English Open, August 2024
It’s a testament to Pickleball England that the biggest pickleball tournament currently held outside of North America is the English Open. The fact that PBE run this event with only a handful of people involved in the organisation plus the volunteers for delivery is mind blowing. This year 1,976 players travelled to Telford from across England and 42 other countries. Once again, Telford International Centre was transformed from a soulless conference centre, to a vibrant mecca for pickleball players with 40 courts and multiple sponsors exhibiting their products.
English Open for me is; a chance to connect with my sponsors, Skechers UK, ProXR and Mayfair Jewellers; a chance to catch up with so many friends in the pickleball world that I don’t get to see regularly; a chance to compete against the best players in Europe, as well as top players from The US, Asia and Australia; a chance to hear inspiring stories from those attending the event and their pickleball journeys; a chance to make new friends; a chance for my dad to come to a tournament and watch me play in person rather than various different live streams!
The event started for me on the Thursday with the Battle of the Paddles event. A new event for this year that encouraged all players to try out paddles from different paddle brands. You could choose a paddle brand whose team you wanted to be a part of during the day and play gender and mixed doubles for them (using their paddles) against the other paddle brands in the event. These matches all counted for each brand’s standings going into the knockout stages where they could choose up to 6 players to make up their knockout team. I played for ProXR during the day and in the knockout stages. I really enjoyed playing with and against many different players during the day that I don’t very often get to share the court with, especially getting to play women’s doubles with Joyce Lau who is one of the sweetest souls in the pickleball world. In the knockout stages team ProXR was made up of myself, Pei, James Chaudry and Jack Munro (one of the most talented male pickleball players in the world). We came away with a bronze medal from the event which was a really fun warm up day and something a little different to other team events I’ve been a part of. I am a big fan of tournaments trying different types of team events to add a different dimension to their events.
I always feel a little extra pressure going into English Open as it’s my “home” tournament and this year especially my sponsors had made sure everyone knew I was there due to all the artwork I was featured on. It is definitely a pinch me moment seeing myself on banners, especially that of Skechers, one of the biggest main-stream brands in the world. It’s something I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of, that I never take for granted. English Open last year was also the turning point that made me move into the pickleball space full time so I knew this year’s event would be a good marker to see how far I’d come in a year.
Singles day saw me finish top of my group of 4 great female players, Naimi Mehta (India), Priyanka Mehta (India), Susannah Barr (USA) and Katy Hart (NZ). My quarter and semi final matches were SO much fun to be a part of. Both matches were played on one of the outside courts which meant it felt like the people watching were pretty much on the court with me, they were so close. There must have been between 100-150 people watching each match which made for an unforgettable, electric atmosphere. My quarter final match against Roos Van Reek was an intense battle (as are all of my matches with Roos!) Roos is Dutch but has been playing in Australia for the past year and is the reigning champion of Season 1 of MLP Australia. I somehow (with much help from the support of everyone who stayed to watch and cheer – thank you to each and every one of you) managed to fight my way back from a 10-14 deficit to win 18-16. Next up in the semi final I faced a young American who is part of the APP Next Gen Team, Alexa Schull. This match just like the previous one was a long-drawn-out tussle with momentum swings going back and forth. I couldn’t quite hold on until the end in this one coming away losing 13-15. I was incredibly proud of my performance given that a few months prior I had been struggling with my singles game. I ended up finishing 4th losing the bronze medal match to Pei, but overall was so happy with my grit and determination throughout all my singles matches.
Next up was women’s doubles day. Pei and I started strong winning our group, beating some high-level players along the way. In the semi-finals we had a great opportunity to play the eventual gold medallists from the US, Allison Harris and Kelsey Grambeau. Allison regularly plays tournaments in the US with Simone Jardim who is a player I have looked up to since I started pickleball. Simone is a total legend of the game, has achieved and continues to achieve so much, as well as help so many other players. We lost this match 7-11, 4-11 but I learnt so much against 2 players that play at a level way above anything in Europe. The bronze medal match was my highlight of the weekend. We started slowly against the formidable Roos and Katy Hart, a team that also regularly play women’s doubles together and who we had played plenty of practice matches with a couple of days before. We lost the first set and were 0-5 down in the second set. At this point I was feeling a little flat and was struggling to see how we could find a way out of the hole we had gotten into. Somehow, we managed to claw our way back and turn the second set around taking it 11-8. We hustled hard in the third, reminding ourselves constantly of the game plan we needed to implement to come through. This match was on an outside court and like my singles matches the atmosphere and support we received was incredible. It felt like the crowd was playing each and every point with us and they felt the highs, but they also felt the disappointment every time we lost a point. Finally, we setup match points on our serves, the first of which we played an incredible point and Pei went for an ATP only to marginally miss and the ball hit the net post. At this point I just wanted the match to be over, the rollercoaster of emotions we had been on was exhausting and we were so close to victory. We managed to close it out on the next point, we were beyond ecstatic to have turned the match around and come through. This match definitely felt like one of my most rewarding victories and it was so fun so many people got to share the moment with us.
My tournament weekend concluded with mixed doubles with James on the Sunday. It was impressive he was still standing at this point given how much he had put into the organisation and setup of the event alongside his awesome performances in men’s singles and men’s doubles. We ended up coming 2nd in our group, losing one match to Armaan Bhatia and Katy Hart. In the round of 32 we played 2 up and coming young Indian players in Ronav and Pearl. We came through a tight match with them 11-7, 11-9 to setup a round of 16 match against Erik Lange (one of the tallest men in pickleball) and Allison Harris. Another match that we both learnt so much in and it was great to get further experience of playing 2 high level US Pro’s. It ended up being our final match of the weekend and a great way to round out a successful English Open.
I stayed on for an extra 2 days to watch the older age groups who competed on the Monday and Tuesday. Due to capacity restrictions this year PBE split the older age categories out into competing on the Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday. I loved having a couple of days where I wasn’t running around between matches like a headless chicken and could watch and support friends in their brackets. Pickleball is truly a unique sport where you can have people of all ages and all abilities competing in the same tournaments. Winning a medal is something that is achievable whether you are a 70 year who has played for a few years, a 13 year old junior player that plays every day or a wheelchair athlete that has just taken up the sport. Thank you Pickleball England for another incredible English Open.