August 31, 2025, 7:00 a.m.

Good morning. It’s 7 A.M. on Championship Sunday. I slept about eight hours which is pretty good for the night before a Championship Sunday, at least for me. I try and meditate five mornings a week. I tell myself I don’t get coffee until I meditate and that’s how I’m able to keep the practice going with any real regularity. On a day as important as Championship Sunday I will probably meditate for about an hour on-and-off. I have a meditation I created specifically for pickleball that I listen to, but also one that is just a bunch of musings in a note on my iPhone. Here are a few lines from the note, which I like to read every morning right when I wake up:

It’s not what happens to you, it’s how you react to it that matters.

Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.  -Buddhist saying

There is no effort without error.

If the answer isn’t simple it’s probably not the right answer.

It is impossible to feel grateful and scared at the same time. Or grateful and angry at the same time. If you can only feel one way today, feel grateful.

Matt Haig, one of my favorite authors, wrote a book called the Comfort Book which I find incredibly… well, comforting! I have picked up a lot of fragments of insight and quotes from this book.

Going into every match, even when the matches are in the same day, you bring a slightly different energy to each, which means I also bring a slightly different goal to each match.  I write the goal down before the match on a physical note to hold myself accountable. For example, if my body is really feeling it, I will have a hyper focus on footwork. If I’m feeling really low on energy, I will focus on coming out with super high energy. If I’m feeling scared or in a funk, I will remind myself that gratitude is the attitude, and it’s impossible to be scared and grateful at the same time.

One of my sponsors is the founder of Incrediwear, Jackson Corley. Before the finals of the US Open, he gave me some advice that I have really used for the past six months. He said, “be present. Enjoy every single moment. Be in the now. Be grateful.” Jackson has been around or worked with high-performance professional athletes his entire career, including Novak Djokovic, who has recently become an investor in Incrediwear. To this day, I think this simple advice about being present and being grateful is really the most personally helpful advice I’ve received.

Okay you guys, it’s time for coffee and to get out of bed. I’ll see you in a few hours on the courts! We are third up with matches starting at noon central.

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August 30, 2025, 3:30 p.m.

What a day! Megan and I gritted it out in a three-game battle royale against Amanda Hendry and Christine Maddox, who played an incredibly unorthodox style. We won 11-8 in the third. My sister asked me after if I was happy with how I played. I said no I wasn’t happy with how I played, but I was happy with something more important— we controlled the things that we could control. That means we controlled our attitude and our strategy. There are some matches where you feel like you’re not getting anything to go your way. Where the other team is getting all of the let cords, painting, the lines, and all of the luck. That’s how the first game felt for our opponents  today. Where was our luck?!

They threw the kitchen sink at us and we smiled and we “wore it” with multiple body bags for both of us. Including a face bag for me (this is why I wear a visor!). It would have been really easy to get frustrated and trust me there was a little bit of that. But we controlled what we could control and the rest is up to the pickleball gods. We had the crowd on our side and I think that was a big difference maker if not the singular difference maker. I hope to see them all out supporting again tomorrow!

I just got back to my Airbnb. I’m chugging some Pedialyte. I’m going to make some home-cooked ground sirloin tacos and honestly probably fall asleep by 8:30. We should find out tonight what the schedule is for tomorrow.

We play Shelby and Sofia and the last time we played them was at the US open in May and we had a three game absolute epic battle that went Megan's and my way. I’m sure they will come tomorrow with a strategy as will we and from there it’s whoever can adjust best to the other team’s adjustments.  Thanks for reading and see you guys tomorrow! Championship Sunday, baby!!!

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August 30, 2025, 10:05 a.m.

It’s women’s day, Saturday! Megan Fudge and I just finished our first match which we won 0&2. It is thankfully cool this morning with a very light breeze. Megan and I have been playing together over a year now and we know each other‘s games really well. We’re a similar age and upbringing having played tennis, which I think helps our partnership a lot. I think we both have had and lived many different lives so we also have a lot of perspective on winning and losing. We always have each other‘s backs, you’ll catch us almost always smiling. We are both super fiery competitors, but I think it’s really nice to play with someone who also has a ton of perspective. Next match we play a very fiery team: Nicole Eugenio and Kelsey Grambeau. Lfg!

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August 29, 2025, 6:30 p.m.

Mixed doubles was a day for upsets! The number one seeds fall to Randy Blanco and Yana Newell, whom Callan Dawson I lost to in a close match. It was really interesting because in the second game, we were down 10 and brought it all the way back to 10-10. It’s so interesting how pickleball is really a game of runs. Other interesting upsets and results: Casey Diamond and Sofia Sewing have become staples in the later rounds of tournaments and they fell to Ryler DeHeart and Rianna Valdes.

