Ep. 292 - Lessons for All from the 2026 US Open

[00:00:00.820] - Tony Roig Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the podcast dedicated to your pickleball improvement. My name is Tony Roig. In this week's podcast, I'm going to share with you some takeaways that I had from participating in the 10th US Open this last week down in Naples, Florida. Uh, before you leave the podcast, if you don't play in tournaments, I will tell you that what we're going to talk about here applies not just to tournaments, applies to rec play as well. In any kind of, any kind of play, league play. [00:00:29.340] - Tony Roig It's basically ideas that will help you, uh, not just feel better when you play pickleball, because you will, you're also going to play better pickleball. Because I will tell you that during this US Open, I played some of the best pickleball I've played in my life. I was focused, I was in the game, I was, uh, um, doesn't mean I won, but it means I played very, very well. Uh, in fact, it was, it was kind of, uh, funny after the, after the Uh, after the Open, uh, Kyleen, who's on our team and does our social media and, and, uh, and things like that behind the scenes, posted some photos and shared some of the content on our— I think it was on our Facebook page. And Scott Fliegelman, who's a really good player out of Colorado who I played in the first round, wrote into and said, best I've seen you play. [00:01:11.950] - Tony Roig So Scott, if you're listening to the podcast, uh, I appreciate the, uh, the feedback on that. Um, so that's what we're gonna do on this week's podcast. Before we dive into the podcast, uh, if you have not yet had a chance to check out our book Pickleball Therapy, highly recommend you check that out. It's called Pickleball Therapy: The Book. You can find it on Barnes Noble, Amazon, Walmart, wherever you like better, they have it there. [00:01:32.170] - Tony Roig If you have read the book and have a moment to provide feedback about it on any of those platforms, really appreciate you doing that. It helps other players find the book as well, and the feedback can be as honest as you want it to be. I'm I don't have a problem with any kind of feedback. So, um, all right, let me give you some, um, let me set the stage first, then I'll give you some of the lessons that I took away. So the US Open is one of the largest pickleball tournaments of the year. [00:01:55.740] - Tony Roig It was actually in my personal journey, it holds a dear place. I was fortunate to play in the 2016 US Open. That was the first year, um, it— first year of its— it was inception year, uh, and, uh, it was, it was really set the hook for me. In pickleball, you know. I mean, I was already going from 2015, I was really invested, but the 2016 US Open really, you know, kind of was the final hook. [00:02:20.440] - Tony Roig Yeah, or hook setting. And so, um, being able to go back this year— I, I wasn't able to go last year, this year I was able to play it, play in it. My friend Jeff Burton from Indiana— I've been saying Carolina, so I thought it was Carolina, but it's Indiana— uh, was kind enough to reach out and ask me to partner with him. So we went down there and participated in the, in the event. I was down there, uh, playing on Thursday— I'm sorry, on Wednesday in the, uh Senior Pro Men's. [00:02:45.080] - Tony Roig I think they call it Champions Men's now, but it's Senior Pro Men's. Um, and, um, we had two really, really good matches. Uh, we— first match we played against Scott Fliegelman, who I mentioned earlier, and Danny Wuerffel, uh, winner of the Heisman Trophy and national championship in football in college at University of Florida, which is my alma mater, and also played a little bit in the NFL. The reason I point that out is because one of the fascinating things about pickleball is, you know, it gives you an opportunity to meet folks that you would not meet otherwise. You know, I don't— other than going to the same school as Danny a little bit before he, he was there, um, I had no reason to cross paths with Danny in my life except for pickleball. [00:03:26.340] - Tony Roig Um, you know, and so you, you get to meet all these interesting people through the sport, which I think is fascinating. Anyway, in that first game, uh, we won the first, uh, first— and the first match, I should say— we won the first game 11-6. And then they came back strong in game 2. Credit to them, they upped their game. Uh, they, uh, they won game 2 11-8. And we had a really nice game 3, uh, with some, um, you know, I think it was like 7-6 or 7-7 for a minute there. [00:03:52.130] - Tony Roig And then they were able to pull away and they ended up winning, uh, 11-8. So it was 11-6, 11-8, 11-8. Just a really good match all around. Um, either team could have taken that match. And then the back draw, I got to play against Lance Cowherd, who I've known, uh, for for a minute now. [00:04:06.340] - Tony Roig We played several times against each other, uh, really nice gentleman. And then I met a new player named Chip James, or at least new to me, um, and his partner, again, really another really nice person and good player. Two very, very good players. Um, Jeff and I battled them hard. Um, it was one game to 15 because it's in the back draw. [00:04:24.550] - Tony Roig Interesting piece of this that I'll give you, a little side note. I, I went back and looked at the video later and I noticed that we had played for right around 25 minutes. Okay, and I will tell you that you can use time as an indicator for, uh, quality of play, uh, because the, you know, when you have good return side play, the