Mixed Doubles Finalists Set for CBS
| July 11, 2023
Ben Johns is getting cheered in College Park, Md. That’s understandable.
And Matt Wright is getting booed.
Wait, what?
Johns went to the University of Maryland in College Park. He grew up about an hour away, so it makes sense he’d be the one getting most of the applause here at the n2grate D.C. Open in College Park. It also doesn’t hurt that Johns and his partner Anna Leigh Waters are the No. 1 team in the tournament, on the PPA Tour, and maybe the best mixed doubles team in all of pickleball.
But it’s not like Wright is some sort of slouch. His problem is, he went to the University of Michigan.
“Can I get some Big 10 love?” Wright asked the crowd, with a smile. “I’m getting booed?”
Well, the crowd at the JTCC complex wasn’t about to give Wright as hearty of an ovation as Johns is going to get, but the matchup of Wright and partner Lucy Kovalova against Johns and Waters will have a bit of “college’ feel to it when they play Saturday in the mixed doubles final.
And so many more will be able to see it, too.
The match will be on national television on CBS at 1:30 p.m. EST. It’s the second time the PPA Tour has been featured on CBS. Here we are, on an October Saturday, in the middle of college football season, on a station that broadcasts some of the best college football games. That means pickleball will certainly get a few more eyes on it.
And those eyes will see a familiar matchup. Waters and Johns earned a spot in the final with an 11-8, 11-3 victory over Jay Devilliers and Jessie Irvine.
Wright and Kovalova advanced to the final with an electric 11-9, 4-11, 11-9 victory against Riley Newman and Catherine Parenteau. Parenteau and Newman led 4-0 and 9-7 in game three before Wright and Kovalova secured the match by scoring the final four points.
“It wasn’t looking great at 9-7,” said Wright, who will team up with Newman today in the men’s field. “And I knew we had to keep them off of 10 and figure out a way to score four straight. There were a lot of momentum swings.”
The matchup is a familiar one with the teams having met a number of times, but being on national television adds a bit of drama.
“You’re just focusing on the match when you’re in the heat of the moment,” Kovalova said of playing against Parenteau and Newman, “but now that you’re telling me about it, I’m very excited about it.”
Parenteau/Newman marched their way through the backdraw to capture the bronze medal against Irvine/Devilliers 3-11, 11-8, 11-2.
The PPA Tour usually saves its finals for Sunday, but the mixed doubles will be played on Saturday. The rest of the finals will remain on Sunday.
Both the men’s and women’s pro doubles will be played today, with the semifinal winners meeting Sunday.
