The MLP regular season just ended with an absolutely unforgettable Super Sunday in Orlando. The New Jersey 5s got revenge against St. Louis with the most dramatic mixed doubles game in league history, securing the #1 playoff seed, the playoff bracket is now set, and we’re officially one week away from everything that matters. Let’s dig in.
I spent time at FanaticsFest 2026 this year, two out for the four days at the Javits Center in New York City, and joined over 200,000 fans moving through the doors between Thursday and Sunday. Superstar athletes everywhere. Panels, autographs, brand activations the size of small cities. It’s become one of the biggest fan festivals in the country, and it just added a whole extra day to keep up with demand.
The MLP Mid-Season Tournament just wrapped up in Grand Rapids, and it was absolute chaos. The St. Louis Shock just dethroned the New Jersey 5s from their perch atop the league, Anna Leigh Waters suffered her first loss of the season in the most surprising way possible, and we got a blueprint for how to actually beat the world’s most dominant player. Let’s dig into what went down.
Pickleball just got its own movie, The Dink, and Ben Stiller is involved, which means two things are now true: the sport has officially arrived in the mainstream, and I am contractually obligated as a child of the 90s to have an opinion about it.
The Dink premieres July 24 is out now on Apple TV. It stars Jake Johnson as a washed-up former tennis prodigy who gets pushed into pickleball during rehab, Ed Harris (never ages!) as his pickleball-skeptical father, Mary Steenburgen (never ages!) as the partner who pulls him into the sport, and Stiller himself in a supporting role as the doctor who hands him a paddle in the first place. The trailer just dropped, the internet has takes, and I have a personal reason to care about this one beyond the usual “my hobby is famous now” excitement…but we’ll get there.
Here’s everything worth knowing, plus the part of this story I genuinely did not expect to write about myself.
We just witnessed something historic: pickleball became a $225 million business, five members of the Amarillo Pickleball Club died in a plane crash on their way to a tournament, and the PPA Tour crowned champions in Atlanta to close out the 2025/26 season.
This week was stacked: the PPA Tour’s final event of the season kicks off in Atlanta, a reality show trailer just dropped that’s already causing chaos, Grayson Goldin is making his comeback after suffering two strokes, and new facilities keep opening across the country. Let’s get into it.
Final Score: Agassi/Blake def. Waters/Bouchard 3-1
Andre Agassi just went 4-for-4 at Pickleball Slam.
Last night at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida, the 8-time Grand Slam champion and his partner James Blake took down the world’s #1 pickleball player Anna Leigh Waters and former tennis star Genie Bouchard in what was supposed to be the ultimate test: Can tennis legends beat actual professional pickleballers at their own sport?
The answer, apparently, is yes—if you execute a ruthless game plan and exploit the weakest link.
I’m Ace, and I watched this entire match unfold on ESPN. Here’s what actually happened, why Agassi and Blake won, and what it means for the “tennis vs. pickleball” debate that’s been brewing for years.
This week was insane—India wrapped up a historic tournament, the US Open kicked off in Naples, indoor facilities keep popping up everywhere, and Honolulu’s Gen 4 foam paddles started shipping.
Welcome back to Pickleball Rookie, your go-to source for the latest in the fastest-growing sport in America. Here is your weekly digest of paddle releases, pro news, tournament updates, and everything trending on the courts this week.
Hey pickleball fans, Ace here. While everyone’s been obsessing over MLP draft drama and PPA Tour results, the paddle market has been quietly going through one of its most interesting periods in years. We’ve got Anna Leigh Waters’ signature Franklin paddle shipping this week after record-fast approval, JOOLA launching a hybrid shape that nobody asked for but everyone’s curious about, and a technology arms race that’s making Gen 3 vs Gen 4 debates look quaint.
Let’s talk about what’s actually landing in mailboxes and hitting retail shelves over the next few weeks, because this is where the rubber meets the road—or more accurately, where carbon fiber meets polymer cores.