game will last longer, right? Because you have, um, you know, it's normally you score points on the serve side, etc. So basically, if you're siding out, siding out, siding out a lot, that'll extend the game. [00:04:52.940] - Tony Roig Plus, it also shows long rallies. So just something you can use for your, for yourself in terms of analyzing, you know, your you know, metric you can use for yourself is how long are your games lasting. The longer your games last, probably the better the play. So, and we came— went down 15-9 in that match. So, but again, two really good matches. [00:05:10.670] - Tony Roig And one of the things about tournament play, I think, that, that is, uh, that's helpful to think about, and I also applies in rec games, which is, you know, we play a game where one team has to win and one team has to lose. That's just the— that's the bargain. That's the bargain we agreed to, right? We go in there and we say, okay, you know, One of us is going to win, one's going to lose. We're both going to give our best out there. [00:05:30.340] - Tony Roig But, you know, in tournament setting, the only way a tournament can work is if teams lose, right? Some teams lose because otherwise the thing gets jammed up, right? So if you're the team that, you know, is— was the team that went 0-2 or 1-2 or 2-2, okay, I mean, it's just part of the deal, right? And you're making way for the tournament to continue to advance. When you're playing in rec, right, uh, if you're the losing side, just remember that that loss is a condition precedent to your friends who are your opponents in that situation winning. [00:06:02.490] - Tony Roig So they can't win unless you lose. So yeah, it's a different way kind of framing it. All right, let me give you guys some takeaways from the, uh, from the, uh, from my play, my experience that'll help you with your experience, uh, is my plan here. So number 1 is, you know, I will tell you that a calm mind equals better play. Okay, and that, that seems like a pretty obvious statement, right? [00:06:24.850] - Tony Roig But how often do we actually apply that in practice, right? Just calm mind equals better play. Um, if you're clear on your why of pickleball or why you're there— and we did a podcast, the podcast episode last week, if you didn't get a chance to listen to it, was Your Why of Pickleball— uh, when you know your why, then you're much calmer in terms of your expectations, in terms of everything that's going on. I was perfectly clear on why I was playing at this tournament. And when Jeff reached out and we had a conversation about it, I told him, I said, I'm happy to go down there and battle. [00:06:53.630] - Tony Roig I will give it everything I have on the court. But I am not in, you know, I'm not drilling like I would be if I was, okay, we're going to, you know, make a run. I'm not playing enough of these kind of high-level competitive matches to, to, you know, be, to be able to see the same shots to see the balls the way you, you need to if you want to be able to compete at that level. Uh, and you know, like in the tournament, you know, you had a lot of other, uh, top, top senior pro players, uh, and just players who have a level of dedication to their craft from a play standpoint, from a competition standpoint that I'm not matching right now because my focus as a pickleball— in the pickleball space, if you will, He says, a coach, that's my love. That's what I— that I spend a ton of time there. [00:07:40.360] - Tony Roig I'll put myself up against any other coach out there in terms of curriculum, uh, ideas, process, whatever, whatever you want, I'm in. Um, and I'm pretty confident I would have a good chance of, of if not getting to the finals and maybe winning the competition. I'm in the— I'm in the— I'm in the, in the, in the mix. On the play side though, right, if I'm not putting in the time, the drilling time, the work time, It, it's kind of disrespectful, right, for me to just expect to just show up to, you know, roll down there and just, you know, cruise to a medal when I look at a field of players who are dedicated to their craft from the play and competition standpoint and are putting in the time and effort and are also obviously very good athletes and are trying as hard as I am, as hard as anybody else on the field, right? So, uh, understanding your why, right? [00:08:26.380] - Tony Roig My, my, my reason to go down there was I wanted to, I was happy to be there. Love the energy. I love seeing these players. I love seeing, you know, players that I don't get to to see from all over the country. Uh, you know, I wanted to be out there and competing with Jeff as long as he was okay with us just giving it our best, which we did. [00:08:43.210] - Tony Roig Um, all good, right? And so I wasn't stressed out, you know, a little bit— you get a little bit anxious in the tournament, right? You feel a little before you get out there. But I was not like— I was joking around with Danny and Scott, we were playing. I was joking around with Lance and Chip while we were playing, you know, in a good-humored way. [00:08:57.310] - Tony Roig I was engaging with Jeff in positive ways. We had really nice exchanges. With each other, supporting each other. And, you know, we're talking strategy, but, you know, it was, it was great. You know, missed a shot, no big deal. [00:09:08.450] - Tony Roig Um, you know, uh, uh, did something and maybe you would have been something different, we had a conversation. It was all, all really good stuff. So if you know your why right, you're gonna have a calm mind. Calm mind, you're gonna play better. Um, I think it's