Sunday, October 5, 2025

3:51 p.m.

Just finished playing on Championship Court, we got the win in three sets. I'm super, super happy to get the gold medal with Lee! It was so much fun. She's super experienced, she's a legend in pickleball, so playing alongside her, it's been really, really good. We communicated really, really well, and that probably helped us in those tighter moments that we had, and then we were able to figure it out, how we want to play, so our styles were matching and we just played  well today. Super happy with the win.

I'm really, really happy to play this event again. I did it last year. It was the first time this event was happening, and I'm super happy to be back here to do it again. I got a medal last year in women's doubles, and now I got another one in the split age, so very happy with that. It's a really good cause - they were just telling us on Championship Court that actually one in three females during their lives get breast cancer, which is kind of crazy. So raising money for a good cause and just bringing awareness to people to get checked out, that's just super important for us.

Tonight I might go back to the hotel, maybe I'll have a drink or two reward myself later. Tomorrow I'm gonna work all day, and then I have an evening flight going straight to Miami, and I'll be getting ready for the Fort Lauderdale tournament all next week. So super excited for that, I'm partnering with Aidan for the first time in mixed and playing with Susannah again in doubles. We'll see how it goes, but excited for it!

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2:14 p.m.

Riley and I are done for today. I'm pretty sure we finished top eight and I still have my split age final in a couple minutes.

We lost in the first match in the main draw, we were up like we had a couple match points we didn't use, and then we lost the second set, and we also lost the third one. So that's a little sad that we were right there. We just didn't close it out. But it's pickleball, it happens all the time. We won another match in the back draw that was also a pretty tight one - we played way better than the first match. And then we lost in another match, 16-14, which was also a very close one. We were up a lot, and then it kind of went not how we wanted. There were a couple net cords here and there that went against us too, so that was a little frustrating, but it's okay. They days like that happen and we'll just move forward and learn from this how we can improve.

Excited for my split age final!

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10:34 a.m.

Good morning! Day three here at the Women's Open. Today it's going to be women's doubles with Riley, and then at the end of the day, I'm gonna play my final for split age with Lee. Hopefully Riley and I can get another final going on later today as well. We'll see how it goes. We have a bye first round. Probably not my favorite thing, but excited to be going straight to the quarterfinal, and then if we get one one win, we'll be straight into semis. So there are good and bad things about it. We can save our bodies and play one match less, but also the team that's going to play us is going to come in hot, they're going to be warmed up and then have one match under their belt, and they're also going to be a good team, because they had to win a round already. So there are some good and bad things about it, but hopefully it'll go our way. We already got a warm up and played a couple rec games as well. So yeah, should be good!

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Saturday, October 4, 2025

5:28 p.m.

Super happy to win that semifinal. I had so much fun playing with Lee out there. We're having so much fun, we're communicating really, really well, and we played actually really, really good pickleball. The opponents made our job way harder, but we adjusted well. We lost the first set, and kind of got back into our rhythm and made it easier for us in the next two sets, played a little smarter, eliminated the errors. So that's been really good. I'm really looking to get the gold, hopefully, tomorrow. We've been working really hard and adjusting all day. It's been it's been a long day. We've been here since nine, and it's already 5 p.m. so I'm hoping to get back rest and eat some some good food today. I'll probably stretch a little, maybe hit the gym at the hotel to do some sort of active recovery. I'll see how I feel. Also going to do some laundry to keep my clothes matching for tomorrow with my doubles partner, Riley and also playing with Lee again, we gotta wear the same colors, so gotta do some laundry tonight. But yeah, super happy with how it went today.

3:14 p.m.

We got another win in the quarterfinals! That was really good, very fun. It was a pretty clean game, Lee played really, really well and set me up for a lot of putaways, so that was great. I think we're just getting better and better together. It's a lot of work playing a big left side, but I kind of like it. That's usually how I play in doubles, maybe slightly more balls coming my way now, but I'm having a lot of fun, so it's great.

