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Will Ben Johns Triple Crown Ever Again in 2024?

Will Ben Johns Triple Crown Ever Again in 2024?

Plus, a follow-up on the iced paddle debacle from San Clemente

Team KOTC
July 03, 2024

Ben Johns' Triple Crown Chances are Dwindling
Iced Paddles: The Culprit Responds
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Ben Johns’ Partner Problem

In yesterday’s pod, the guys broke down the Orange County Open and how close Ben Johns came to missing championship court on Sunday. As Jimmy pointed out, Ben and Collin haven’t won a gold in men’s doubles since April 21st in LA, and they’ve only won gold at 5 of the 13 events so far this year. Ben even lost his #1 spot in men’s doubles to Dylan Frazier.

Given Ben’s well-known struggles in singles as well, everyone is asking: will Ben Johns win another triple crown in 2024? If he does, will Collin remain his partner for it? The Johns Brothers seem to get more frustrated at every tournament: bench tirades, long rants to themselves, and angry shouting at every piece of equipment on the court. It certainly seems to indicate major issues for the brothers, in what has been the most dominant men’s doubles team in history.

So, who should Ben consider as an alternative men’s doubles partner? (Mixed doubles is locked up with Anna Leigh, so we’re not even going there!) Tyler’s top pick is Matt Wright, who won gold in Austin back in April, alongside Andrei Daescu. Matt has been testing various partnerships since his breakup with Riley Newman a little over a year ago. Matt is a solid, consistent player with elite hands and top-tier counters, who plays in a more traditional style that Ben prefers. Aside from all that, these two have a storied history together, having won 7 golds in PPA tour events in the past.

Of course, it is all conjecture if Ben would even consider dumping Collin. But without a shake-up, and the men’s singles competitive landscape getting tougher, we have to wonder if another PPA triple crown is out of reach for Ben.

Follow up on Iced Paddles: The Culprit Responds

After audio was posted on @dinksmashmedia’s IG about pros icing their paddles, Todd Fought, one of the pros “caught” on the recording, came forward to set the record straight.

“I have been using the same model of paddle for over 2 years now, not once have I had a paddle effectively delaminate or gain power over time… The testing used at PPA/MLP events is a compression test, and an unintended consequence of this is that it is temperature-sensitive… I have played most of the PPA events in the last 2 years (30ish events), using the same PPL test, I have had paddles fail at only 3 events: PPA Texas, MLP DC, and PPA SC, all of which the temp was above 90 degrees…

At any PPA event where the temperature is higher, the number of failed paddles increases dramatically and the testing personnel take steps to get paddles back down to lower temps, like holding paddles overnight, warning players to keep paddles out of the sun, etc… The testing personnel have full authority on when they test your paddle. If you turn in a paddle that is frozen solid, they will not test it. If you turn in a paddle that has just been used in the heat, they will not test it because they know it will fail. I informed the testers that my paddles have been stored overnight in the fridge, after travel to the venue and warm-up, my paddles were still higher than room temp and they had to wait for them to cool down to test my paddles.”

Todd Fought, responding on Instagram

It should be noted that there is no explicit rule related to this, and UPA President Jason Aspes corroborated this in a response on the same IG post. He noted “…manufacturers understand the importance of [climate controlling your paddle] and have built insulation into many of the bags being sold.”

Hearing Todd’s point of view, have your thoughts changed? Is this still considered cheating, or did he follow acceptable protocols ahead of testing?