April 4, 2025, 3:41 a.m.
Just had our quarterfinal match on mixed doubles day. This one went three games. The conditions are pretty tough. It's pretty hot, windy. Of course, both teams have to deal with the conditions, but I felt in game three when it mattered most, we really came out firing, and took it pretty convincingly, it was 11-2 in game three. Towards the end of game three, as we were staggering from the heat, I heard this little voice from the crowd say, "Come on, Eric!" It was my good friend Yana. Just the extra encouragement from our crew really helped pull me through. So it's great to have a team when you go to these tournaments, if you've got 4, 5, 6, 10 people that all kind of hang out and watch each other, support each other, that's a lot of times what you need to get you over the hump and tight matches.
Pei played terrific. I was, like I said, staggering at times, trying to deal with the heat, but we made it through. Great run by Glauka and Randy Blanco, and now it's on to the semifinals. We play Jack and Megan, we'll be the underdog there, but I like our chances. We're going to play aggressive. We have to through the wind. And you know, no matter what, this day has been a fantastic experience. This was my hope coming to this tournament, was to go deep in the mixed draw, along with a solid men's result. So we're most of the way there, proud of my partner and proud of my team, and getting ready to hopefully cause some chaos in the semi.
April 4, 2025, 10:29 a.m.
Energy, energy, energy makes all the difference. We played a good team, in Susannah and Brandon, they have a lot of chemistry. They played a bunch of events together before, I believe they were the four-seed in the tournament. Pei has no points because this is her first APP, so a little unlucky to meet them early in the tournament like this, but nonetheless, great match. I think it was pretty high level, maybe until game three, but I felt like our energy and our ability to adjust to the conditions really carried us through. It's amazing - we lost the first game, 11 - 8 on a let cord, and then second game, I think we were down a couple points in the second game towards the end, and somehow found the energy, and it was Pei, screaming and yelling and keeping me engaged. And then I had to fire up. I couldn't let her down. So I think I reeled off some big serves right there towards the end of game two, gave us momentum for game three, and we kind of steamrolled and kept driving the ball and playing fast in game three. Really, commanding performance there at the end. Pei is new to the scene, and there were a lot of people watching, I'm sure to pick up on something from her game because she's going to be a tough horse on the APP Tour. Lucky to partner with her at her first tournament, and I hope we keep it going in the quarterfinals up next.
April 4, 2025, 8:48 a.m.
Just finished our first round against Simone and her brother, Marcelo, a very good senior pro player. Simone is a terrific mixed player. The wind was definitely a factor, it led to more driving and crashing, as opposed to long, drawn-out points. Against that particular team, that was our strategy. Simone is very good about setting her partner up, and we wanted to avoid that, if at all possible. Pei played great. I think again, her singles performance leads to her feeling very comfortable with driving the ball and playing aggressively, and I just picked up the pieces and filled the middle, so great combination, good energy. We got fired up a few times, so all in all, very successful first round. Now we're waiting for our second round opponents. I'm gonna get some water and some food to make sure I'm feeling as fresh as possible.
Partnerships are tricky. It's one of the toughest things for the pros to figure out and manage. There are times that you play with a certain partner for could be three or four tournaments, could be an entire year, it could be several years. And you just realize that for both players, something fresh and something new could be a good thing. You see it with some of the game's best players, and it's probably appropriate, even for a lot of amateurs, to, if things get stuck in a rut, to consider making some changes. And it doesn't mean you have to stay apart forever, but it also adds a new layer of freshness and energy to the game that can be beneficial for both and you may still be great friends off the court, which, in most situations, hopefully that can continue. But you also have to be upfront and honest with your partner and talk and make sure that that everyone's okay with the decision.
So today it was it was a nice day out there with Pei and I hope it continues into the second round.
April 4, 2025, 7:45 a.m.
It's mixed doubles day at the APP Fort Lauderdale major tournament. Today, I'm playing with Pei from Taiwan, I'm excited about this partnership. It's our first time playing together.
Last night was interesting. We stayed until about 8:30 p.m. watching the qualifying mixed of our good friend, Jason Bock, unfortunately, they didn't make it through. They lost in the final round. They played well, but it's fun just to have the whole team out there supporting him. We probably had seven or eight main draw pros watching the qualifiers just supporting our friends. I think it's a real important piece for other pro players to have a group and have a support system. And so I think that's what we do really well for each other.
So went to bed kind of late. It was kind of interesting, at about midnight last night, we found out that there was a land crab that was in our backyard, Max and Jason ended up corralling it and steering it away from the backyard. So that was fun, and we got up early this morning. I was up about 5 a.m. after I went to bed probably 11 or so. Six hours of sleep is not ideal, but on tournament day, sometimes that's all you can ask for. There's stress and there's concern, and you're trying to get sleep and and I'll take six if I can get it.
Got up about 5 a.m. again, and with seven or eight people in our house I wanted to use the facilities before everybody else, going to get myself prepared mentally and physically. We left the house about 6:45 this morning, got to the venue about 7:00, took some Advil, got the body stretched out a little bit, warm up games and some exercises with Pei, played some practice matches with Max and Christine to get us ready. Right now, we have 15 minutes or so until game time. Just getting dialed. We talked a little bit about strategy for our opening opponents, so we'll try to execute that the best we can. It is not quite as windy today as it was yesterday, so I think a little more traditional Pickleball is required to manage our risk a little better. Excited for the day.
