TOXIC TREND ALERT: “Dump him and start playing pickleball.”

Good day, picklers.

It’s a stay-in kinda a week cause duh, the Paris Olympics are going on RIGHT NOW. And must I admit…

From a controversial opening ceremony to once again witnessing Celine Dion front and center to the USA Men’s Olympic Gymnastics Team breaking a 16 year medal drought…

This week has been nothing short of surprises 👀

Here’s what’s on the docket today:

• Pickle Talk: Toxic Trend: “Dump him and start playing pickleball.”

• Hot Topics: Collin Johns alleged leaked email to MLP

• Bite-sized: Vince Vaughn buys majority stake pickleball team

• Golden Pickle: Olympic Tennis player Coco Gauff has BEEF with pickleball

Let the games begin…👾

PICKLE TALK

1/ Ex-Olympic Tennis player advocates for pickleball joining Olympic games

Pro tennis player Coco Gauff isn’t the only tennis player making Olympic headlines this week. (there’s always the 2028 Olympics, Coco!)

LOOKING IN: As the Summer Olympics kick off in Paris, Genie Bouchard, who joined the pickleball world in January of this year, reminisced with pickleball.com about her 2016 Olympic experience in Rio. Representing Canada back in 2016, the 30-year-old ex-tennis star fondly recalls the camaraderie and pride of representing Canada, describing the opening ceremony as one of the most special moments of her life.

ICYDK…In her Olympic debut at Rio 2016, Bouchard made it to the second round of the singles and doubles tournaments, playing with Gaby Dabrowski in doubles.

LOOKING OUT: Now, as a pro pickleball player passionate about the future of pickleball, she’s advocating for its inclusion in the Olympics and is excited about the sport's global expansion, especially the upcoming global tournaments in Canada and around the world..

Jack Sock, handing you the mic.

2/ “Pickleball saved my eyesight”. But it’s not what you think…

Medical miracle? Uh uh. Not so fast, Mr. Fox News Headline. 

Let’s get the facts straight. For Linda Corcoran, a 79-year-old avid pickleball player, the sport has been a game-changer, especially when it came to saving her eye sight.

BUT IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK: Playing 3 times a week, Linda one day in 2021 noticed the lines on the court appeared wavy and distorted.

And after experiencing similar issues off the court, she visited her eye specialist, who officially diagnosed her with wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD), a leading cause of vision loss for those over 65.

Her ophthalmologist, thanks to Dr. Matthew Cunningham, notes that noticing wavy lines on the court was a crucial sign to get her eyes checked.

Because wet AMD can cause rapid vision loss, early detection and treatment are key.

Bullet Point: No. Pickleball does not actually save your eyesight. Linda just got lucky. Let’s not get it twisted now.

3/ Toxic Trend: “Dump him and start playing pickleball.”

Pickleball.com says this trend is “extremely hopeful.”

Realist take: more like extremely toxic and senseless.

In the ever-evolving world of social media trends, a new and surprising hashtag is taking TikTok by storm: “Dump him and start playing pickleball.”

The trend has captured the attention of single ladies and pickleball enthusiasts alike, flooding feeds with content centered around America's fastest-growing sport, pickleball.

LOOKING IN: The trend features numerous videos shot at local pickleball courts, where attractive, often shirtless men are seen playing the game to the delight of single women. The immature nature of the videos has made them a favorite among many TikTok users (are you surprised?)

….especially those looking for a fresh perspective on dating.

Let’s hope this trend fades our quickly. Not great for pickleball marketing.

HOT TOPICS on Reddit

LEAKED: 8 Reasons why Collin Johns despises MLP

Within the last 24 hours, a reddit thread spilled the tea on claims that an alleged email regarding Collin Johns alleged disappointments with MLP was leaked to the public.

Yes. This is all ALLEGED. (for legal purposes 😜)

And guess what? WE HAVE IT HERE FOR YOU:

I despise MLP for a variety of reasons.

1. A top player like Ben is handicapped for being the best by having bottom tier players on his team. That’s the equivalent of taxing the very wealthy who worked hard to be wealthy, to the point of having to work harder than the average person to come out ahead. It’s unfair to penalize him like that.

2. The scoring system is designed to allow inferior players to keep the scoreline close and steal matches they don’t deserve to win. The advantage of returning outweighs how much better a team or player is. This keeps the scoreline close no matter what and the freeze allows the inferior team during the match to catch up arbitrarily. The scoring system is extremely dumb. Just because a system is widely used doesn’t make it a good one. A proper scoring system should give the better team a legitimate chance to demonstrate why they are better. If the underdog performs better under those conditions that day, they deserve to win. But not just because they stayed close and caught up at the end because of the freeze.

