Zane Navratil Won a PPA Gold in Barcelona. Nobody Saw It Coming.

[00:00:00] I played goalkeeper, so the footwork matches. I got good hands and no footwork, right? Like, I can dive or whatever, but like... I'd love to see that on the pickleball court. Your ass isn't diving on the pickleball court, Nico. If I need to, I'll dive. I'll dive. I can pull an Elise Jones. I can do it. I know how to tuck and roll, so if anybody can dive, I can dive. Bro, show us the footage. Picks or it didn't happen. There's no chance you're diving on the pickleball court, Nico. Falling, maybe.

[00:00:27] This is true. I hate to self-own, but when I was playing varsity soccer, my nickname on the team was Timber. Because when I would dive, it looked like a falling tree. Welcome, everybody, to another episode of The PicklePod. This time, you can expect us on, I was going to say, our best behavior, maybe our best performance. We are never on our best behavior.

[00:00:56] You know, from the office, they always say, you know, they say, Dwight asked Jim, please be on your best behavior. And we already promised people we would be on our worst behavior. That is always the case for The PicklePod. But Zayn is in the comforts of his own studio. He's not in Barcelona. It is perfect time for him. I think it's like 10 a.m. Zayn only operates optimal performance between the hours of 9.30 and 10.30 a.m.

[00:01:25] Austin time when he's in Austin. I'm in my parents' basement, as always. So I'm ready to roll. We got a great episode. We have Nico Acevedo. For those of you who don't know, he is a different person than me. We are going to prove it. Put us side by side. I know you guys confuse me all the time for him. We play very similar pickleball styles, very similar movement. But we got him on the pod.

[00:01:52] Zayn, we're going to talk about an experience that I never thought I'd have to talk about on the pod that he had in Barcelona. Incredible. I'm not going to give spoilers. It's too good to believe. It's hard to believe. Too good to be true. I don't know. Anyway, Zayn, welcome again to The PicklePod. I don't even know where to start. We've done, what, this is our 203rd, 202nd episode. That's got to be the worst intro of all of them.

[00:02:21] Come on, hold on. There's so many notes. I perform optimally from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. After 9 p.m., awful. Last week, I was 6 a.m. in Barcelona after being up at 2.30 a.m. to do my recap video. We'll go through all the comments that you guys left. Some of them, somebody was like, Zayn's got to stop rubbing his eyes. I'm like, dude, it's the middle of the freaking night.

[00:02:51] And I just got off of a red-eye flight the night before. So what do you want from me? We'll read through all the comments, too. We've been enjoying doing that. Have Nico Acevedo on. It's a fun episode of The PicklePod. And I'm glad to be back home in Austin. Well, Zayn, why don't we start with that? Why don't we start with Barcelona? So for those of you who don't know, there was a PPA event in Europe, which is awesome. The first, I think, of many that are going to be happening in Europe.

[00:03:21] The PPA Barcelona event. And I am sitting here with not only my co-host, but at this point, he's basically our special guest. Gold medalist, Zane Navratil. Zayn, like I said, I thought I'd never say that. Congratulations. Zayn Marie Navratil, gold medalist, 2026. How does it feel? I wasn't expecting it either.

[00:03:52] Yeah, the last time I won a PPA gold medal was, I think, October of 2021. So it's literally been about five years since a PPA gold medal. I had won a good amount of APPs and MLPs since then, but zero PPAs. Been to a bunch of finals, won a bunch of medals, but no golds. So we're so back.

[00:04:18] And here is to the next PPA gold medal for Zayn. 2031. Pencil it in. PPA Antarctica. Yeah, I was kidding. No, it was fun. It was such an old school sort of tournament. So a few different things I had forgotten were a thing at tournaments.

[00:04:44] It has been so long since I have gotten called to the tournament desk over the loudspeaker to go pick up the clipboard and your ball and your server band from the tournament director and then just go walk out to the court with no referee. I was like, okay. I was like, okay. Yeah, this is cool. No text messages.

[00:05:08] No text messages, nothing.

[00:05:35] No text messages. that's what it would be like at a PPA event. You'd think that pros would still have, you know, all of your special amenities and your VIP player lounge and whatnot. Did they have like a VIP player lounge as well, Zane? Or did you have to hang out with them? There was a player lounge. Was that? Yeah, it was nice.

[00:06:02] It was inside with like semi air conditioning. So that was nice. I heard from you that there's no air conditioning in Barcelona. There's not much air conditioning in Barcelona. I mean, like it depends. Like the new places have air conditioning, older places don't. So, and it's like, it's not a cool, like cold place, right? Like Spain is, Spain's pretty warm. So yes, air conditioning was nice. The afternoons got pretty like mid eighties. So just sitting around in that all day.

[00:06:32] And I feel like the sun, I feel like the sun is really hot in Spain for some reason. Like, you know, some places you'll go outside and it'd be like, okay, it's a little bit warmer. And then other places when you're in direct sunlight, it's like way hotter. Mm-hmm. Like going from the shade to the sun there was way hotter for some reason. Yeah, I, you should try PPA Arizona in the middle of September. Yeah.

[00:07:02] No, I didn't. I hear that's also hot. I didn't try that. I didn't try that. Zane's funny. Oh, you know. No, I like, okay. So it does, it makes me feel like the amateur player again. There were some referees for, you know, center court and grandstand and whatnot. But I do actually like kind of miss those days. And the coolest part was there were some bad apples. There were some outliers, right? But for the majority of it, players are actually,

[00:07:32] were actually fairer in the non-reffed matches, right? Because all the responsibility, I feel like, comes back to you. Whereas if you've got a ref, you know, you can maybe justify it in your head. We're like, okay, if I make the bad call, the referee will overturn it. So it's not me cheating. It's, you know, it must have been out. The players were fairer. Now, there was some, there were some players who just took advantage of that too. Like there's the bad apples for sure. But like by and large,

[00:08:01] 19 out of 20 players were probably fairer without a referee than with a referee. Wow. Okay. Maybe there's also some players that were afraid. They know Zane Navratil on one of the biggest pickleball podcasts in the world about ready to roast them on his YouTube channel and on the podcast if they make a bad line call. So people were probably terrified to make any questionable call against you specifically. So I wonder what it was like for everybody else. Just shaking in their boots. No, no, no.

[00:08:31] Yeah, that thought crossed my mind too. But I was actually referring to like other matches too. Yeah. Other matches, people were very fair. Like it was kind of the old school, like, you know, when you're playing, if I hit the ball and it's like, you know, an inch out or something, I'll be like, yeah, it was a little bit out. Like, you know, people were giving each other calls and not just my matches too. So I like that. There were also some brutal hooks.

[00:09:01] Like let's not pretend it was a doll and that it was all sunshine and rainbows. But yeah. Something else I liked, you know, we're switching sides at six every game. Everybody's tapping paddles at the side switch too. I'm like, I love the paddle tap. I love the paddle tap between games. Some players can't even be bothered to do it between games. These guys are doing it at the side switch at six. I'm like, that's, I like it. Sportsmanship. Wow. Just friendly people. Different experience.

[00:09:32] Zane, I know this was a 250 point event. So these are just for explaining to me like I'm five, 250 points. This is the same point pool that is part of WPR PPA rankings, right? Or is it a separate pool for like PPA Europe? No, any, any pool, any PPA points or PPA points, regardless of where you get them. All right. So, and we might have to find the tape from two weeks ago where Zane says,

[00:10:01] I'm at the point in my career where I am no longer chasing points. Zane went all the way to Barcelona for 250 points. Let that be on the record. Congratulations. You got the 250 points, which is fantastic. You think I went to Barcelona for 250 points? You think I decided to go there to point chase? You're wrong, buddy. I went to Barcelona for the sangria. The points are secondary. The sangria, exactly. Zane is so happy that he gets to order manly drinks in Barcelona.

[00:10:30] The sangria is socially acceptable. A drink for Spanish men. So. I put that in my likes and dislikes. I'm like, man, as a, as a man in the United States, if you go to a bar with your buddies and you order a sangria, you're getting laughed out of the bar. Like there, it's just like, everybody's having their sangrias and I love it. Zane, what, you talked a little bit about the other things in, in Spain.

