Problems and Partners and Putting It Together

Lucy Kovalova considers herself one of the lucky ones. 

It’s rough out there on the PPA Tour and finding a person to coexist with on the court isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do.

There are things to consider – playing style, compatibility, energy, and attitude. All of it. And all of it matters because if one or more of things aren’t in sync, it could be the difference between getting to the podium and going home early.

Choosing a partner is easy. That happens all the time. Every week on tour there are combinations that are being tried out, many of them for the first time, but finding the right partner is a mixed bag of trial and error, weighing pros and cons and measuring and remeasuring a number of dynamic elements.

“I’m very fortunate I don’t have to deal with that, “ said Kovalova. “I love my partner. I’ve been playing with Matt (Wright) for seven years and have played with Callie for two years.”

Kovalova’s situation isn’t typical. She and Wright, who are partners off the court as well as on, are rarer than sashimi. Even having a partner for as long as two years is still more surprising than standard. Not a lot of pros have that sort of commitment.

“It is very difficult to find a partner because a majority of players are paired up for a long period of time,” Kovalova said. “Sometimes, you can get lucky and score a good, last-minute partner. I’d rather have a friend (and boyfriend in mixed doubles) by my side.”

But that’s not common. There are other players who are partners off the court and play together on the court, like Lauren Stratman and Julian Arnold and Anna Bright and James Ignatowich, but those partnerships are in the infancy stage compared to Kovalova.

For the rest of the tour, matching up is challenging. Think of it like a puzzle, but the pieces never stay the same. Players get better, some get worse. Some partnership relationships deteriorate over time. 

“There’s not a lot of sports where one of the most important things is finding someone of the opposite gender to play alongside you,” said PPA Tour player D.J. Young. That’s not easy. You have to match well together.”

As pickleball evolves, more money comes into the sport, television, and gambling get involved, finding a partner to coexist with regularly could be more about function than fit. PPA Tour player Lea Jansen Tweeted about it recently saying something similar.

“People always say don’t do business with friends,” Jansen wrote. “I think this will start to apply more and more to pickleball. There will be less doubles partners being besties and more business formed partnerships.”

Jansen makes a good point. With the tour becoming more popular, players will start to earn more money. More money means decisions to win likely will be more important than a decision to be friends. We’re not far from seeing pickleball look more like other more-established sports where contracts are common and random pairings out of friendships or convenience become antiquated. 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if this became somewhat of a norm moving forward,” PPA player, Tyler Loong, said of players signing contracts to play with each other. “But there’s many things to consider if this happened. The best option would be to win with a good friend and partner.”

Good luck with that, Tyler. That’s the unicorn of pickleball, particularly in mixed doubles where top female talent is harder to find. Meanwhile, the male-female chemistry on the court is like trying to solve for X. It’s an unknown.

“You absolutely need to make sure you get along together,” Young said. “From what I have seen and heard there are so many guys who are good, but so few women you can win with. “i don’t have any problems with people. I’m not the most super-supportive person, though, I don’t go out of my way to pump anyone up and a lot of ladies in the game need that. I have a hard time doing that and sometimes that can hurt with chemistry.”

Chemistry may be a thing of the past if analytics and business get involved. If the numbers match up off the court, you may start to see some on-court pairings that look odd. Winning makes everyone feel better, but anyone who has ever played team sports knows how winning often is the product of understanding how teammates get along.

Then again, if a person knew the Boston Strangler had a great dink game and an unbeatable backhand roll, teaming up isn’t out of the question. Winning cures all.

“Ideally, I would rather win and have fun,” Kovalova said. “But as a competitor, I would rather go for the win. If I don’t have a chance to win, I would definitely choose a fun partner.”