The Best from our Archives Part 8 - Stop Chasing Winners and 2023 Open Notes

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy. Apologies for the interruption to your regular programming. Tony is in New York coaching and lending his voice to the Major League Pickleball broadcast. So for this week, we pulled for you an episode from deep within the archives vault that reminds us the perils of chasing winners, high risk losing bet. With that said, I'm off to go enjoy a nice chicken dinner. I'll leave you to it. Enjoy the episode.

[00:00:26] Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the podcast dedicated to Pickleball Improvement. Hope you're having a great week. CJ and I got back from the US Open on Saturday. I spent a lot of Saturday night, Sunday morning sleeping in the same Sunday to Monday. I feel more recovered now, but it was a great week. And I'm gonna talk a little bit about the US Open more in the riff. I'm gonna give you some stories, a couple of war stories. Then I got a special episode coming out. Look for it. It's called, it's called,

[00:00:55] The Time I Almost Cried on the Pickleball Court. True story, but I think you might be surprised as to the reasons. I almost forgot to tell you who I am. My name is Tony Roig. I am your podcast host for the Pickleball Therapy podcast. I am a master teaching professional as well as a senior pro pickleball player. If you haven't checked out our latest video on the Into Pickle channel on YouTube, I think you'll find it interesting. You'll get to see me actually play in a hotly contested match. And I won't do any spoilers here, so check that one out and you'll like it at the Into Pickle

[00:01:25] channel. It's a video entitled Lob Battle. In today's podcast, what I want to do is I want to lead off by talking about not chasing winners. Stop chasing, stop chasing winners. And it's in response to a post that was put in that I saw on the Pickleball forum. I'm going to share that post with you in a second. I'm going to read it to you. And then we're going to talk about it and what it means to chase winners and maybe why that's not the best approach.

[00:01:52] And then in the RIF, as I mentioned, I will be talking about the U.S. Open, my experience at the U.S. Open and sharing with you some more stories that will help you with your game. So with that said, stay tuned for the podcast.

[00:02:09] All right. So the title of this podcast is Stop Chasing Winners, right? Stop trying to chase the winners. Now, I'm not saying don't win rallies. I'm not saying don't win games. I'm saying stop chasing winners. And specifically what we're talking about is we're talking about chasing winners during rallies. So shots where you're trying to win the rally. And let me frame it out for you by reading a post that was put in the Pickleball forum. So this post was publicly available to everybody. So I'm going to share it with you here.

[00:02:38] It's by Gregory. And I'm going to try and pronounce his last name. I believe it's Gautreaux. And actually, it's serendipitous because it's entitled or the beginning of it is quick therapy session colon. So pretty appropriate. This is Gregory now. They're all things Gregory. So quick therapy session. I am a 4.0 and I've also played tennis for 50 plus years. I was always taught that at our level, the best way to win is to stay steady, have patience and let your opponents make the errors.

[00:03:05] So this is the style that I use in Pickleball. But several players have told me, and in parentheses, even gotten aggravated, that I have opportunities to put the ball away and I don't. I've tried to explain this to them and tried to stick to my guns, but in the back of my mind, I wonder if I should shift my strategy. I continue to see aggressive players miss shots and wonder what the percentages are in errors to winners. I'm curious to know what y'all think and then a thumbs up. I already responded to Gregory directly in the post.

[00:03:35] And basically what I said to him is I said, keep at it, right? You're doing the right thing. Most of pickleball at all levels, but particularly around the 4.0, sub 4.5 particular level or particularly there, excuse me, is a sport that is defined by error avoidance. Error avoidance, not by hitting winners.

[00:03:58] What I always like to tell players when I'm playing with them is, you know, when they hit those, you know, crazy, amazing shots that you're like, wow, great shot, right? ESPN's not there. There's no ESPN camera up on the corner of the court waiting to capture that and show it on, you know, the top 10 shots of the day on SportsCenter. No such thing.

[00:04:18] So while winners are cool and they're exciting, and in fact, the last shot of the rally I mentioned to you, the last shot of the match that I mentioned to you earlier on YouTube is an exciting winner hit by one of the teams. I won't spoil it. But that's not what defined the game. What defined the game was, you know, defense and not making errors with some winners peppered here and there.

