'Pickleball is becoming mini tennis' claims #1 Federico Staksrud

Thedink Pickleball 1 day ago 11 views

Federico Staksrud is the number 1 ranked player on the PPA Tour in both men's doubles and men's singles.

If anyone is going to defend pickleball in its current form, it's probably the guy who is sitting at the top of the sport. Right?

But Staksrud is sounding the alarm. "Singles pickleball has become mini tennis at this point," said Staksrud via his X account this morning, just one day after falling to the 65-seed in singles in Atlanta.

After his loss to the relatively unknown Alexander Crum, Staksrud vented via X about the ball that is in play for this weekend:

"The ball is a complete disaster" he posted on X. Shortly after he followed up by congratulating his opponent for his strong performance, prior to deleting the posts altogether.

"With that being said Alex is an incredible player and deserved to win," he added.

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And while it seems he had second thoughts about those statements, he took aim at a different issue this morning.

"Singles pickleball has become mini tennis at this point, there is no point on going to the net of the return.
It was fun back in the day to have cat and mouse rallies and hit drops off thirds. I thought it was a little more interesting to watch. Maybe I’m wrong!"
- Federico Staksrud via X

Zane Navratil, who has been voted the most influential voice in the sport via The Dink Awards and currently hosts PicklePod, was quick to back up his fellow pro, offering an opinion of his own:

"It's a problem. In doubles, the problem is power, but in singles, I think the problem is topspin. Topspin effectively widens and lengthens the dimensions of the court, making covering passes much more difficult. Singles was more entertaining to watch 3+ years ago" - Zane Navratil via X

It's quite the statement from two of pickleball's most respected players and personalities. And plenty more chimed in:

"Yea I def think the players winning PPA’s 3 years ago had the game at the highest level 😂😂. @zanenavratilpickleball . Also a few players actually had to play 5 sets to win as well @federico_staksrud," said Pro Ryan Sherry via The Dink Instagram

"I think 2023 singles was the sweet spot in terms of power, spin and the way the game was played. In my opinion the equipment is now too fast and the ball can be manipulated too much. I wanna see @rsherry1983 winning tournaments again," said Pro Roscoe Bellamy via The Dink Instagram

Safe to say you might want to tune into the next episode of PicklePod to hear more.

Source: Thedink Pickleball

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