World No. 2 Anna Bright: Do You Need to Improve Your Floor or Add to Your Ceiling?

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The chalk results from the week in California demonstrate one big thing - the key to being good, to being the best, to having staying power at the top of anything, is consistency. 

This is true at both a macro and micro scale. After Hayden and I’s huge win in Mesa, the pickleball world was ablaze – talking about us, Hayden in particular, as if we were the second coming.

And coming, we are, but it will take time for us to approach the unbelievable level of consistency that Ben and Anna Leigh bring week in and week out. 

If you want an inside look at my week (there was a LOT going on), check out my vlog from PPA Newport!!! I had a lot more anxiety than is normal for me this week and may or may not have broken down…

What separates you from the people just a bit better than you?

I think a lot in terms of floor versus ceiling (Erik Lange pointed this out to me LOL), and I think everyone tends to place too much importance on the ceiling.

As it relates to pickleball, I think a great question to regularly ask yourself is, “What separates me from the people/teams that are just a bit better than me?”

There’s no point comparing yourself to people an entire DUPR point better than you – in that case the answer would typically be “everything.” Like if you compared yourself to me!

When I ask myself this question, there’s not many people that I view as better than me, but as it relates to Ben and Anna Leigh, it’s two things:

1. They are more consistent
2. They have more variety – more ways to win matches at their disposal

They’re also just so much more battle-tested as a team than Hayden and I are. I bet my answers are not much different from yours.

My advice to you would be to decide what improvement phase you’re in as a player.

Ceiling developments applies when you feel you’re as consistent as the people you play with, but just aren’t creating pressure or advantages often enough. That’s when adding to your bag might be more worth your time. Most people though, IMO, should be focusing on floor development, even if it’s more boring.

The best teams in pickle are REALLY good right now

This is good for those of us at the top (effectively Ben, AL, Gabe, and myself), and tough for the rest of the field.

The contenders are currently tasked with chasing after teams that one could argue are doing everything in their power to catapult themselves further and further ahead of the field.

Ben/AL as a team have probably looked the most vulnerable this year, but their record is still insane, and it’s on Hayden and I to rebound after Newport, and we still have absolutely no shortage of work to do to separate ourselves from everyone else.

If you had to guess who would lose first between Ben/Gabe and AL/I, who would you choose? It’s an interesting question. As we’ve said in some recent interviews, Anna Leigh and I are kind of starting to be a well-oiled machine, especially with our commitment to me playing a lot of right side. We are starting to move together super well which is creating new openings and opportunities for us that didn’t exist at the start of our partnership. It’s a really fun thing to be a part of.

I haven’t watched much of Ben/Gabe this year, but they also seem to be in a class of their own.

Hayden/Christian look like the team with the best chance of beating them, but even so, one has to wonder if it could ever be done as more than a one-off. It feels like they continue to have chances but fail to capitalize.

On Hayden’s right, Federico completely embodied the mindset of “let Hayden cook,” which as one of his partners I am a big believer in.

Christian is far more creative and I would consider him to be a “better” right-side player, but I wonder if he is a better fit for H?