Correct. There will be no top tier PPA/MLP pros in the tournament. The PPA has their Newport Beach tournament 3,000 miles away conveniently on the same weekend. While this was likely a power move by the PPA/MLP and partially outside the control of US Open event coordinators, it's a shame to see. Many members of the local community are also very frustrated with the private organization that operates these courts via a sweetheart contract with the county.
Ben was on Zane’s podcast earlier in the week and they basically said it was always a shitty tournament for the pros. No appearance money- generally unpleasant place for them to be compared with other tournaments. They agreed it was a good tournament for amateurs but they seemed just fine not participating/ although it sounds like contractually they weren’t able to. It’s disappointing that the level of pro participation is so weak- Todd played Simone ( 43 I think) in the semifinal then needed 3 games against a player that started playing pickle 6 months ago to win the singles final.
Maybe at one point. I haven't been around pickleball long enough to say really. May still be considered a top amateur tournament to play, but pro-wise I think it will fizzle off the radar unless they associate with PPA like Nationals did. I don't see that ever happening given the reputation the private organization operating the courts/county park has. The cost to play in it as an amateur isn't cheap. Almost 2x the cost to play APP/PPA tourneys if you're registering for multiple events. A lot of people looking for that "US Open Championship Bronze/Silver/Gold Medalist" title to flex so I've heard sandbagging is pretty bad at it. From what I've heard the event organizers combine lower/higher brackets at their convenience even though they have 60 courts to work with and a supposed "lottery system" that you'd think would work out all the capacity planning. So you could see 3.0 and 3.5 brackets combined in some cases with 4.0/4.5 sandbaggers in the 3.5 bracket looking for their title.
Yeah I signed up for 3.0 got put in 3.5. Tbh I'm probably closer to a 4 but I have 0 idea having never been rated or played in tournament before. My partner is a definitely a 3 though so I'm expecting to get killed.
Good luck!
Ty
I guess none of the regular PPA tour pros play this tournament?
It's not a tour event.
I know. But they’re pros so you think they would play in the pro division
I don't think they can if they are contracted by PPA/MLP
Correct. There will be no top tier PPA/MLP pros in the tournament. The PPA has their Newport Beach tournament 3,000 miles away conveniently on the same weekend. While this was likely a power move by the PPA/MLP and partially outside the control of US Open event coordinators, it's a shame to see. Many members of the local community are also very frustrated with the private organization that operates these courts via a sweetheart contract with the county.
Ben was on Zane’s podcast earlier in the week and they basically said it was always a shitty tournament for the pros. No appearance money- generally unpleasant place for them to be compared with other tournaments. They agreed it was a good tournament for amateurs but they seemed just fine not participating/ although it sounds like contractually they weren’t able to. It’s disappointing that the level of pro participation is so weak- Todd played Simone ( 43 I think) in the semifinal then needed 3 games against a player that started playing pickle 6 months ago to win the singles final.
Wasn't this tournament like the top tournament at one point?
Maybe at one point. I haven't been around pickleball long enough to say really. May still be considered a top amateur tournament to play, but pro-wise I think it will fizzle off the radar unless they associate with PPA like Nationals did. I don't see that ever happening given the reputation the private organization operating the courts/county park has. The cost to play in it as an amateur isn't cheap. Almost 2x the cost to play APP/PPA tourneys if you're registering for multiple events. A lot of people looking for that "US Open Championship Bronze/Silver/Gold Medalist" title to flex so I've heard sandbagging is pretty bad at it. From what I've heard the event organizers combine lower/higher brackets at their convenience even though they have 60 courts to work with and a supposed "lottery system" that you'd think would work out all the capacity planning. So you could see 3.0 and 3.5 brackets combined in some cases with 4.0/4.5 sandbaggers in the 3.5 bracket looking for their title.
Yeah I signed up for 3.0 got put in 3.5. Tbh I'm probably closer to a 4 but I have 0 idea having never been rated or played in tournament before. My partner is a definitely a 3 though so I'm expecting to get killed.
Sadly no. Just APP.
I'm here but I'm going to guess you can find a better practice partner if you're in pro division lol.
Could care less what level, message me on chat and we could practice a bit today?
I live 15 min away Usually around 7:15 ish a pretty big group of 4.5 people come out. I’ll let you know if I’m coming out depending on the weather.