Callan and I went on to play in the back draw and took it all the way to the finals where we fell to another very strong team, Purple Jesus and my friend from Southern California, Christine Maddox. They played great. We were up until the end change and they had the downwind side which really benefited their game style of drive and crash. It is truly amazing in pickleball how so often the ends can determine a winner based on sun, wind, and shadows. If you want to win matches consistently on the pro tour you HAVE to be able to make continuous adjustments. My partner, Megan Fudge, and I always say 'she who wins has made the best adjustments to her opponents' adjustments.'

Women’s doubles tomorrow where my partner and I are the one seeds and we definitely want some redemption on our results from Chicago last year (🥉). So we are coming out very hungry. Sleep well and see you guys tomorrow!

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August 29, 2025, 10:05 a.m.

Got to the venue and saw none other than the beautiful Anna Shirley who gave me a cute bag that says “ crazy Pickleball lady”. Guilty as charged!

Callan and I just won our first match against a very good and up-and-coming team. It was seven and eight.

Check out all the gear I bring for the day. Lots of outfit changes & tons of fluids. And of course a snack bag filled with all sorts of goodies.

As these days tend to go, we should be up next pretty quickly and I will keep y’all updated… lfg!

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August 29, 2025, 6:15 a.m.

Mixed doubles day!

Ok you guys it’s game day and I’m playing with Callan Dawson aka the lob doctor. And something I’ve been working really hard on is my right side lobbing in mixed doubles. So I think the question for today isn’t how many lobs will we hit…It’s “how many dinks will we hit”?

My tournament morning always starts the same: protein smoothie with banana, cashews, blueberries, and protein powder. I make a turkey sandwich for later and pack a ton of different snacks and liquids. I’ll bring my own ice because it’s really easy to overheat even when the conditions don’t seem like too hot. People think cramping comes from a lack of electrolytes which it can, but for me and others it comes from allowing your body to get too hot for too long. I’ll use the ice throughout the day to pour cold water over my head and just do everything in my power to stay cool. It may sound weird, but to me staying cool is as important if not more important than hydrated.

Speaking of hydration, I will definitely have a coffee… But before that, I will have an 8 ounce glass of water with some salt in it so that the coffee doesn’t dehydrate me too much.

OK, let’s run out the door and go play some pickleball ! Fun fact, I won’t look at the draw until I get to the venue… so don’t ask me who I’m playing because I don’t know yet! I do this because I like to take everything one match at a time. It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to strategize and I don’t need to watch too much film on anyone because for the most part we all play the same players week in and week out. I find that every time I overanalyze a draw, the Team I think I’m gonna be playing will actually lose. There are always upsets and surprises and I have just found it personally best not to think too far into the future on game days. These days are marathons, not sprints.

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August 28, 2025, 5:30 p.m.

Continuing my superhuman powers of time zone immunity, I just finished a 5:30 p.m. dinner at my AirBnB (pasta, butter, Parmesan, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes with just a little pasta water which binds everything together). Almost three years of pro pickleball and being 35 years old has taught me to be very strict with my pre-match and in-match eating rituals. Like most millennials, I can’t eat anything that isn’t grass fed-organic-artisan-artisanal (is that different than artisan?)-and don’t forget packaged eco friendly. 🤪

I’m going to sit outside and listen to the discordant yet beautiful buzzing of the cicadas, of which there are many in the trees of Chicago—something I don’t see or hear in the palm trees of my hometown, Newport Beach, CA. I’m probably the worst person ever to be doing the blog because I am self admittedly quite boring during events. Actually, I’m quite boring outside of them, as well 😂.

Tonight I’ll stretch for an hour before bed, read a bit more from The Power of Now, rummage for something sweet to eat, and be asleep by 9:30 p.m. for a 6:30 wake up and 9 a.m. Friday tournament start. LFG! Game day tomorrow 💥

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August 28, 2025, 11:00 a.m.

Do you know why Thursdays are so great at the APP?  Because it’s singles day… And I don’t play singles 😂. OK, I used to play singles, including a silver medal at Nationals against some 15 year old kid no one really knew about named Anna Leigh Waters. “You lost to a 15 year old?” My mom said to me at the time. “Uh yeah. And badly,” was the response I could muster. So yeah, I ended my singles career on top. Er, below Anna Leigh. But you know what? I’d come out of retirement to play her again—meet me at the APP Women’s Open in Columbus October 2? 😘

Coming from the West Coast (Newport Beach) I got in last night at 6 p.m. and because my real singular talent in life is the ability to fall asleep very early regardless of time zone, I was able to fall asleep at 10 p.m. and wake up this morning at eight.

Waking up I stick to my normal tournament week routine: protein smoothie, stretching, and reading. Right now I’m reading an incredible book called the Power of Now (check out the excerpt below). He is so blown away by a revelation that he has about consciousness that he basically sits on a park bench for two years staring at his surroundings in awe and wonder. That sounds kind of nice, doesn’t it? Speaking of Parks….

I have to run! Because I’m at Danny Cunniff Park where the event is being held. I’m here now with my mixed partner Callan Dawson, and we are getting ready to practice. Catch you guys a little later!