We never get to play the Champions or Masters. I feel like we're always in the same area, in a tent at all the tournaments, but we never really talk to each other. Everyone kind of goes their own way, because we never play against each other or with each other. So that's been great, just getting to meet more people than usual, people that are from different brackets, and they also play professional maybe they're just older, but they're still really, really good pickleball. So it's good to see - they're like, 25 or more years older than me, and they're still keeping up with us, and they can stay in rallies, which is kind of crazy. I can't imagine myself in like, 25-30 years still doing what they're doing. So that's just really good for them.

11:50 a.m.

Lee and I got first match under our belt, it was a lot of fun. It got a little closer towards the second set, but we fought through it, figured it out, and had a little strategy going on, which was working really well for us. We're going to be playing a quarterfinal in an hour or two. It's going to be on Championship Court, streamed, so we have to do a little shopping to match our clothes exactly. I'm excited to get a new shirt and match with my partner! I'm probably gonna go eat lunch becase I haven't eaten much today. Breakfast is not my biggest meal so I'm kind of starving but looking forward to the next match, it will be a lot of fun.

9:04 a.m.

Good morning, day two at the tournament! I tried to rest yesterday as much as I could. The rest of my day was spent working at the hotel and I had a steak dinner from Texas Roadhouse across the street.

On tournament mornings I try to get up earlier than I usually would if I had just random pickleball going on, and then I'll take a morning shower, and then eat a little bit. I had a piece of bread and then my morning coffee, but that's pretty much all. I can't eat too much in the mornings, I'm not really a morning person. Usually my mornings during the week look like I just get up, get out of bed, and then start working at my desk, and I don't probably eat until 10 or 11. So on a day like today I just have to force myself to get the energy going and wake up a little faster than I would usually during the week.

I came to the courts a little earlier today to get stretched out and warmed up. Super excited to play split age with Lee Whitwell. I hope we do well. I think the pressure's on me, but we'll see how it goes. The split age event is not something that we do a lot. This is actually my second time ever playing split age, and the first time was last year here. I had a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to it. It's like basically playing like mixed as a guy, you got to take a little more court than you used to!

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Friday, October 3, 2025

2:26 p.m.

I'm happy to finish fourth place in the main draw. I lost in the second round, which was the quarter final, and then I won a couple matches in the back draw, and I lost my last one, which was the bronze medal match against Jess Warren. She played really, really well, so I can't even be upset with myself. She didn't make any errors, and she was super consistent. So I'm happy with the result to finish fourth.

I'll get ready for tomorrow and Sunday. I'll play a couple of rec games here and there with my split-age partner and my doubles partner, and after that, I'm probably gonna head back to the hotel, try to order some food, probably do more work, as I do have a full time job and I have to make up for my time that I was at the court.

For my full-time job, I work at a consulting firm as an actuary. So day-to-day, it looks like around six to nine hours of work. I'll try to fit pickleball within that schedule, it's pretty flexible, which allows me to travel for tournaments, and I'm super grateful for that. Otherwise, if I had to go to the office or travel more for work, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing. And it just lets me work from pretty much anywhere in the country. So that's really, really big help.

I'm overall happy with how it went today.

10:36 a.m.

Just finished my first round. As I thought it was going to be, it was a very hard match. I saved a couple of match points, and I finished 18-16 in the third set so it was definitely a battle, and a mental battle too. Playing your close friend is always really hard. You can't really show your emotions too much, because you don't want to get into it too much like you would with other players. So just important to stay calm and not go to your highs, but also not hit the lows, so keep the energy going. It was definitely very streaky, like singles could be. It was not the most fun, but hopefully the next rounds will be slightly better and more loose. I'll have to clean up some errors if I want to keep going today, but happy to get the win!

8:50 a.m.

Hey everyone! Day one, super excited to be here in Columbus. I have to play my really, really good friend, Maria Tatarnikova, first round of singles, so we'll see how it goes. We actually warmed up together yesterday and we warmed up this morning. We used to play college tennis on one team together, so hopefully this will be fun.

I'm looking forward to all the matches and exciting partners this week. I played this event last year, and I think the APP did an even better job this year. Championship Court looks even nicer, the bleachers are nicer, and we actually got a couple extra courts indoors, and I heard we'll be playing indoors all day today. I'm actually excited for that so we don't have to go back and forth, indoor and outdoor, between our matches. So it's good to have the indoor venue, so we'll see how it goes.