[00:04:43] What happens too often is players get, they go down this, you know, hitting winners mentality and it really leads players astray. In fact, CJ and I went to open play here in Tampa last night. CJ was in town. And so we went by the open play just to mingle and, you know, just play with some players and kind of give back, I guess, you know, play and get out there.

[00:05:08] And most of the players we were playing, I would say, were, you know, there were maybe a couple 3-5s and then, you know, 3-0s, 2-5s and some beginners. And what we saw was, both CJ and I saw was, a lot of trying to hit winners. A lot of trying to go for the, you know, the amazing shot that everyone goes, oh my God, that was a great shot. But at the same time, missing a ton, a ton of shots.

[00:05:33] In fact, CJ and I were on the same court during one of the games and we were playing opposite each other. And the final score was 11-7. And so 18 points total scored. We did rough math and it was, of those 18 points, approximately 12 to 14 were gifts. Meaning missed returns of serve, missed four shots and things like that.

[00:05:55] So this game is a game, Pickable is a game of not making too many errors, reducing the number of the errors that you make. And here's the key I want to leave you with, or one of the keys I want to leave you with. You will win the rallies. But the way you're going to win the rallies is by allowing your opponents to make the error. In other words, the result is the same. You still win the rally, but you win it by allowing your opponents to lose the rally.

[00:06:25] As opposed to you trying to hit the perfect winner shot. And I would suggest to you that when you evaluate the pros and cons, right, or the pluses and minuses of a winner approach, what you'll find is that it just doesn't make sense. What you end up doing when you're trying to hit winners is you are risking too much. In other words, you are pushing margins of error that simply aren't necessary to push. And another way to think about it is in terms of whether it's necessary is,

[00:06:55] do you really need to do that in order to prevail, in order to win that particular rally? And I would suggest to you that at most levels, and most of the time, the answer is no. And the reason is because you're playing opponents who are also trying to go for winners, right, who are also error prone. So what you're going to do, if you want to be more successful playing pickleball and end up on the positive side of more rallies than your opponents,

[00:07:23] is to play the game according to its rhythm and also your skill set. So you're going to basically play a game that makes sense according to what's going on in the rally. And again, according to your skill set. And you're going to put those two together. And that's what's going to give you maximum performance because you will make less errors while your opponents will continue to make their errors. One way to think and a way to put this into practice is let's say that you have a very good soft game. OK, you're good at dinks and resetting and things like that.

[00:07:53] What you're going to do is you're going to play a soft game. You're going to make sure the ball bounces as much as possible, meaning if it's bouncing, that means that they can't volley it, right? They can't attack it. You're going to try and get that ball to bounce. You're going to learn how to move your opponents around a little bit with those same shots, but just moving them a little bit left to right, getting them stressed a little bit. And then key here is letting out balls go. This is not an out balls podcast, so I'm not going to spend too much time on it. But I'm going to tell you that one of the greatest unforced errors that you're committing probably is hitting out balls.

[00:08:23] It doesn't seem like it's an unforced error because you didn't miss the shot necessarily, right? Let's assume you hit the out ball but didn't miss. I would suggest to you that that is still an error by you. It is an error because that ball was traveling out. And oftentimes in pickleball, the best shot that you hit is the one you don't hit at all. So consider also maybe adding out balls to your consideration of areas to work on, because I can also tell you that last night during open play,

[00:08:51] it was very difficult for me not to start screaming, not screaming, but yelling out, out, out over and over again as I watched, not the court I was on because I will say that to my partner, but I was always watching these matches where players were reaching as high as they could possibly reach with their bodies to hit balls that were clearly going to hit the top of the fence. And that's, you know, there was all sorts of out balls being hit and numerous times during a rally. I'm not sure that the players even understood they were hitting out balls.

[00:09:20] And that's a source of continuing challenge for CJ and for me as pickleball instructors, as pickleball professionals who want to transfer knowledge about this beautiful game and to help players grow in the sport. It's challenging for us to watch players. Again, we're glad they're enjoying pickleball, so not again, but we're glad they're enjoying pickleball. That's great. But there's so much depth to the sport. There's so much to learn, so much to know about this game.

