveaways, games, shopping, and VIP upgrades. For more information, go to and follow us on social: Twitter/X, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn. About Major League Pickleball (MLP presented by DoorDash) Founded in 2021, Major League Pickleball (MLP presented by DoorDash) is the preeminent, coed, team-based professional pickleball league, featuring over 100 of the best athletes across 22 teams, iconic team owners, and the most electric live events and fan experience in the sport. In 2024, MLP and the PPA Tour merged under the newly formed United Pickleball Association (UPA), bringing together the leading pro pickleball organizations under a single entity. Visit the official website and follow MLP on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube for more information. About Jenius Bank Jenius Bank has a mission to help people live a richer life through actionable insights and innovative tools powered by first-class technology. The bank currently offers personal loans and high-yield savings accounts, surpassing $1B in deposits and loans outstanding all in its first year. Jenius Bank is the digital division of SMBC MANUBANK, Member FDIC. SMBC MANUBANK is a California state-chartered commercial bank that is a wholly owned subsidiary of SMBC Americas Holdings, Inc., a member of SMBC Group. To learn more information about Jenius Bank, visit