[00:11:01] I cannot imagine, I think you might've put this in your dislikes too, but I could not imagine a more negative experience for a Zane Navratil than the way that they have siestas, dinners at 10 p.m., eating heavy before bed, like, gotta be tough for you. How, how were you able to overcome? Yeah, it was a struggle. Honestly, I just didn't really, I guess, assimilate to that culture. I,

[00:11:30] I didn't do, you know, I'm not about to nap. I'm definitely not about to have a 9.30 p.m. dinner. I am definitely about to be still asleep at 9.30. So I just didn't assimilate. I'm like, you know what? I like local experiences. I like traveling. I also know what I dislike. And, um, yeah, I did not, I was not out till two in the morning, you know, uh, getting, uh, getting dinners and whatnot. The crazy part is on Sunday,

[00:11:59] I went out, so there was a big festival and we did partake in a lot of the things that weren't at two in the morning. I was staying out later than what I normally would, you know, I was going to bed at like 11 o'clock so we could do some of the, the La Marseille, uh, things, you know, they do those huge human towers where they're stacking like 10, 10 floors of people on top of each other. They did this, uh, Korifok, which was like a devil run, like pushing the devil out of the streets,

[00:12:28] but the devil was like shooting flames. And like firecrackers, there's this guy with like actually shooting, like Spaniards are crazy in the U S you can't even throw like candies out to each other on the 4th of July. Cause somebody will get hit in the eye and you'll get sued. There are literally people running down the street, shooting flames at each other. And like, everybody's like, ah, this is great. Um, but yeah, so I did partake in some of it did not partake in, in all of it. Zane, uh,

[00:12:58] speaking of fireworks on the street, and crazy Spanish culture, would you ever participate in the running of the bulls? Is that a Zane? I know you've, you famously said you're a runner, not a fighter. Would you, would you run with, with, or in front of the bulls? Absolutely not. No, no, no. That's, that's scary. That shit's like, no, no, you, no, no, I can't even run. We, we have talked, we document this. Like I need a huge,

[00:13:28] huge head start. And then it's like, not even the running of the bulls. It's like the hobbling of the Nico until he gets a gourd. Uh, and, and the thing is, these people, what I, when you see the running of the bulls, anytime they're about to get caught, they hop like the fence over to like safety. I'm not hopping shit. So like, I'm basically just have to sit there and take it from the bull. Um, so yeah, no, thank you. I'm out. Uh, but it does seem fun to watch. So, well,

[00:13:57] you had a fun tweet. You really liked the, my, my victory. You said we got a Zane never until mixed gold win before GTA six. Dude, I couldn't believe it. Like, so here's the thing, Zane, to be quite honest, I was like, Zane, I was thinking about this, uh, right after our pod last week, I said, man, Jane, Zane has it good. Like he is, you know, still competitive, knows where he's at. And he decides, he's like, I'm going to,

[00:14:25] to great places to play tournaments. I'm going to Barcelona. I'm going to bring my wife and I'll probably be done with a tournament by Wednesday at 6 PM. And then you have the rest of the week. To just have fun. Right. And I was like, and he's getting paid as if he played the whole week probably. Right. And then I just see in the pro pickleball discord where breaking news happens and people are more dedicated to pickleball than me. Uh, that's that all of a sudden it's like, Zane, Zane wins gold. And I'm like, wait,

[00:14:55] he wins gold at what? Like, I thought you might have like participated in some kind of Spanish cold. Maybe you went on a cruise and like won the ping pong tournament, but like, and then, so I had to look, I was like, so then the next thing I think of is, did Annalie Waters play in this tournament with Zane? Like what happened? Right. And then it's like, Oh no, he, he won with Udit. Like, Oh, she triple crown. So she definitely carried Zane all the way to, to gold. Like I think Udit super underrated doubles player, but, and you guys rolled. Like I think it was like 11 to 11, two in the finals.

[00:15:24] Uh, so yeah, I was surprised. I think a lot of people were surprised. That's that, that's not a slight at you at all. Uh, I don't think, but yeah, um, it's okay. Were you surprised? We, we, so we're going to interview Nico in a bit. And I, there's a part where you guys talk, about you. I think you, you said, I quote, like you're crazy. If you, if you go into every match thinking you, you're going to win every match, you're delusional. Right. So did you think you were winning every match at this tournament or like,

[00:15:54] what, what did you expect? Yeah, I felt, so Europe is, is tough. Like, I don't know too much about the, there didn't know too much about the European players because very few of them have come over and played in the States. I haven't played there before. You know, some of the Asian players have come over here and played in the States. I feel like I had a decent sense of where they were at. I figured there were going to be some very good singles players. And, and I was right. I went three and two in singles and, and,

[00:16:24] you know, I think I lost in the semi finals and then the, the back draw. So there is a backdrop. What's that? There is a backdrop. There's a full backdrop all the way to bronze. So yeah, the way the, the, it was the old school type of format where you played, we played singles, the entire draw on Friday, men's doubles, the entire draw on Saturday, mixed doubles, the entire draw on Sunday. So there was no championship Sunday. It was just like, you play through the entire thing and the backdrop can go as games to 15 until

[00:16:54] bronze. So it wasn't like full feed in like it used to be, but it was, you can go all the way back to, to bronze. So like, I was not expecting to, to win singles. I would say I was expecting to win mixed with, with Judith. I feel like we were the, the, the best team. And I think obviously proved that, that correct. And then men's, I didn't really know. Cause I, I played with an Italian guy, Matteo, who, by the way,

[00:17:23] somebody compared a Grayson compared him to the Italian Jaume. And is the most like accurate description ever. Just like a fun fricking dude who, um, loves life is like talking to everybody, like smiling constantly. I didn't know what his game was going to be like, but he's, he's really good. He's the best, uh, Italian player. We ended up losing, I think to the eventual, uh, we have, we have lost in three to the eventual champs in the, uh,

[00:17:53] semifinals. But yeah, Matteo, uh, Matteo is a, just a cool ass dude. So I didn't, I didn't really know what to expect. For, for men's doubles. Well, I mean, sounds like a good event. And, and Zane, I think what I'm hearing is like, if I am an up and comer, obviously that you have, there's what's cool is there's a lot of cool pathways, right? There's, there's the PPA challengers, there's PPA Europe, there's PPA Asia,

[00:18:22] then there's big time PPA. Right. And like, I, I see a lot of people who I'm like, man, it's going to suck to go to qualifiers for PPA and then have to play Alex Crum. Uh, and then like Alex Crum was in qualifiers in Vegas. I don't understand why, like some, somebody helped me make that make sense. But anyway, or you can go to Barcelona. Right. And I'm like, I think there's supposed to be like, are there supposed to be like 20 events in Europe this year or something like that?

[00:18:50] So like if there's a backdrop and there's 250 points on the line, which is double the amount of points of most qualified, of most challenger events, challengers. If you are listening to this podcast, my recommendation is pack up your shit and move to Europe, play the Europe circuit. How cool is it to go to different countries all over Europe for whatever long the season is, have the chance of double the amount of points, still play a backdrop. Like, I don't know. That seems like a,

[00:19:20] like a genius strategy to me, um, versus necessarily just like either playing PPA, you know, qualifier events or challengers. Yeah. I don't know if all of the PPAs are going to be two fifties there too. Like, I think there's going to be a lot of, you know, one 25s, maybe even 75s, a couple of five, like bigger events too. But like, yeah, I mean, it kind of felt like what we've spoken about. Like you can kind of breeze through the first two rounds with some players who are, you know,

[00:19:50] five O's and you just can't do that even in challengers. Right. You definitely can't do that in any PPA main draws. Um, so yeah, you're, you know, we were kind of into usually like the quarter finals before we had like a, you know, really legit match, which was good. Cause if it was legit matches all the way through, those would be crazy days. It's like, you know, it's like five rounds in a, in a given day and you do that three days in a row. So like, yeah, I mean, if they're all going to be like that,

[00:20:20] I would say that's the easiest way to point chase, but I don't think they're all going to be like that. I also think more people are going to, you know, probably catch on. And I also think too, the P the European players are going to get better pretty quickly. They just signed 20 of them who are now going to be basically like full time or like, you know, that being their main focus. So I think the level of play is going to get much better pretty quickly there too. Wow. Are you playing any more Europe events this year? This year? No,

[00:20:50] I think they're announcing their schedule for next year pretty shortly here. And I'll obviously take a look at, at that. I'm, I'll plan on playing a few more next year. I just don't know which one they're going to be. My schedule, I only have a few more events left for the rest of this year. I've got Chicago. I've go to Brisbane and then Hong Kong and then come back. And I think I have worlds and, um, Toronto after that only. So.

[00:21:20] Wow. That, that is quite the travel schedules. And I don't even know how many miles you have, but, uh, that, that's awesome. I mean, that sounds like the perfect experience, like as opposed to like playing in Vegas and I don't know, Delray or what, Sacramento, you get to go to all these different places. What we got. Never again. Zane. I guess we can ask the audience discord. If you're listening, put us in the discord as well. But what is the European city equivalent of Sacramento?