important to celebrate the moments. [00:09:22.020] - Tony Roig I just, uh, alluded to that a little bit. Uh, there was, um, you know, like, uh, Jeff did a, um I can't remember what it was right now. I think it was, uh, might have been an around the post. And, um, and it was just a really nice play by him. It was a, you know, back and bing bing boom kind of thing. [00:09:39.630] - Tony Roig And I actually dropped the paddle because I— it's kind of a jokey thing I do where I'm kind of like, mic drop. So I kind of looked at him and I dropped my paddle and I was like, come on, man, that's crazy. And so, you know, celebrating those moments, having a good time, because I, I know, you know, we I shouldn't say I know, but I suspect that a lot of us, whenever we miss a shot or we have those kind of moments, right? Those are highlighted, right? Those are like, those go on our highlight reel in our brain. [00:10:04.040] - Tony Roig Like, oh my God, I can't believe I missed that shot. Oh my God, I can't believe I popped the ball up. Oh my God, whatever. But why not apply some of that same kind of energy, that same kind of bandwidth to the good stuff? Because I guarantee you're doing good stuff. [00:10:14.470] - Tony Roig You know, whether it's defending a shot that you put the paddle down, whether it's, uh, you know, a nice reset off a block volley, whether you, you know, you dinked a really good ball out to the outside, to the middle, and put pressure on them. All those things, right? Retrieved a lob, whatever. Um, celebrate the moment, celebrate the good things that happen out there. I think it's really important. [00:10:31.420] - Tony Roig Um, and I alluded to this as well earlier, but know that you're all out there competing, right? I mean, you know, we're all on the court, like, we're playing a game, but we're battling each other, right? So it's like me and— in this case, it's me and Jeff against Scott and Danny. In your case, it's you and your partner against two other players who are normally going to be your friends out there. And you're just out there, you're competing, you're giving it your all. [00:10:52.210] - Tony Roig You know, the idea of understanding that they're competing against you is— it's also a respect thing, right? It's you're respecting your opponent, you're respecting the game, you're respecting what's going on, the same way that you hope they respect you and they respect your game and they respect what you're doing. So just remember, you're all out there competing, and remember that win-loss idea, right? Basically, that's the deal, right? That's the— that's the— you— if you don't like, you know, the idea of losing, right, then this is— I mean, I don't— I'm not trying to talk you out of pickleball, but a sport like pickleball may not be for you. [00:11:21.180] - Tony Roig Because, you know, you can do things like toss a frisbee and, you know, play Kadima, go play disk golf by yourself, whatever. You don't have to win or lose. This game is built around winning and losing, you know. So if you're going to engage with it, then just say, okay, it's just part of the deal, no, nothing more. Um, athletic pillar, guys. [00:11:39.280] - Tony Roig So we've been talking about the mind a lot. Don't forget your body, right? If you want to play, if you want to compete at a at the best— is the best you can. Spend some time on your body. I realized in this tournament, uh, I probably got to turn back. [00:11:51.530] - Tony Roig I've been doing a lot of strength training, haven't been doing enough cardio training, so I'm gonna have to turn back some cardio, some, you know, some aggressive walking, stuff like that that I can do to really help on the cardio side. But I will tell you this, I had forgotten the— there's a difference in the energy expenditure when you're playing competitively and when you're not playing competitively, at least for me. When I'm playing rec, I still go out there, I give it what I get, what I can, but I'm not The, the, the— there's not the adrenaline and all that stuff going on. So I find that I can play longer in rec without getting exhausted than I can in competitive play. Because, um, if you, if you look at the quality of my shots in game 1 and game 3 of the first match, vastly different quality. [00:12:31.960] - Tony Roig And again, I'm not thinking anything from Scott and Danny here, I'm just observing. Like, you know, you can see like my drives in game 1, my drives are crisp and they're aggressive and my dinking is spot on, I'm getting down low. And then in game 3, my drives are floating and all that stuff because You know, just the gas is different. So just pay attention to your body if you want to play your best. Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell you that the hard and soft— the soft game is still viable. [00:12:56.560] - Tony Roig There's still— there's a hard game out there. There's drives. But listen, banging's always been around, guys. This idea that like banging is new is— doesn't— isn't true. Yes, the paddles have gotten faster, right? [00:13:06.660] - Tony Roig Uh, but the, but the idea of players trying to hit hard through other players, that's been around for a long time. I used to do that, you know, when I, I came into the sport doing that because I'm a tennis player. Uh, but I will tell you, the soft game is still alive and well, guys, alive and well. When we played Lance and Chip, for example, uh, Lance and Chip, uh, I don't know this 100%, but I gotta believe they played college tennis or some high level of competitive tennis. Um, and, uh, both of them excellent, you know, hands, excellent, uh, pace. [00:13:36.430] - Tony