3. It is portrayed as a “team effort” even though the results clearly hinge on certain matches where you personally have no control over the outcome. In theory, Ben and I could’ve won every single one of our matches but with our women going 0 and NINE to start the season, we have no ability to do more than offset that. As good as Ben is, he can’t play more than two matches and four points at a time in a DB. He is at the mercy of the rest of his “team” that are the bottom tier of available players. It’s a “team” yes. But with certain players carrying the bulk of the load to lift up players who aren’t actually pulling their weight.

4. Singles might be exciting but it is not the focus of many top players. It is suddenly deemed important for some reason and made to be a big part of the event. I say that as someone who is very capable in singles. I am personally fine playing four singles points at a time. But I don’t believe it should be as important as it is.

5. Players, owners, GMs, and fans are permitted to behave in the worst ways at MLP. It’s part of the culture. You can scream, stare down, finger wag, taunt, cheat, and use pretty much any bush league tactics you want with very little risk of repercussions. It’s an accepted part of MLP. As someone who values a level of sportsmanship, I hate this part of it. It brings out the worst in people, and players who are normally quarterfinal level suddenly act like tough guy jackasses just because they have a better supporting cast than another top player. AL’s on court behavior was shameful against us. So it isn’t just lower tier players. It is a long list of guilty parties. This makes MLP unenjoyable to me and others who have similar views.

6. The venue selection is grossly unprofessional. This week was in a remote area of SLC at a facility without adequate spacing around the courts and horrendous lighting. The lighting is just so wrong. The Picklr literally put un-diffused lighting directly down the middle of the courts. Meaning direct LED lighting down the sight lines of the courts. This is absurd and grossly unprofessional to have players play a pro event in those conditions. Ben already has an issue with indoor lighting and this week was completely unworkable. You can’t compete if you can’t see the ball properly. Also, the last cumulative season event in DC was downright dangerous with where it was at, with no lights to finish matches within time constraints. The venue selection process is completely unprofessional by MLP.

7. MLP just signed a ball contract with Vulcan. I’m aware they were under pressure to follow PPA on that. However, when it comes to standards for the players, this is a downright wrong. The quality of the ball affects the quality of play significantly which is unfair to the players and the fans. We don’t practice hard to perfect shots that no longer matter because the ball doesn’t bounce. And I don’t want to hear it is the same for everyone. It isn’t. The worse players benefit more because it is less about skill and more about luck. Pickleball also loses when our “top players” routinely whiff the ball. I’m sure that looks really good on ESPN when we can barely make contact. It’s infuriating and unprofessional.

8. Paddle testing in DC was an unmitigated disaster. Not only do we have standards that are completely out of control, we can’t even rely on the testing equipment used to be consistent. This general issue is as much a problem at PPAs so it isn’t regulated to just MLP.

I am aware that there are many staff members who work hard to make MLP happen and fans who like going to the events. However, if MLP is asking for professional effort on the part of the players, they need to be held to the same standard. And the above factors are legitimate grievances. Particularly the ones that are unprofessional standards like the venue and the ball. If they want to pay us to stay home so be it. But we worked to receive a contract that includes being paid for “team events”. We will fulfill our contract duties and sign paddles and go chase the Vulcan ball around on court if necessary. But don’t expect us to enjoy doing it.

Now, like me, you are probably questioning the validity of this email. According to redditor r/dsm09e, this email was given to his ex-Sydney, who works for MLP, who then gave it to her bosses.

Here are the top comments to note:

What are your thoughts?

The general consensus is that Collin Johns is “angry” and a bit butt hurt over just about everything with the current state of pro pickleball.

And it doesn’t look like the majority of people agree with him.

To be continued…

JOIN THE CONVO on Reddit:

💬 Pickleball is great, but does the name hold it back?

💬 I took a forehand lesson from 6.0+ single players. Here's what I learned.

💬 This indoor MLP has been pretty boring to watch. I don't think the future of pro pickleball is indoors like some claim....or maybe MLP is just not as compelling as it used to be.

BITE-SIZED PICKLES

GOLDEN PICKLE, ANYONE?

🏆 Reebok & Recess pair up on an awesome pickleball collection, shoes and paddle included

🏆 AARP launches nationwide clinic tour celebrating active aging

🏆 PPA Pickleball Tour 2025 launches on Nintendo Switch

🏆 Olympic Tennis player Coco Gauff has BEEF with pickleball

🏆 A MUST WATCH:

ICYMI…A Pickle Talk Rewind