[00:21:52] That's what we need to find out. So that Zane can avoid that one, like the plague. Uh, but I want there every, every continent has to have their Sacramento. And what's just crazy as I actually love Sacramento. So, um, but I wonder what that would be saying. Do you have any experience with some, some cities? I think it's probably like Chernobyl. Chernobyl. Okay. All right. That's, that's, that's what I think of Sacramento, but I just keep doubling, doubling, tripling.

[00:22:20] I keep going harder and harder on Sacramento. It's just going to continue to become more of a thing. Yeah, for sure. Uh, you deal digging your heels in here. Um, awesome. Um, so yeah, so gold, gold medalist Zane, I'm surprised you're not wearing it right now. Um, but you know, just all day, bring it, bring your metal to work. Uh, experience, but, um, no, this was, this is awesome. So congrats. Um, I appreciate it. Yeah. Judah carried it. Judah is playing really good ball.

[00:22:50] She, uh, she triple crowned pretty cool for her, uh, too. Cause obviously her, her, a lot of her sponsors are companies out of Spain. Her, she's obviously from Spain originally too. So that was pretty cool, uh, to be a small, to, to not mess that up for her. Could you imagine she just, you know, she double crowns, gets to the finals. They target you. You're, you're probably playing on the right. And, uh,

[00:23:19] and then you lose in the, in the finals. I'm glad that you, you were able to pull through. Me too. You know, and, and you did, I'll say like, to your point, like I, she's playing great. I think she's one of the more underrated people on tour. And what I find interesting is that I think maybe the one downside to you did is sometimes when she loses, she loses hard. Like she goes and she makes it to the semifinals and then we'll like get double bageled or something like that by Anna Lee. Uh,

[00:23:49] and so the last thing that you see is like this devastating crushing loss, but she makes it much further in, in runs than I think people expect. So I expect more from you to, you know, in the, in the next year, see her in, in more quarterfinals and semifinals. And, uh, congrats to her. She's grinding and playing good, good dubs too. Um, yeah, I agree. All right. Where do we go to next Zane? Well, we were, we had the, the nation's cup Zane. We're,

[00:24:17] we'll talk about that with Nico and anything, any thoughts there. I think, you know, for those of you who are unfamiliar, uh, MLP is putting on basically like, you know, there's the world cup for soccer, my favorite. Um, there's the rider cup. There is, there is what, I don't know what other, the Davis cup for tennis. And now we have the nation's cup for, MLP where there are, I believe eight teams. There's team USA, Asia, international, Asia, domestic,

[00:24:48] South America, Canada, Europe, Australia. I might be missing one, but they're going to be competing. I believe right before worlds for, uh, international supremacy. Zane, are you excited about this? Is this something that needs to happen or what, what are your thoughts here? Yeah, no, for sure. I think that's, that's super sick. Like I wish they actually did more teams and I wish they divided up USA the way they do like little league baseball, right?

[00:25:17] Like you'll have team Japan playing against like, you know, team Texas or something like that. Cause I feel like, first off, it's kind of a bummer that not everybody played, you know, like we don't have Catherine Parenteau for Canada. You don't have fed or Gabe for South America. We don't have a team India for, for me to play on. Um, we don't have water. Oh yeah. No, Anna Lee.

[00:25:46] So I wish there was more participation, but overall, I think that's awesome. And I do think we're at a spot where we should be breaking up the U S right now. Like give it team Florida, team Arizona, team Texas, team California, uh, team Northeast, whatever, make 16 teams. Eight of them can be U S teams, eight of them, international teams, something like that. Cause right now that's probably about accurate. I would say. Yeah. That's the little league world series format.

[00:26:15] And you could have all the team USA teams play each other, have one USA winner, have one international winner play for the finals. That's exactly what the little league world series is. And I think that might be more fair because right now it looks like team USA is probably going to be like team USA basketball and dominate this tournament for sure. I mean, if Annalie waters was on the team, it'd be a done deal for sure. Uh, without Annalie, it's a hundred percent. You know,

[00:26:44] what, what team, is there any team that can, uh, compete or if you have, so team USA has, I think Anna bright, Tyra black, Ben John, CJ Klinger, Will Howells. And is it Kay Fahey? Am I, yeah, you know who the Kay Fahey. All right. So we got those six, right? That team is going to win. Uh, I think we know this, um,

[00:27:09] but if you were to take all the other international players and put them on one team, could they beat that team? All the other international players or all the other international players that signed up? Um, all the international players that signed up. Could you create a super team to beat that team? No, I don't think so. Um, Andre, Eric, Nico. Yeah. Andre, Eric, Nico,

[00:27:38] you got Tina, Mari, Jamie way, Zoe Wang. Like, I think you're missing a lane sleeve. I think you might be missing like one or two, um, like superstar women. Um, which is what, which is what's tough. I think in this is that the, the top of the women's field is dominated by Americans. So, but yeah, honestly, if you split it up like state by state, you would literally have to split up Florida, like zip code by zip code. Right.

[00:28:08] Cause you, you could actually feel, I actually, did we debate this before? Like if you could honestly do South East Florida versus the world and Southeast Florida wins, right? You got Ben, Anna Lee, Anna Bright, like, uh, the Johnsons. Yeah. You, you would have to break out. You'd have to be like Delray versus Boynton beach versus rest of Florida. Like maybe even break it up by club. Like this one plays that.

[00:28:38] I think you'd actually have to break it up by club, but then again, I think they'll play over at that replay. Yeah. So yeah, either way, I think it's super cool. Uh, still, you know, kind of last minute ish, but, um, yeah, I wish, uh, I wish, I just hope they keep expanding it. Uh, cause I think it's a phenomenal, phenomenal idea. And I think stuff like, like they had the hockey one, the world baseball classic,

[00:29:07] like people love that shit. And so do I. So do I. People love that shit. People love that shit. They love it. MLP nations cup. People love that shit. That's going to be their tagline. Zane. Uh, there are else like this shit. There are, uh, two people noted, notably missing from nations cup, Hayden, Patrick Quinn and Gabe Tardio. Uh, they're currently in Las Vegas for PPA, Las Vegas.

[00:29:36] Also Hayden just turned 21. They are not missing from the clubs, from the pools, from bottle service. Uh, will they be missing from the event? I don't know, but I posted a video on Instagram. And then the first thing I see when I'm on my timeline is, is those two guys. Oh my God. I think their chaperone is Ryan Sherry. So I think they're completely fucked. Um, but wow. Las Vegas Hayden. Do you have any predictions for this event?

[00:30:05] Any predictions for Hayden and Gabe's weekend? Oh no. Oh shit. Um, but good for them. I mean, what timing PPA Vegas just happens to be on Hayden's birthday, but I think his birthday was over the weekend maybe. Yeah. And I think he isn't going to have to start until Thursday because of WPR. So hopefully he can get a couple of IVs, maybe sweat it out in the sauna, something like that. Uh, looks like he's living his best 21st birthday. It'll be really interesting to hear how his first beer tasted.

[00:30:35] Oh, the people are like, what's happening. Hayden just turned 21. I was like, his ID said he turned 21 four years ago. So, uh, he probably has some experience. And you know, you know, his ID is getting quadruple checked. Oh, he's still getting quadruple checked. Oh my gosh. Uh, so, uh, any, uh, any, anything of note for PPA Vegas? I mean,

[00:31:03] we have the normal teams back for the most part. I don't think we have J Dub and Georgia. They're taking time off. No Annalie waters and singles. So I think that's, I hate to say it. The most exciting thing is whenever Annalie doesn't play singles. Uh, so we'll see if Kate can, uh, can get her gold without Annalie. Yeah, no, I don't know. I haven't, I haven't looked at, uh, Vegas too much to be, to be honest. I'm not, I'm not playing it and I was trying to enjoy Barcelona. We did a bunch of other stuff too. So, um, yeah,

[00:31:33] I don't have any predictions. It'll be good pickleball. All right. Zane, should we do a guess my duper? All right. So my favorite time of the week, uh, to completely demolish the confidence of somebody who was willing to send their gameplay footage in. This is guess my duper presented by 11, six 24 makers of some fantastic paddles. Looks like shoes are coming bags. You need it. You want the new, um, flat top hybrid shape. Check out 11, six 24. Here's guess my duper. Wow.