Roig And so players like that, they can handle pace. And so I, in that match, our strategy was not to go as hard as we did in game 1, but to soften things up, right? And it worked. I mean, you know, we lost the match, but I mean, but the rallies we were able to get into the soft game and things like that were the ones that I think we had some success with. I mean, they did well. [00:13:58.480] - Tony Roig They have a good soft game, but you know, in terms of like thinking through your processes, don't sleep on the soft game. The soft game is alive and well and is still a strategic technically relevant. Um, it— this is a game of inches, guys. You know, when you're dealing in competitive— and when I say competitive here, I don't mean competitive like tournament, but, you know, a well-contested game— it's going to be decided by small things. And I'll give you one specific example. [00:14:25.260] - Tony Roig So we had a, um, uh, Danny hit an around-the-post shot. I believe it was in game 2. He hit an around-the-post shot, and, uh, Jeff initially called it out. And in fairness to Jeff, those are hard to call, right? Because it's like kind of like the ball's coming at a weird angle to him and he's, you know, so it's a bang-bang play. [00:14:42.810] - Tony Roig It's hard. He calls it out. I didn't see it because I'm, I'm on the side of Jeff and Jeff was— body was all over around the, the shot. And then Scott and Danny were unhappy with it, right? So it was just okay, they're, they're tired of that. [00:14:57.740] - Tony Roig They appealed. The ref couldn't do anything about it. I asked Jeff if he was 100% and if he was 100% I'm not— there's no argument that I don't care what— I mean, I kind of— I do care what Scott and Danny think, but I'm not gonna change our, our position based on them being upset if Jeff's 100%. But Jeff was cool about it. Jeff said, pretty sure, but, you know— and I told him, well, you know, Danny and Scott seemed like they're 100%. [00:15:23.410] - Tony Roig And, you know, Danny obviously could see it down the line, and then Scott could see it better than I could. Danny had the best excuse me, the best look at it. And so we changed our call, right? We changed our call in that moment. And the reason I tell you the story is not about the call change, although, you know, I think you can use that for yourself if that's helpful to you if you have problems with outcalls. [00:15:42.660] - Tony Roig Uh, but it was, it was a, it was close. Like, in other words, it was like maybe 1 inch, you know, half an inch or 1 inch to the outside, we win that point. And that was a critical juncture. I don't remember, it was like 7-8 or 7-6 or something like that, but it was a critical juncture of the match. And, uh, so it could have swung the other way had the, you know, with an inch difference, right? [00:16:04.840] - Tony Roig Because if it would— the reason I say it would have been an inch further, it would have been like an inch out where it was, then Danny and Scott wouldn't have objected, our call would have stood and would have been fine, right? So, um, anyway, it's a game of inches, guys. So, you know, when you're, when you're thinking about like the win and the loss, just remember there's a lot of things happen, whether it's a net cord or an out ball or, or in ball. That is just, uh, just so small, the, the differences in those, uh, highly contested games. And then lastly, guys and gals, um, enjoy the ride, you know, enjoy the experience, enjoy. [00:16:37.460] - Tony Roig There's— from my vantage point, there's absolutely no reason to go out to a pickleball court and leave it upset. None. None. Pickleball is a voluntary activity for anybody listening to this podcast, right? You do it for enjoyment, exercise, social, whatever your reason is. [00:16:55.110] - Tony Roig That's from last week's podcast, so you go back and listen to that one. But there is absolutely no reason to leave a pickleball court with anything other than a smile on your face because you're engaging in one of the best activities in the world that you can engage with. It is— if you're playing it in your zone, it is available to you. Be thankful for that. Uh, you have other folks in your community, in your area, and you're, you know, nearby who are also interested in playing this sport because otherwise you couldn't play it by yourself. [00:17:23.200] - Tony Roig So all these things have to come together. So there's really no, um, no situation where you leave a pickleball court without a smile on your face. So enjoy the ride, enjoy the— enjoy the bumps and bruises and the great shots and the crappy shots. Enjoy them all, uh, as best you can. And the— and the more you work on it, on your gratitude practice, on— on— on reframing those things in a way that isn't destructive to you, isn't harmful to you, the better you're going to enjoy your sport. [00:17:50.880] - Tony Roig And again, pragmatically, you're going to play better. Um, all right, that's Success Podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have a moment to rate and review the podcast, really appreciate you do so. Uh, helps us reach other, uh, other players in this, uh, algorithm data-driven world. [00:18:05.920] - Tony Roig Uh, and lastly, if you, uh, really enjoyed the podcast and you have a friend who you think might enjoy the podcast, share it with them. Because if you enjoyed the podcast, they probably will too. I look forward to, uh, seeing you next week on our next episode of Pickleball Therapy. I'll be recording that one from the PPA in Atlanta, so should be interesting. Be well, and I'll see you then.