April 3, 2025, 4:55 p.m.
It's almost five o'clock and I just had my afternoon practice session with Pei, my mixed doubles partner for tomorrow. I don't know if it was her confidence from singles, because she's into the final on Championship Sunday, but she played lights out in our one game of practice. She drives the ball, she crushes serves. We're working on stacking. I think she's fairly new to some of the mixed doubles dynamics, but she's instinctually a terrific player. Hits the ball so well, resets, dinks well, attacks. I mean, it's going to be a fun time tomorrow playing with her. What we were trying to do was figure out left side, right side, how well we both cross when returning serves, figure out the thirds situation, who should be taking those, who should be moving and poaching. So while it was only one game, and we'll practice in the morning before we play, it feels like it gives us an assurance, prior to going to bed tonight, that we know what we're going to do for tomorrow. So it lets me and her think about and kind of run through plays in our own heads as to how things could potentially go with the other as a partner. So really important to get practice matches, practice reps, with your mixed doubles partner or gender doubles partner. And again, she played so well today in singles, her confidence was through the roof. So honestly, for tomorrow, I'm just gonna say, hey Pei, do what you do. Let her play and turn her loose, just like I do with Max in men's. And I think good things will happen.
It was just great day observing, watching a lot of singles today, watching some friends from back home in some of the Champions and Masters events as well, and amateur events. So just a great day to acclimate, sweat a little bit, feel what it's like to be in the sun and make sure to wear my sunscreen and hydrate and eat and, you know, do all of those things that are so important to making sure you're ready to play.
Tonight, we've got a group of about eight people staying in an Airbnb, so we'll go back, shower, find a restaurant. For me, I like early evenings, so we'll find a restaurant, get some food, probably Mediterranean or Italian, something along those lines. We'll come back to the house, hang out a little bit, drink a coconut water and go to bed before everybody else.
April 3rd, 2025, 9:30 a.m.
I'm here at the APP Fort Lauderdale, a major tournament, and I'm excited to do the blog with the APP, I appreciate the opportunity. This tournament I'm playing men's doubles with Max Manthou, known as Purple Jesus, and Pei, who is from Taiwan. I'm really excited to continue my partnership with Max and hopefully maintain some good results, and then a new partnership with Pei, who's an exciting, up-and-coming, very accomplished player from another part of the world.
Today is singles day. I'm not playing singles, I'm here to support my good friends, Yana, Max, Emily Cederquist, who are playing today. It's very windy conditions, so really have to battle through some adversity and understand where the wind's coming from, which side to play, how the sun plays a plays a factor. Hope to get some practice in today, this afternoon, after I watch some singles. It's important before mixed day to spend probably a couple hours on the court. I'll probably spend about an hour drilling, and about an hour playing with my new mixed partner just getting a feel for the conditions, sweating in Florida versus Oregon, where I'm from, and getting some time on court to feel comfortable so going into tomorrow it's not the first time I've stepped on the courts.
Given this is just a practice day for me, it's a Thursday, mixed is Friday, gender Saturday, then Championship Sunday, obviously, it's a good time to understand how to deal with not only the elements, but but the time difference. I live in Portland, Oregon, three hours difference from Florida. I was actually just in New York with my family, my wife and two teenage children, just on vacation. Finally, a non pickleball trip, which was really important to everyone in the family. I'm actually a big fan of the subway. The subway is amazing because you just you go down in one stop, and you pop up somewhere totally new, and you can explore the neighborhood. Maybe it's because we have no transportation like that in Portland, Oregon. So it just fascinates me.
But yeah, the time difference is huge. I took a direct flight from Portland at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, arrived in Miami at 7 p.m. then got some food with good friend Jason Bock, who's also along, playing in this tournament, and went to the house. We hung out maybe a little later than we should, until about 11 - 11:30, and went to bed, which is about two hours later than I normally sleep back in Portland. So it's going to take a little bit of time to adjust to the Florida time zone, but it's important to try to get on the time zone of the place that your tournament is located, for obvious reasons, so you feel ready and focused from the jump, from the start of the match.
Recently in Sacramento, West Coast time zone, no excuse for the time zone there, but our first round was extremely difficult, and the level of competition amongst the APP pros is very high, and continues to get better with each tournament. So if you are not prepared and ready to fight from point one, these players are good enough to take you out. It doesn't matter if you're the one seed or you're a qualifier. There's a lot of talent on the Tour, so the time zone is one thing you have to pay attention to and be aware of in your preparations for the tournament.
So far, I can tell that my good buddy, Max, won the first game on the far court. He's now switched sides going against the wind, so it could be a little trickier. Now, against the wind is swirling, so we're gonna go watch him, probably stretch the body out a little bit, get it warm, get ready to practice and then get some drilling in, like I had mentioned earlier, and then some games with my mixed partner. I'll report back this afternoon, let you know how that goes.
