Franklin NYC Open recap pt. 1
What a weekend. We knew it was going to be a big moment for pickleball in NYC, but it surpassed our expectations in every way.
It all kicked off Wednesday, when Megan Charity and her women’s doubles partner Rosie Johanson dropped by some local courts for a warm up session. If you don’t know who Megan is, she’s doing some big things in the city of Charlotte, NC, and Rosie made a huge splash this weekend on the singles circuit, upsetting Jorja Johnson in her first round.
Check out this fun point between Megan, Rosie, Nico, and Matt
Eric, Megan and Rosie
Thursday morning, I had a lesson with the one and only Rob Nunnery to prep for the men’s 4.5 doubles event on Saturday, and thoroughly got schooled. In 7 games, my partner Tom and I maxed out at 6 points in a game against Rob and Yuvi, but this is our blog so I’m going to post one my favorite points that we won.
All the rumors are true. Rob is one of the most down to Earth, humble, yet tenacious fighters out there on the pro tour, and it was one of our highlights to be able to host him for a few nights this week. Catch Rob and pro beach volleyball player Casey Patterson on their Freestyle Boys Podcast where they talk about anything from current events in the sport, how to drill and train your way to the pro level, and everything in between.
Thursday evening we ventured into the West Village for a truly special event hosted by one37pm, Major League Pickleball (MLP), The Dink, and yours truly. It featured a happy hour, followed by three panels:
Steven Kuhn (founder of MLP and DUPR) and pro, Irina Tereschenko
Ryan Harwood (GM of The 5s, one of the newest teams in MLP) and pro Rob Nunnery
Thomas Shields from The Dink, and myself from NYC Pickleball
It was truly a who’s who in the pickleball world, and it was a great celebration for this sport that we all have come to love.
Saturday was the men’s 4.5 event with my partner Tom Pryor. It was a 12 team bracket, and we knew it would be a tough one as many of the players’ DUPR ratings were well above 4.7, with some approaching 5.0. Our first match went smoothly, but our second match was against a very strong team, comprised of Gamma sponsored player, Jayden Broderick, a 16 year old, 6’5” lefty with an even bigger wingspan and Matt Keenum, brother of pro Christian Keenum and accomplished player himself.
The first game is where you and your opponents take time to figure each other out. It is the chess match’s opening move. What we learned was that Jayden’s wingspan and left handed-ness made dinks to the middle very dangerous, so we focused on targeting Matt and his backhand dink. Unfortunately for us, Matt’s backhand dink was equally consistent, and he was very capable of attacking out of the air leaving us often of the defensive. Losing game one 5-11, we felt like we had no real answer.
Game two we got out to a quick 3-0 lead, but stalled completely as they pulled ahead 3-4. We called a timeout and I proposed changing our stack to me on the left and Tom on the right. Although we had only practiced with Tom on the left, when you don’t have an answer for an opponent, the only thing you can do is change it up to see what happens. With my backhand dink and Tom’s counter punch, the tied started to turn. We went on a 6 point run at the end of the game to close game two 11-6. I’m still surprised they didn’t call a single time out to stop our momentum.
Game three we trailed for most of the game, as unforced errors piled up on our side, particularly on their serve, giving them free points. We were down 7-10, when we opened a glimmer of hope by scoring twice and forcing them into a time out. Unfortunately for us, their time out was highly effective, as at 10-9-2, their third shot drop landed in the middle, and I mentally hesitated to take it out of the air, forcing Tom to take it off the bounce after running into his position.
This is what happens when you don’t have the same level of mental focus and tournament experience. I let my guard down at the wrong time, and we were forced into the consolation bracket.
Stay tuned for part 2!