[00:32:07] Look at that intro. That's beautiful. The guy, all right. The chair. What is this? Okay. All right. Kind of not a pretty decent game. For a second, I thought it was Blaine Hovignier, but he's a nursing a back injury and now walks with a cane. Ooh, little leg kick reset. Okay. Uh, look, he's got his good, nice compact hands. That's like what Zane likes to see. Doesn't need to have his arms all the way out. Okay.

[00:32:36] That overhead was ugly. This man is like just paddle in position, like smooth, but slow, slow twitch. Slow movements. Okay. A little, a little flat foot counter there. All right. Oh, now we get to see him on the left. Ooh, two, two, platter reset. Ryan to widget. Shout out. Oh, there it goes to platter.

[00:33:06] He's a reset button. This is actually just a reason. Oh, Oh, he, he attacked that one way high, but we're at toontown. What, what a court. Yeah. Was that Johnny Bravo in the background? What is going on? So I can't even watch this play. I'm looking at, I think there was an Ernie. There's an Ernie body bag. Yeah. I was looking at Bart Simpson.

[00:33:36] He's got soft hands on the resets. He does. He's moving more now. He's just like a textbook. It's like, he went to the transition zone and just decided to take everything that you said to heart. Wow. I never expected a transition zone. Shout out from you. Thank you. Yeah. All right. What you thinking, Nico? I'm going to say he is a five to seven. Ooh.

[00:34:05] I'm going to go four, nine, five. All right. I think he's got like the, the fundies down, but I don't think he's not got the, the explosive weapons. That's true. five. All right. Four, eight, three. Dang. Jared. Okay. Also, I am, I'm not good at, I used to be good at guessing ages. I thought that guy was more like in his thirties. Um, Jared, congratulations. Uh,

[00:34:34] maybe it's just the lack of movement put him at older, but for four, for eight Zane, congratulations. You had it. You nailed it. Singles five. Oh, all right. That's came from the pro pit ball talk discord. So guys, uh, we shout it out all the time. In fact, this entire podcast is basically two guys begging to join their discord. We got like 1500 members in there. Now that's where you can submit your guests, my duper clips so that we can roast you on the podcast as well. But Nico,

[00:35:03] myself, other pro pickleball players are in there talking smack. Uh, it's fun, fun spot to be. So, uh, we also drop some of our videos early. Like this week, I actually did a pretty in-depth piece on why pickleball does not have a gender pay gap. And we put that in there early. Yeah. Check it out. Pro pickleball talk discord. We'll put a, uh, a link in the description for that. And you guys can put your guests, my duper clips in the pro pickleball talk discord.

[00:35:32] Or here's my favorite. Put your ops, uh, video clip. It's somebody that you hate put it in. I will never verify. Zane will never verify. Put somebody else's clip in and then put their duper and, and then we'll roast them on the podcast. So win, win. That's a way, that's a way better idea. There we go. All right, Zane, get, let's, uh, go into a listener questions or listener, uh, comments. Oh, there we go. I think this is, this is my favorite. We will have Nico on the pod in a second,

[00:36:02] but this guy says, you guys should have, this is a Nathan Shaw says, you guys should have you to on as a guest. I can guess translate. I can't speak much Japanese, but I can translate his facial expressions. Spot on. Let's get him. Let's get him. I think all Japanese people just give great post game interviews. You had the white socks guy after they, after they clinched a playoff spot. He just, I am Japanese.

[00:36:35] Um, all right. Zane, do you ever see the video of that guy? That's like, they're interviewing him. They're like, why do you eat bananas? He's like every day, two, three bananas because monkey never cramp. It's like the, it's like the greatest interview. So yes, more Japanese interviews. We'll, we will make any Japanese person that wants to come on this pod. You're basically invited no matter what. A hundred percent. All right. YouTube comment. We got shepherd commander with one that I just picked because it didn't really make sense.

[00:37:06] Nobody's backhand flick is better than anybody's backhand. A 4.0 can hit a pop-up flick with pace rather than talk about how great his flick is. Talk about many disastrous balls. Ben gave up elementary clickbait. Huh? I don't, they must've done that outside of prime operating hours for them. I don't, I don't, I don't understand this one shepherd commander. So, uh,

[00:37:36] feel free to, um, leave a comment that makes sense. This week. Zane, here's one. I think I've got this comment multiple times and I don't actually understand what it means, but Partez Correso says, Nico looks like an unmade bed. Yeah. And so this week we actually have, you know, is it, is it Nico Acevedo or is it Nico the lefty? It's definitely Nico the lefty. And honestly, I don't know what it means,

[00:38:06] but it is so descriptive. It really is kind of perfect. It's like you get it. Yeah. Yeah. Leslie Crusher says, Zane, quit rubbing your eyes. Yeah. Sorry. I was on as good dirt commented back. Give the dude a break. He's running on zero hours of sleep. You know what? Yeah. Come on. Give me a break. Zane apologists. It's crazy. Wayne man says, hate the time change, which is definitely our, our doing. Uh,

[00:38:34] we take full responsibility for the time zone change or the time change for, for matches. It says starting at 2 PM Pacific time and 5 PM Eastern is a terrible idea. If you're on the East coast, I'm not on the East coast. I don't care. plus you are starting in the heat of the day on the West coast. How stupid is that? In addition, this switching of channels is such a cluster. That's totally unrelated. Uh, women's volleyball running late, causing a schedule issue,

[00:39:02] missed part of women's semi somewhere in the screw up. Look, one thing I'm going to say is the schedule, the channel switching is not ideal, but if you can have pickleball on Fox sports, one on CBS, on ESPN, we are going to do it. Pickleball is going to do it. You can change channels. It's not that hard. And I'd much rather expose pickleball to a million people than just the people that pay for pickleball TV. So eat shit. Yeah, no,

[00:39:31] I, I agree that the changing channels, I guess is a little inconvenient, whatever, but I do think this has got to be like the one person that does not like this, this time change. I don't, I haven't seen any real comments of people disliking the time change. No. And, and I think that the thing is people on the, obviously it should probably be shifted back like two or three hours, right? So it's still at night, but not at 3 a.m. Eastern time. But I think people that live on the East coast,

[00:40:00] they have to get used to it. I, when I go to New York and I'm like, why is there a game that's starting at 10 PM? It's just part of East coast life. You have other things that are awesome. West coast deals with early sports while people are, you know, at work still. So yeah, yeah, it is what it is. Okay. So at line calls on YouTube says Zane, it wasn't that long ago that illegal serves were the talk of the town and you were strongly promoting the drop serve as the only solution. Suddenly the whole issue seems to have disappeared. At this point,

[00:40:31] I seen more pros get shit on by birds than cited for illegal serves in doubles. Few pros seem to be going for big serves anymore, though. They're still important in singles. It's like somebody flipped a switch. What's your take? We're basically, so here's my take. The rule is this. Don't hit your serve too hard in doubles or you'll get called for an illegal serve. Basically like don't be too scary in doubles. There's no fucking serve rule.

[00:40:58] Like technically the rule is the serve has to be clearly low to high. There's new serve wording that went into effect for this season. It's all just garbage. It's basically like a, if you're serving too hard, too big, the referees will start to call you. Like it's, it's the rule that nobody actually wants to have to enforce. And everybody's just kind of like got that understanding. Unfortunately, like the serve, I just wish there were actually objective rules. But like,

[00:41:28] it seems like we've all somehow come to some sort of understanding now. That's just not actually what the real rule is, but oh, well, you're right. More people shit on by birds than illegal serves. Yeah. I, I still think if we want a rule that we can actually apply, it's gotta be the drop serve. That's my take. Thank you at line calls. And guys, this is now like three weeks of us actually keeping our promises and reading these comments.

[00:41:55] So if you guys leave comments in the pro football talk discord or better yet on the YouTube videos, I'm scanning through all of those, picking the best ones. And yeah, leave us your comments. All right. Now we're going to bring on my doppelganger in both looks and pickleball skill. Nico, the righty also known as Nico Acevedo. Like I said, different person, similar, similar skillsets, similar abilities. One of us looks like an unmade bed. You just be the,

[00:42:25] you can decide who it is. And with that, Nico Acevedo, Nico, Nico Acevedo, you're my number one favorite Nico by like an actual fucking mile. Welcome to the podcast. Is that just the opening or what? Basically. Thanks man. Thanks for having me. Xana, you going to be, is that a nice coffee that you're going to bring to this, uh, this interview here? Yeah, no, this is a, it's not iced. It's just a regular shout out Joe's coffee. Um,

[00:42:55] yeah. Got in from Barcelona, uh, late last night and, uh, yeah. Rocking the pod. Nico, where are you headed to? Not you, the lefty Nico, Nico, the righty. Where, where are you off to? Uh, well, I'm in Las Vegas right now. I'm getting ready for the tournament. Yeah. We start, um, later today, three 30 with singles and then men's and mix at some point in the day. We'll see. Maybe midnight, you know, maybe 10 PM. Who knows?

