Anna and Rachel pull it off

Toppling the giants

Before Sunday, Anna Leigh and Catherine Parenteau were 44-1 in their women’s doubles partnership this year. That “1” was courtesy of Anna Bright and Rachel Rohrabacher, who beat them at the Austin Showdown in March.

Now, their record is 44-2, once again beaten by AB and RR. Typically, we see AL and CP come out of the gate with high energy, putting their opponents on the defensive. But this time, it was AB & RR who came out swinging, putting AL & CP on their heels and setting the tone for the whole match. The former Squeeze teammates won the first game 11-3, never letting up on the gas. In game 2, they went down 0-5 but remained steadfast, coming back to win 11-9. Game 3 went to AL & CP 11-9, before Anna & Rachel finished them off 11-5 in game 4.

Elsewhere in the tournament, Ben & Colin returned to the gold medal stand for the first time since April. They made light work of the matchup against Tyson & Jaume, even taking a pickle in game 2.

Hunter Johnson won his first-ever PPA gold medal in men’s singles, beating Connor Garnett 11-2, 8-11, 11-9. He topped it off with an emotional post-match interview, choking up as he wished Thomas Wilson well. We echo his sentiments and hope Thomas returns to the court soon.

And Anna Leigh won women’s singles. Per usual.

Close Call Replay: How’d it do?

This was the first tournament with Close Call Replay, and it delivered in a big way. PPA established a base set of guidelines for enforcement, and though it looks different than what we’re used to, it was largely applied consistently. The new guidelines dictate that if at least 25% of the ball is over the line, it is considered “in.” If there is any doubt, or it’s inconclusive, the ball must be ruled “in.” Close Call Replay has conducted significant research of contact point and ball compression, which helped formulate these new guidelines. And though it does look different to our eyes, and slightly shifts preconceived notions of how much a pickleball compresses, the calls seemed overall fair, and the enhanced camera system gave a clear and precise view.

During the women’s doubles gold medal match, here were 4 calls where the replay gave us a great look at what the system is capable of.

Editor’s note: Image quality is due to using YouTube stills. Actual Close Call Replay quality is much higher resolution.

The first call came at 2-5-1 with AB serving.  ALW was pulled wide and called this dink out.  AB challenged and it was overruled.

AB couldn’t challenge this “out” call in game 2 at 6-7-2 because they were out of timeouts.  They ultimately won the game.

During game 3 at 9-10-1 RR made this out call that was over overturned and ruled in.

At 8-5-1 in game 4, AB hit a counter that was called out by ALW.  They chose not to challenge but the replay showed it was clearly in. The ended up not needing it, as they closed out the match a few plays later, 11-5.

Overall, Close Call Replay was well-received, well-established, and well-worth the investment. We’re thrilled to have this system in place to level up the quality of calls made in tournaments — and maybe we’ll see fewer hooks?