[00:09:50] And, you know, even if we make mistakes out there, we want you to know that you made a mistake, I think it's important to know, and why you made a mistake. Because that's the only way you can really fix it. But bigger picture, it's the only way you can really fully enjoy this awesome sport of pickleball, in our opinion, is when you start seeing the entire, all the spectrum, right? All the colors that are out there, all the, you know, everything that's going on. It's just an amazing thing to watch.

[00:10:16] So, but going back to the basic premise, try and maintain a focus on reducing unforced errors. Play the game that is a game that you are comfortable with. You know, you don't have to hit winners. You don't have to go for line drives. You don't have to do anything like that. Play a consistent, fundamentally sound and solid game. Let your opponents beat their heads against the wall. Let your opponents make the errors.

[00:10:43] And you'll win a lot, a lot, a lot of rallies. And probably also win a lot, a lot of games with this strategy. All right, in the riff, I'm going to give you a summary of the 2023 U.S. Open. But I'll give some tips in there as well, not just a summary. Some tips in there as well to help you with your game and your enjoyment of this wonderful, wonderful sport. Stay tuned for the riff. As I mentioned at the beginning of the podcast, CJ and I just got back from the 2023 U.S. Open down in Naples, Florida.

[00:11:12] I can't really – it's hard to express the joy, the energy, just the experience of the U.S. Open if you've never been to one. I highly recommend wherever you are in the country, find that type of tournament. For instance, if you're in the Midwest, the Beer City Open is a good one that has that kind of energy. If you're on the West Coast, Nationals would be a good – actually, Texas this year was Indian Wells. But Nationals is a good event.

[00:11:40] Tournament of Champions – I've never been to Tournament of Champions or Nationals, but I imagine that they have similar types of energy. It's just a different experience, and it can actually radically change your relationship with the sport. But, you know, CJ and I went – I've been to the U.S. Open for eight years. This is CJ's first year, and so CJ flew in a week before. We did some filming and other things, and then we went on to the U.S. Open, not just, you know, for her to experience the Open,

[00:12:06] but also to get ready for our fourth Pickleball Summit, which will be at the end of June. So make sure you mark your calendar for that and definitely, definitely want to attend that. The presentations that we have been able to record so far for the Summit are amazing, far exceeding expectations in terms of the breadth and depth of the topics that are being covered. But so CJ's first time, my eighth time, I knew what to expect. CJ didn't really know what to expect.

[00:12:34] I think CJ was pretty blown away by the experience, by the interaction with players, by players coming up to us saying they knew us, sharing stories with us about Pickleball and how it changed our lives. You know, the competitive but not – the competitive but balanced kind of feeling of the event is just a lot of fun. I was able to compete in two of the events. I got into Men's Senior Pro on Wednesday and Mick's Senior Pro on Friday.

[00:13:00] On Wednesday, we went 0-2, but we had a couple of good matches. First match, we were – it was a three-game match. We won the first game 13-11 and lost the next two games reasonably soundly by the other team. I think it was five and six or something like that. But we did battle the entire time and, you know, gave it our best in that three-game match. And then on the back draw, we – it was an interesting situation for us.

[00:13:27] It happens sometimes, you know, when you're ahead in a match and then all of a sudden you're behind in the match at the end. But Keith and Kirk from Michigan did a really good job of battling and of coming back. And so, you know, it was a match where we were up 11-4. We switched at 8-4, as I recall. And then we were up 11-4. And, you know, we're in a pretty dominant position. Keith and Kirk, you know, upped the level of their game. They really made us pay for a few mistakes we made.