[00:43:25] True that. No shit. Who are, who are your partners this week? Um, I'm playing with John May, uh, for men's and then I got Isabella download for mix. So, Oh, nice. Sweet. Well, dude, thanks for, uh, thanks for joining us. Obviously, uh, pretty, pretty electric run. a couple, a couple of weeks ago. Yeah. Well, you've played with Yuda a couple of times before, haven't you? Uh, yeah. I mean, we played in Columbus for MLP. That was like our, um,

[00:43:55] I don't know what our opening season. And then before Johnny traded my ass, um, and, uh, yeah, I mean, we, we had a good run. We played, uh, CJ and Andre and we beat them. We, uh, we lost to you though. Remember Zane? You, you actually beat her ass. Yeah. So you can take that one. I'll give you that one. Um, and, and that was it. I mean, we played one event together and then, you know,

[00:44:25] all I knew was I was headed to ranchers right after. So, yeah. So, yeah, actually like take us through that. Cause Johnny Goldberg, like he's got a pretty unparalleled track record of like finding stud guys. Right. He found, uh, or at least drafted Eric. He drafted Noah. He drafted you. Got rid of all you guys. He's like, show me the money. Uh, like immediately. But like, how did, how did Johnny actually, you know,

[00:44:52] how did he know you before this tournament or before the draft? Obviously you actually had like a pretty, a pretty solid, like breakout PPA tournament in, uh, in Atlanta. I remember that center court match where you guys played against, uh, Max Freeman and, and, uh, Tyson, I believe. Yeah. And you were like flying all over the place. Rafa's hitting like tweeners and behind the back. So like, what is going on? But that was actually after you had already been drafted. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:45:23] Well, we Johnny, we go way back. Like, uh, we made in 2022. Funny enough. It was like a money, money ball tournament. I mean, I was playing with Will Howells, uh, back in the day. We were both just starting and he was playing with Millie rain. Um, all I remember was that he beat us 11, zero 11, one, something like that with Millie. Yeah. Um, and then after that, we just, you know, stay in touch and I was in college, so I didn't really take it very seriously.

[00:45:53] I would say. Um, and then I graduated, you know, um, and I had to decide whether I could stay in the States. So kind of go to work or play, play pickable and just risk it all. So, um, ever since we just kind of stay in touch for, for a while. Uh, and then in 2025, we play a PPA together. Uh, we play qualifiers and, um, he just told me like, Hey, stop wasting your freaking time. Just go and play pickable. You should be playing.

[00:46:22] Just give it a shot. And, um, all I know is that a few months later, he just drafted me. Like he found a way to give me a contract. And then he got me into MLP and here I am. So yeah, kind of crazy to be honest. Wow. So, so when did you decide, like, I'm going to take it seriously? So was it like, was it Johnny that convinced you to like GoPro full time? Was it when you got drafted? Like, did he tell you he was going to draft you and he had the shot? Cause I,

[00:46:51] I don't think you were on anybody else's draft board. Maybe you were, I'm not sure. Maybe Jim Kloss knew who you were like four years ago. Um, but what, when was the moment that you decided, all right, I'm, I'm doing this. Well, Johnny called me, um, in 2020, I don't remember 2023, maybe, um, when Eric was drafted at first, he was, he told me he was going to draft me with Eric at the same time.

[00:47:19] And then they picked Roscoe over me, which was fine. Right. But then a year later or two years later, um, he was like, bro, I think now we actually have a chance. I'm going to draft you. And I was like, I don't believe you until I see it. So then, um, he was like, I just want you to give everything you got, give it a shot. I'll give you six months to a year to, you know, make a name for yourself.

[00:47:48] And I'll help you in any way possible. He's always helped me so much, you know, uh, he helped me with travel expenses and things like that. So he was like, I believe you can do it. Just give it a shot. And, uh, and we'll go for it. And I was like, all right. I mean, what do I have to lose? You know? Um, so, so yeah, I mean, I, I honestly owe everything to Johnny when it comes to like the pickleball side of it. So did you know, did you know Johnny from before pickleball? You said you go way back or was that just,

[00:48:18] to that 2022 tournament? It was to the 2022 tournament. Yeah. It's just, he's always been in my life. We heard the other helped me with different stuff. Like he helped me with college. He helped me with whatever I needed. He's just, he's just like a genuine, like good person, you know? Um, and he always helped me since I met him. So, um, yeah, good man. And then he just sold you off like a fucking cattle. I know.

[00:48:49] Yeah. No, but I suppose, you know, honestly, that probably, I would imagine that that helps too. Right. Like, like, because you go from the Miami team, which, you know, you guys were going to maybe be a playoff team, you know, maybe at the, the bottom end of, of the playoffs. Right. But you go to a ranchers team that, you know, it was comfortably in the playoffs. You got to play with Eric. You got to play with Leah. You got more, I feel like mainstream exposure in, in MLP. So, I mean, I think that, yeah,

[00:49:19] Johnny was obviously he made a pretty penny out of that trade, but he, he was looking out for you in that way too. I would guess. Yeah, no, I mean, I mean, he's my agent as well. So, um, I had, I had a choice. He asked me if I wanted to be traded. And to be honest, I was like, Hey, whatever you think is best for my career, you let me know. I'll just go, you know, I'm just here to play. So I'm just go, I'm just going to go and play. He was like, all right, I'm trading your ass. And I was like, okay. So, yeah.

[00:49:49] Oh man, that's awesome. Hard to find people that'll have your back like that. Yeah. That's not easy. So shout out Johnny Goldberg. I've always, I've always had a great relationship with Johnny, except for when we were playing against each other on the court and talking mad shit. But even then we were having fun with it. So, um, yeah, Johnny's a real one. Yeah. If he's on your bad side though, if he's talking shit against you, he's a, he's a fricking menace too. Yeah. Well, that's why I think he's more retired of people right now. Like,

[00:50:19] you know, he's not playing as much anymore. So, yeah, he's toned it down. Even, uh, even as coach and GM, he used to talk a little bit more smack on the court. Not so much anymore. Also, it's hard when Miami's in 18th place. So, first place in money. This is true. Yeah. So, so Nico, for, for the people that don't know, what is your sports background? Like, I think one thing is like, people are like, all right,

[00:50:48] all of a sudden this guy came out of nowhere. Obviously you've been playing pickleball since 2022, but before that you have tennis background. What, what is your sports background? Um, yeah, I mean, I, growing up, I played a bunch of sports. Like I played basketball, handball, soccer, tennis. Uh, it's a little bit of baseball. Like all the food work to be honest, kind of comes from soccer. Okay. but I also play, yeah, I also play D1 tennis, college, college tennis. Um,

[00:51:17] I played for Wichita state and then I transferred to FAU and I was decent. I mean, I was 32 in the country in doubles and like 100 and something in singles. So I could play a little bit. Um, but yeah, tennis background mainly for like 20 something years. And then it's mixed up with soccer and one other sports over there. So, yeah. All right. Like, I like how you casually threw in like that. Oh, I also played D1 tennis for, you know, it was, I, I was, I was convinced. I was like, Oh, it's just a soccer player. This is awesome.

[00:51:47] Like I played soccer too. People don't know. I like, I was a high level soccer player. I played goalkeeper. So the footwork matches, I got good hands and no footwork, right? Like I can dive or whatever, but like, uh, definitely not a true soccer player. Uh, I'd love to see that on the pickleball court. Your ass isn't diving on the pickleball court, Nico. If I need to, I'll dive. I'll die. I can pull an Elise Jones. I can do it. I know how to tuck and roll. So if anybody can dive, I can dive. Bro, show us the, show us the footage.

