APP Inaugural Atlantic Cup Miami, March 2024
I was honoured to be picked as a part of a team of 6 to play in the inaugural APP Atlantic Cup, a team event similar to the Ryder Cup, Europe v USA.
Alongside Maria Constantino (Spain), Pialena Ander (Sweden), Louis Laville (UK), James Chaudry (UK) and Felix Grunert (Germany) we headed out to Miami where we played in the APP Cup as well as the APP Miami tournament. The events took place in a convention centre which resembled the setup of the English Open in Telford – sadly, not much good for taking advantage of the Miami sunshine!
Going into APP Cup we knew our American opponents, Riley Bohnart, Alia Brown, Ava Kalist, Jack Munro, Spencer Lanier and Richard Livornese - the APP NEXT GEN National Team all of whom competed at the English Open in 2023. We knew we definitely had a shot at winning but that the competition was going to be really tough. The event was played out over 3 days, Wednesday – Women’s Singles x 2, Women’s Doubles x 1, Friday – Men’s Singles x 2, Men’s Doubles x 1, Sunday – Mixed Doubles x 3. All singles events in APP tournaments are now rally scoring so our singles in the APP Cup followed suit, with the doubles matches being played in the best of 3, first to 11 format.
There was great camaraderie between the 2 teams from the start. The Americans had the benefit of Chad Edwards and Lee Whitwell as their coaches. We submitted our line ups each day, so each had fun winding the other team up about who we were going to play in which spot. The first day saw me take on Riley in singles and Pialena take on Alia. I knew Riley would be a tricky match as she hasn’t always played singles in the past but it’s something she’s been working on and playing more and she’s a fierce competitor, having medalled in multiple pro doubles events across the states. I started on Championship Court, the main court setup with seating, whilst Pialena started on Grandstand Court 1. It was super fun, if not a little nerve wracking to kick the event off and both Riley and I had a lot of support from the sidelines. I managed to come through the match in straight sets after winning the first set 15-13 which could have gone either way. 1-0 to Team Europe. I finished in time to support Pialena who had gone to a third set in her match with Alia. How beautiful is pickleball that you can have someone a little older (40+) competing with an up and coming 17-year-old. Their match was the highest calibre, so fun to watch, but more nerve wracking being on the sideline and not having any influence over the result! Pia came through for the win in 3 tight sets! 2-0 Team Europe.
Next up Maria and I took on Riley and Ava in the women’s doubles. Maria had played a lot of matches earlier in the day in the qualifying for the women’s singles and pre-qualifying for the mixed doubles in the APP Miami tournament, but she was super pumped coming into this match. In the first set and a half we barely missed a ball, playing solidly and outplaying our American opponents. I got to play the left side which isn’t something I get to play a lot at the moment so it was super fun. Me and Maria gelled really well after only playing together once previously. At 11-6, 4-3 up Maria moved for a ball and from my angle it looked like she had jarred her foot, she pulled up immediately, clearly in pain. A few seconds later I realised she was suffering from quite severe cramp. We used up all of our time outs and one of the US team’s time outs (thanks Lee!) in the second set. It was clear that Maria was cramping badly and her movement was going to be massively impaired for the rest of the match. We managed to scrape a couple more points in the second set but lost it 7-11. Maria valiantly, wasn’t prepared to quit the match and we tried our hardest in the 3rd set but the American’s were able to come through against me trying to play singles and Maria with one leg! 2-1 Europe after day 1. Whilst we were gutted not to have been 3-0 up, we were still very happy to take the lead going into Friday’s men’s matches.
Louis and James both played incredible singles matches to beat Spencer Lainier and Richard Livornese, James coming through in 2 sets against Richard and Louis coming through in another epic 3 set match to beat Spencer. They fought hard in the men’s doubles but went down in straight sets to the formidable Jack Munro and Richard. After day 2 we were leading the US 4-2. We knew going into day 3 we only needed to win 1 of the 3 remaining mixed doubles matches.
We started day 3 super excited but quite nervous and the nerves were evident in all 3 of our mixed matches. Felix and Pia fought hard but lost out to the US team in the first match. Things followed suit in the second match with the US team proving too strong for Louis and Maria. Going into the final match with James tied at 4-4 I was very excited walking out onto the court but frustratingly the nerves got the better of me as the match went on and Richard and Ava were able to take control of points too easily and beat us to confirm the overall win for the USA 5-4.
As a team we were gutted as we had put ourselves in the position to win overall but from a personal standpoint I learnt a lot from the mixed doubles loss that I know will make me a better player in the long run.
What an opportunity to get to represent Europe in a sport that I love. Hopefully this event will continue for many years to come. A huge thank you to the APP for providing a platform to showcase European talent and giving the European team this incredible experience. A huge thank you also to our Team Europe support crew pictured below.