[00:13:56] But really good play by Keith and Kirk. And they ended up prevailing. I think it was 15-12. So it was a good battle back by them. Obviously, we would have preferred to be on the other side of that. But one of the things that's important to take away from these types of matches when you're playing at level is that, you know, at-level play is roughly 50-50, meaning you win some and you lose some. It literally applies when you're playing at level. And so, you know, the fact that we lost to Jeff and John in the first round

[00:14:24] and to Keith and Kirk in the second round or in our back draw, it's not an indication of anything other than we, you know, we gave our best, they gave their best. And on that particular occasion, their best was better than our best on that day. And so that's how you have to approach pickleball. You know, I suggest that's how you should approach most things in life. But definitely on a pickleball court, you know, you've got to understand that if you're playing at level,

[00:14:48] you're facing two opponents who are just as intent in their attempt to win as you are in yours. And respecting them and respecting their work on the court, I think, is an integral part of our game because you have also been on the side where you're the four and they're the 11 and you come back and probably wouldn't like it very much if the other team did not or did anything to take away from your work.

[00:15:14] The sec on the Friday on mixed doubles actually had a almost exactly flip side and not exactly, not 11-4, but we were down 9-4. So we were down 4-9. We were able to come back and win that one 15-13, right? So you're on, sometimes you're the 11, sometimes you're the four and, or sometimes you're in the head and the lead and you end up losing. Sometimes you're behind and you end up winning. And that's just part of the sport of pickleball. What I can tell you is this, you know, when we're on the pickleball court, sometimes, you know, the shots we hit are good.

[00:15:44] Sometimes they're okay. Sometimes we'll make mistakes. You know, all of us do it. Even the top level players do it. You know, so it's just part of the game to have, you know, kind of like that old spaghetti western, the good, the bad, and the ugly. It happens, everything, all that happens on a pickleball court. What I can tell you, though, is that the U.S. Open, and I'm sure you feel this way when you go to open play, for the most part, off the court, it's what? It's good. It's good. And it's better, right?

[00:16:12] You know, off the court, I got to see a lot of friends that I hadn't seen in a while. You know, we joke about it at the senior pro level, you know, at least the way that I express it is, you know, to me, when I go to a tournament, it's basically my open play. Because that's where I get to see players that I haven't seen in a while, or who I haven't seen in a while, from all over the country, who play at my level, and who love this sport and want to get out there and compete. So, you know, the match that we posted on the Into Pickle channel is myself and Leslie Bernard, my partner,

[00:16:41] who's become a good friend against, one of the legends of the sport, and who's been a friend of mine for years, Stephanie Lane, one of my mentors in the sport, and one of, just a lovely person and great ambassador for pickleball, and her partner who couldn't be more of a gentleman, Johan Zvinssen. Truly, truly great competitors, and a truly an amazing match. Again, I recommend you watch it. But you'll see that not only are we competing, and we're battling. I mean, we're just going at it. I mean, Stephanie's a dear friend,

[00:17:10] and I'm ripping balls right into her chest, because that's her, I'm giving her respect, right? She's a senior pro player. She would not want anything else from me other than for me to give my best and to play my hardest. That's what I did, and that's what Johan and Stephanie did, and you can see that during the match. But you'll also see that there's smiling, there's laughter, there's congratulations, there's, you know, it's just, I believe that match to me, and the other matches that I played against

[00:17:39] the other opponents too were the same that day. You know, just the height of sportsmanship and of just this awesome, awesome, awesome sport. So definitely check that one out. Anyway, so that's the U.S. Open. I'm going to give you a special episode, probably sometime this week. I gotta, I have to kind of think through how I want to present it to you, but it literally is about how I either cried or almost cried, depending on how you define crying, on the pickleball court and in the U.S. Open. I get it, it's a little bit different than you may be thinking, but there was some, some cries,

[00:18:09] crying was definitely a part of it. So anyway, so look for that special episode. I'll drop it this week. CJ doesn't want me to wait till the next week to do it because, and I think she's right that I gotta do it while it's still fresher in my mind. So that's this week's podcast. If you enjoyed the podcast, as always, please rate and review it. It really helps us reach other players and it helps improve our podcast, which we really appreciate. If you have any feedback for us on the podcast, you can always send it to us at podcast at we are pickleball.com. And as always, if you enjoyed the podcast, share with your friends

[00:18:38] because if you enjoyed it, they probably will too. Have a great week and we'll see you next time.