[00:52:17] Pixar didn't happen. There's no chance you're diving on the pickleball court, Nico falling. Maybe. This is true. And you know, I hate to, uh, self-own, but when I, so when I was playing like varsity soccer, my nickname on the team was timber. Uh, because when I would dive, it looked like a falling tree. Uh, I, and I'm not going to toot my, like, I was very, very good at soccer, but it's just like, imagine Nico playing pickleball, me playing pickleball. If you guys have any ever seen it,

[00:52:46] it's like the same thing with soccer, the same level of quickness, whatever, but it worked out for me. So I don't know. Maybe one day I'll be fast. I'll have, I think I was born without fast twitch muscle fiber. So I don't know, but that, that's me. You do have fast hands though. So, so Nico, obviously, okay. So good MLP season with the ranchers. Sounds like you're going to be with them for, for the next two years. I don't think they would spend the money and, and for that trade, if they weren't planning on keeping you for the next two years,

[00:53:16] MLP season wraps up, uh, played North Carolina. I don't remember who you, who you played with in that one, but you also, you know, you didn't have the run that you did in, uh, in Mesa afterwards coming into Mesa. Are you like, yep, you know what? Fuck it. I'm going to go to the finals, have championship points. Like, was that on the radar at all? Or like, or is, is, are you somewhat shocked as well? Like, take us through that, that last tournament in Mesa. Yeah. Um, well,

[00:53:46] definitely not expecting that run. Um, but at the same time, I think like, I have this ability of putting myself on like airplane mode when I'm on the court, which is like, I'm not really thinking about anything, bro. It's like, it's like, I'm just reacting, not thinking. There is like no patterns in my head. I'm just looking for high balls and just working the point as much as I can. Um, and that's how it works the best to be honest. And I think, uh,

[00:54:15] it just helped me a lot that I don't really think as much on the court. So I'm not really thinking about, Oh my God, I'm, I'm about to win or, you know, um, um, I could make like a great run in this tournament. You know, it's, it's more like I'm just here in the moment trying to enjoy it. And then whatever happens, happens, you know? So, yeah. Yeah. For sure. I always find it so strange when people say you need to expect to win to every single match. Honestly, I feel like that's pretty delusional.

[00:54:44] Like I don't expect to beat Anna Lee and Ben when I, when I play them. Right. But I feel like a better approach is not necessarily expecting to win, but you do have to believe that it's possible. Right. And I do think that, you know, the in, I think that there's very few matchups on the pro tour where winning isn't possible. I do think it's kind of delusional to, you know, believe you are going to win every single time. I mean,

[00:55:11] anybody who is believing that in women's singles is absolutely delusional right now. Right. As Anna Lee is crushing it, but like there is a possibility. And so obviously you had a good opportunity, um, against Ben and fed in the, in your third round, it was their first round, their first match playing together. You guys had already won a three setter and a decently close two set match. Were you feeling like,

[00:55:36] like you're finding a good rhythm with Yuda heading into that match or dig us through the mentality, uh, that you had basically going into that, that round of 16 matchup with Federico and Ben. Yeah. Um, I think as, as you just mentioned, it's like, besides like believing that you can win, it's just how much you actually want to win, I would say. And for me, like having Yuda who, you know, he wants to be a champion. So I had the pressure that he was.

[00:56:08] No, at the same time, it's just like, he just gives me all that energy and just wanting to win so badly that I think it's, that was more important to me, um, than, than anything else. You know, it's just how badly you want it. And I knew how badly Yuda wanted. I mean, the whole, the whole country knows how badly he wants it. So, uh, so, so, you know, that, that just, that just, that was like my mindset the whole time. It's like, when we were going south, um,

[00:56:38] when everything was going south, we were just, we want this more. We're going to find a way. It doesn't matter what it is, but we're going to try to win. And I was like, Yuda, you drop, no drive, just drop. And, you know, try to, try to keep it as simple in English as possible. Um, and, and from there we use, you know, I did what I do best and he did what he does best. Just sitting there and getting ready for everything. So yeah, it's just how, how badly you actually wanted. I think that was like the,

[00:57:07] the mindset for the whole tournament. Yeah. Wait. So, so what are the, what are the communications like? Like, are you just like pointing like, like Yuda, I can't, I don't quite get Yuda because like, I feel like I've had some full ass conversations with him, but then sometimes I'll ask him like a simple question and he's like, yes. Okay. Okay. I'm like, that's not what I asked you to do. So like, what are, what are the comms like with Yuda? Yeah, no, I mean,

[00:57:38] it's mostly, it's just like basic English, but at the same time, it's like, it's just funny to be honest. Cause it's like, you can ask him, ask him something. And sometimes you don't get an answer from there, you know? So then I go back to, okay, Yuda, we do this. And then we have to like articulate a lot, you know, these short sentences. And I'm just like, Yuda, you drop, I go, you know, things like that.

[00:58:09] And he's like, okay, okay, okay. Okay. Yeah. Dude, I feel like the tough part with Yuda is like, you might ask him a question and, and like he'll, and he, he might not know the answer, but he'll be like, yes. Like, like a definitive, like, yes, like a hundred percent, like enthusiastic. Yes. And then it might not be like any understanding at all. Like I, I love Yuda. His English is a million times better than my,

[00:58:39] my Japanese. He's just so like fun to like talk to. I don't know. It's interesting. Yeah. I mean, he always has like such a good attitude and he takes, he has like such a good humor, you know? Sometimes you think that he doesn't understand, but I think he does. He just has this imagery. And I think he likes to keep it that way because people love him. How it is, you know, I mean, I love him. Dude. Okay. That's why I don't get it. Cause like, sometimes I've had like a great,

[00:59:07] like full conversations with them about like, about MLP, PPA stuff. And then other times I'll talk to, and it feels like, like nothing's, nothing's clicking. So yeah, I don't know. But the, the interviews are, are absolutely a hundred percent electric. The best interviews in pickleball, you know, better, better than anybody, I think. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Most, most rewatchable. Yeah. Okay. So wait, back to the, back to the match. I watched that.

[00:59:37] I broke it down on, on my channel. I was shocked just how much Ben kept feeding and fed, kept feeding your backhand flick. And then Nico and I talked about it afterwards. I'm like, man, Nico Acevedo might already have the best backhand flick in pickleball. And something that sticks out to me is a lot of players do this on floating third shots. They'll get on their front leg and, you know,

[01:00:05] go one leg so you can get more reach. You are, you're able to use one leg and reach in even on kitchen balls. So like, I'm curious, is there anything that you're sort of like consciously thinking about in your backhand flick that makes it so good or anything that you worked on? Or is it kind of that airplane autopilot mode? Um, no, I think it becomes automatic,

[01:00:35] but, um, in my head, it's just like, I'm five, six. So the more reach I can get, the better. And I know I like to flick it. And I'm, I think I'm fast enough where, when I get in that airplane position, I guess, or when I reach, I'm able to come back fast. So I just don't try to let the ball bounce as much, or I don't, I don't like it when it comes deep and low. So I don't want to let it bounce. And I just try to get it in the air most of the times. You know,

[01:01:03] sometimes I hit stupid shots with that though. Like I would spit out from my laces, you know? Um, but, but, uh, but yeah, it's just like, I'm, I'm just trying to get as many balls in the air to these guys, um, the speed up. You know? Um, so that, that's like my strategy. Yeah. You know, I almost wonder if it takes the, the couple of people that do that the best, I feel like have kind of like the tree trunk legs, like you do, like you got some thick legs, bro.

[01:01:33] Like you, you're able to really stay like balanced through that entire thing. And on the one leg recover back quickly to win the hands battle afterwards. Like, I think that's the biggest thing that allows you to use your, your reach. Cause you're like you said, you're five, six, you reach into the kitchen better than some guys that are, you know, I'd almost say you've got like the same sort of backhand flick range is like a deckle. who's six, three, right? You, you reach in so, so,

[01:02:01] so well and take so many balls that I feel like people aren't expecting you to take out of the air. And I think a lot of that is due to the fact that you can go one legged and, and reach in there. Yeah. I mean, I think the thick legs is a Nico thing, you know, I think, uh, I think Nico the lefty also can relate to this. Um, but yeah, I mean, to be honest, I, I work out a lot on that, on that area. Like the,

[01:02:30] the same movement, just like that lift one leg, that lift and working out on that multiple times. And I think, uh, you know, on top of Bozu, you know, like the, the half ball and stuff, uh, for balance. So yeah, it's, it's like a very work shot that I, that I've developed. I would say it's not like naturally just, I came out with that, you know, um, it's been a lot of work behind it. So. Okay. Interesting. So single leg deadlifts and some,

[01:02:59] some balance stuff with the Bozu ball. That makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. So that, that's pretty much the workout for it. And I do it like almost every day just to make sure that nothing is hurting or anything. Yeah. All right. I got, I got to try this. I definitely need to, to incorporate the Nico, the righty, uh, workout routine. I'm not sure. I'm not sure if I mentioned this on the pod last time. Zane, maybe I told you, you go, um, um, I'm, I'm going to go to the Selkirk combine. Um,

[01:03:29] let's go. I'm going to, I'm going to, to mostly to watch. Um, but I, I wrote my finagle my way into actually competing in some of the events. And they told me one of them is a 20 yard dash. And so I attempted the 20 yard dash. Uh, and the second attempt I pulled my hamstring. So, and Nico needs deadlift, single leg deadlifts, a ton of workout here. Cause I do not have the same motion, but, uh, this is good to know. Yeah.

[01:03:56] I have to release the tapes and you've probably seen some of them now. The, uh, I saw the broad jump, the broad jump. I don't even know if you can call it broad jump anymore. I don't know. It was like a broad hop, but it was like, that was after I pulled my hamstring. So, uh, I would hope so. I could have definitely got like six more inches. Um, had I not pulled my hamstring. The one that you guys have yet to see is the vertical jump, which I didn't think anybody could vertically jump less. Um, it is,

[01:04:26] it is awful. Um, but I'll have to send it anyway. I think, um, it sounds like deadlifts. Like seriously, like I'm like, I gotta work these legs. I can't embarrass myself in a month. So I'm pulling out Nico. I'm going to text you. Give me your workout routine. I'm going to, I'm going to try it. I'll be too. You know what you need? You need like a, like a, just a ringer. You gotta, you gotta somehow phone a friend and get Nico Acevedo to do it for you with like a fake ID or something. Yeah, exactly. Like,

[01:04:55] like the fake birth certificate from, what was that one movie where the, the pitcher is like 30 years old and he has the birth certificate that says I am 12. Uh, what was that? Do you know which one I'm talking about? No. Wait, JB is coming in. What is it? Bench warmers. Yeah. Bench warmers. You gotta get Nico Acevedo in there for you. I feel like, I feel like Nico, I feel like Nico, you could do double,

[01:05:25] double the broad jump of, of Nico the lefty, double the vertical. I think. Yeah. Oh, a hundred, a hundred percent. I, I think broad jump, he could probably, he could get close to double. I, he could definitely double my vertical and then probably cut the 20 yard dash time in like a third. Um, I think like my time was like right around four seconds. Uh, and I think the combine, uh,

[01:05:52] winners were like 2.6 seconds, which one second doesn't seem like a lot, but when it's only four seconds, it's definitely huge. So we'll try that. Um, and I think it's going to work because, you know, Nico, when you first came on the scene and this, it happens less and less now, but when you got drafted, I got like a hundred different congratulation DMS that I got drafted. They're like, wow, I didn't know that Nico, Nico, Nico, the lefty could ball. Congratulations. Miami's lucky to have you. I'm like, thank you.

[01:06:22] Then you, then you start pulling off upsets, uh, in Atlanta and I get more, uh, congratulations, maybe a little bit less. People start to realize that we're two different people. Uh, but then I'm watching the YouTube highlights, uh, of the finals that you had with Christian Alshon and, and, uh, Andre. And I am tagged in there. It's like, these are the four people playing Nico Acevedo, Instagram, at Nico, the lefty, no joke on, on PPA. He's a thing.

[01:06:51] So I posted about that. So, uh, I think eventually, sadly, I, I'll have to like exit this gravy train. I've, I've honestly, anytime someone says congratulations, I have, I have yet to correct them ever. So, uh, and I'm not going to, uh, they'll figure it out on their own. Eventually, maybe we'll have to like play, uh, some rec together. So people can realize that we're two different people. Um, yeah, I've been enjoying this ride as much as you have, I think. Oh, that's funny.

[01:07:22] Um, all right. So, so back to the tournament again, uh, you guys end up beating fed and, and, uh, and Ben, but your tournament is far from over. You had like a couple of Houdini acts in the next two rounds, a really, really close match with Tyson and, um, Casey, Casey right afterwards. Yeah. Fought off two different match points against CJ and Cam Chafin.

[01:07:50] And then had the crazy, crazy final against Christian and, uh, and Andre did take us through, take us through the rest of it after, after beating Ben and fed the favorites in the tournament. Oh man. Um, it was, it was like a marathon. Every single match was such a dog fight. It just, it just felt like, first of all, I, I was starting to feel my body cause I had to play qualifiers and singles.

[01:08:21] Um, and then, yeah. And ever since like, that's why I was cramping when I was playing Ben and fed and I was like, all right, you're short points, short points, short points. Um, and, and it was just four matches to pass the qualifiers for singles, which is, it was insane. It was like a hundred degrees outside and, you know, they were not really using the center core. So there was like no shade at all. And it was, it was horrible. Ever since like my body was like beating down every single match. And, you know, lucky enough,

[01:08:51] as you said, every single match was like three gamer or, you know, 12, 10 in the third, um, coming back or facing much points. And, uh, with Casey and Tyson, um, it was just like, it was just like who was able to play the, the, like the deciding moments better. I would say, uh, we had seven much points and we couldn't close it at the moment. Yeah. Uh, and then we ended up winning 12,

[01:09:21] 12, 10. But to be honest, like all credit to Utah, he took over and he was just like driving and crashing and just finishing the job for us. And that much. So that, that's all Utah to be honest. And then with CJ and, and, and tandem, um, oof, I mean, I did not see the light at all for the whole match. It was like nine, six down on the second game. And then, uh, Utah somehow found a way to use fire me up.

[01:09:49] For the rest of the match. He just started to be super loud, going crazy, telling me, I want to be champion. I want to win. Let's go. And I was like, all right, let's fucking go. Um, so, and from there I was just like, all right, let's, let's just, I don't know. Let's just think, let's just make the points long and just play discipline. And we found a way to win the second game. Um,

[01:10:18] and then the third game was just, I don't know. I just couldn't play the long points anymore. And I said, you know what? Fuck it. Let's just try to drop and crash, drop and crash. And, and that worked out pretty well at the end, like the last, I don't know, the last point or two or something like that. But, but yeah, man, I mean, it was like, I feel like the level is going, it's going up very quickly. And like, everybody's just playing so much better now. It's like every,

[01:10:47] every match could be a marathon. Every match could be a fight. And it's, you just gotta be there mentally to do it. Like it's, it's becoming kind of like tennis to me. It's like, everything's just more mental right now. And who is able to stay, you know, steady and be able to pull it through at the end of the day. For sure. Yeah. I mean, I felt like, you know, I was, I played the PPA tour in Barcelona this past weekend and it was just, it was so different because, like, you know, I feel like at the top level here in the States right now,

[01:11:17] every, every point is ending either with somebody who can't get to the kitchen, right? Off of like, you know, just not a good enough third. Or once you get to the kitchen, it's just, it's a dog fight. It's 15 dinks. And then whoever wins the hands rally, you know, compare that to, you know, there were a ton of third shot misses, tons of random dink misses and pop-ups. And then, you know, if you do earn the pop-up, it's like, you know, one shot put away and not so many like long hands battles.

[01:11:47] And it was like, it was very interesting to see kind of like the quality of play. Like the talent was really good. I think all of the players that were in the PPA Barcelona are just as talented, but it's, it's seeing more balls, understanding the patterns, playing smart and whatnot, and like no free points. And it was, it was very interesting because I haven't played, you know, that sort of play for, for a few years. Right. It's kind of a blast from, from the past,

[01:12:16] but yeah, it's crazy how much more just like dialed in. Everything is right now where every single point is just ending with a hands battle. It's never just some random dink into the net anymore. Yeah. So that's like, you know, that takes a toll over, over an entire match. Like the match lengths are so much longer now too. Yeah. And, and also like, I feel like even with the speed ups, like I would say back in the day or a few years ago,

[01:12:44] you were able to use like put it away with like a fleet or things like that, you know, kind of like getting people same with the ATPs that you used to hit ATPs and nobody was there, or you could not defend them. And now it's like, you always have to hit like an extra ball. And it's, it's just, I feel like it's so much harder now for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So speaking of that, that last match or the semifinal match was a, was a total grind. You guys ended after 12 PM Arizona time, right?

[01:13:15] So, or I guess 12 AM. What time did you guys actually get off of the court after that match? I remember walking to the car at 1230. Um, and we probably left the court at like 1215 or something like that. Um, because, um, Ireland came to us and she was like, congratulations. It's 1214 or something like that. I was like, nice.

[01:13:43] And then I was like, Oh boy, who, whose idea was it to make this schedule? but, but yeah, it was, it was ours. It was, it was rough. At least you didn't have to play that match at four in the afternoon in a hundred degree weather. You probably would have passed away. So, Oh man, I would rather that than messing out with my sleeping schedule. Like it's been, it's been horrible to get used to it.

[01:14:12] Like I was going to bed at 3am because I had to like, you know, I finished the match, go stretch, you know, take a shower, make food, eat. And by the way, there is like nothing open at that time. So you can eat. And it was just, it was just so bad. The next day I was waking up at like 12pm. And I was like, what day is it? It was horrible. I mean, on my part, some people like it for sure, but just finishing that late was a little, was a little harsh.

[01:14:43] Yeah. They got to find the balance. I think we're, we're a big fan of the evening matches, but like it can't be finishing after 12pm, especially 12pm Pacific time. Right. So like 2am Eastern time. That's crazy. Or 3am Eastern time. Yeah. All right. So last match to work through, you guys get to the finals. You guys have seven championship points at some point or another five, maybe. And Andre and,

[01:15:12] and Christian just keep hanging around. You, you and Christian got into it a little bit, obviously. Like, I don't think it was anything, anything crazy, but Christian did not go for a paddle tap after game two. You waved to him a little bit, like, which, which I loved. I don't get the sense that there's really anything between you and Christian, but what was going through, through your head? Any, any sort of dynamic there?

[01:15:43] Um, I, no, I mean, I don't have anything in Christian. Um, and you know, what happens in the court stays in the court, to be honest. Um, I was just a little upset because it's like, you know, you win the first game, you're all happy, you paddle tap, and everything is fine. And then you lose the second one, and then you just walk away, and act like, we, we don't, we don't matter at all. And I'm like, fuck this guy. You know? And that's where the waving came from. You know,

[01:16:12] I'm like, if you're going to do it once when you're winning, doing what you're losing, have some decency, you know? Um, but, but yeah, that, that was like my thought process behind the waving, which I kind of enjoy it to be honest, but, um, for sure. I also feel like you, you're at your best when you're like chirping a little bit, talking a little bit. I feel like, I feel like you're like me in that regard. You get, once you get into it, once it gets a little chippy, like Nico's alive. Yeah. No, I mean, I, I, I play better when I'm pissed off. Like,

[01:16:43] um, the, the more you, you provoke me, the better I'm going to play. Cause I'm not the type that is going to respond to you, but I'm going to show it to you in the court. You know what I mean? It's like, that's, that's my way to like shut mouths per se. Yeah. Yeah. I like it like that. I'm all for it. I, I honestly, we've, we've talked about that just probably about a million times on, on the podcast, but we, we love it when players show emotions and talk and, and whatever.

[01:17:13] Like at the end of the day, we are, we're trying to win, but we're also like entertainers too. And boy, is it entertaining. So I, I love it. Keep doing you, man. All right. So obviously a disappointing loss in the end, but I guess overall, you'd have to say the weekend was a pretty good success for you. I'd imagine, you know, you're getting hit up left and right now for, for, for partnerships. So who,

[01:17:43] who are you primarily playing with for, for the rest of this season? I got Jaume for Las Vegas and Chicago. Then I have Utah for Virginia. So when I try to run it back and hopefully make the guy a champion, hopefully. Um, and, uh, I have Isabella Dunlap for the next two. So Las Vegas and Chicago. And then I'm playing with Lane, um, in, in,

[01:18:13] in mixed for Virginia. Um, and then, then I'm bringing my boy with how else we're playing, we're running worlds and Daytona together. So that one is going to be fun. Nice. I like it. So are you and you and will our boys? Yeah. I mean, we started playing together and our first, first ever tournament was together. Like we played, it was an APP St. Louis. Uh, we played, we, we played the Johnson brothers, uh, the twins. Uh,

[01:18:43] we beat them and then we lost to CJ and Mick. I think Mick. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, so yeah, it's just going to, it's going to be fun, you know? Um, I think I'm like a very emotional person in a way. I kind of like engage with people quite a bit. Um, and you know, it's just going to be, it's going to be pretty cool playing with Will. So nice dude. Yeah. Well, it was one of my, my homies too. So that'll be fun to, fun to watch you guys play. Uh,

[01:19:13] the other thing that you get, you have is the, the MLP nations cup. Uh, that's pretty cool. I mean, like in within about a year of really playing professionally, you're already drafted to the South American team. Like that's pretty sick. Yeah. I'm very excited. Um, I honestly, I think I prefer MLP a little more, so I'm, I'm happy to have that opportunity and just try to, you know, play with the team again. Uh, I think it's where I enjoy it the most, you know? So, yeah.

[01:19:42] And I have Eric too on the team. So that, that makes it even, even better, you know, going to have to go back to the right side, but that's okay. Yeah. Fair enough. I assume you, I mean, you've got to, you've got to be enjoying the left side much more, especially with the flick at this point. Yeah, no, I mean, I love the left side, but you know, I love winning more. So if I have to play right, I'll just play right. I'm just going to say this right here. You, you don't have to play the right side. You can tell Eric to eat shit, say, Hey, I am, I,

[01:20:12] I just beat Ben Johns. I can play whatever side I want. That's probably bad, bad for a relationship. But, uh, I, I had called out when you got traded. I was like, I'm actually excited to see Eric on the right. You on the left never happened. It got thrown in my face by multiple people, including Jimmy Miller and whoever else, whatever, whatever. I still think that that would be a cool thing to see you worth a shot. You know, if I was your agent coach, whatever would, you know, definitely underqualified to be, uh,

[01:20:41] I'd love to see it. You guys should try it. Maybe just one game. Just like play straight up. Eric on the right. That'll be interesting. To be honest. yeah. Yeah. That'll be interesting. Never seen Eric playing on the right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I like to see, I like like the right side length, you know what I mean? Like Eric just coming in and just being super long,

[01:21:11] super scary. And then you doing your thing. So I don't know. I think nation, maybe the nation's cup is a good place to do it. Um, um, I think your team is, is probably one of the favorites. I think, you know, if you were to look at it, like team USA is probably significantly above everybody else. Uh, and then, you know, your team, I think also I was surprised there's like team Asia, team Asia domestic, um, which was interesting. I think team Asia domestic is pretty, you know, pretty solid as well. But, um, I don't know.

[01:21:41] I, if you guys can, if you can be Ben and fed, you can, you can be team USA. So love to see it. So we got, we got to represent, uh, Latin America, South America. So, Oh yeah. Well, do you think Zane? Coach Zane? I would, I would like to see you and Eric play straight up. Eric played some right side with Christian. Uh, I mean, I think even last year, I think they were switching. I think they eventually put Christian on the right, Eric on the left. I also think that,

[01:22:12] yeah, like Nico said, I think Eric could be quite a good right side player as well. His problem is he also likes that reach in backhand, like better on the left. Um, but I, I think there's going to be a playing straight up Renaissance at some point where if you are the slight underdog, I think you might as well play straight up and give the other team different looks to take away some rhythm from them.

[01:22:41] So I think, I think pros are stacking a little bit too much. Like, I think if you're the favorite, if you're the better team, you should stack. I think if you're the weaker team or the underdog, you should almost be giving different looks a little bit more. So I think, you know, in those matches where you're supposed to win and you're the favorites, maybe you and Eric stack, but when you're playing against, you know,

[01:23:09] Ben and will or something, maybe you give them different looks. Maybe you mix it up a little bit. Don't let them get a rhythm. The last thing you want to do is give the best teams rhythm. I think. No. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. You know, I have a question for you guys is who's the best, like right side forehand dinker. Cause I feel like that's the thing that stops people. Maybe stops Eric. I don't know. Like, let me perfect the forehand dink. Is there somebody on tour that just has either the best or the most aggressive, most consistent?

[01:23:39] Like if you were to say, coach me on a forehand dink, who's, who's the person that comes to mind? Probably Gabe. Okay. I think, I think Gabe is just like, whether he's like super aggressive with the dinks or not, he is creates a space so well. And he gives you so much pressure, whether he's dinking off like with the forehand or not, it's just like, he gives you one dink and then he's already on top of it.

[01:24:08] And you have to almost hit a perfect dink every time. Cause the guy is so freaking loud, you know? And I think he just applies so much pressure on you. And you also don't know what's coming. You know, if he gets it in the air, could go anywhere. Yeah. Well, and then also he takes away so much with his backhand in the middle. So you can't really go to his backhand either. So like maybe his dink quality isn't the top, right? Like, but he makes it look like he's going to speed everything up.

[01:24:37] He can speed anything up. So he's definitely the hardest to dink cross court with, if that makes sense. You know what I mean? Like to be in a cross court dink rally with. Yeah, I agree. Well, Nico, we'll let you, we'll let you pop off. Good luck in, in Vegas. Uh, thanks for, thanks for coming on here and chatting on the, uh, on the pod and best of luck, dude. Uh, thank you guys. Thanks for having me. It was, it was fun. Thank you. On that note, um, pickle pod.

[01:25:06] Pickle pod.