A First Time Gold For Sobek At The Association Of Pickleball Players NYC Open

The newly rebranded Association of Pickleball Players (APP) hosted its marquee event of the season this past weekend in New York, taking over the grounds of the USTA’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens for its 2nd annual 2023 Boca Raton New York City Open. The event drew more than 1,100 amateurs and professionals, served as a golden ticket qualifier to USAP Nationals, and features the largest purse of the season for the APP pros.

Let’s Recap the action.

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Men’s Pro Singles Recap

The pro singles draw to the quarter finals looked like a regular APP draw, with seven of the top eight seeds advancing as expected. However, that’s when things went haywire for the tour’s top players. #1 Hunter Johnson, who has made the gold medal match in every APP Event thus far, was shocked by a qualifier who goes by the name of “Wolf” in Pickleball Tournaments. Vuk “Wolf” Velickovic squeaked into the main draw through qualifying, then took out the #8 seed Eduardo Irizarry 12-10 in the third before shocking the top seed. Velickovic didn’t stop there, crushing the #5 seed John Cincola and then advancing to the gold medal match in his first ever APP appearance (and 2nd ever pro event after he fell in PPA singles qualifying two weeks ago in Atlanta). Could we have another Collin Shick moment in pro pickleball? Velickovic presents as a similar case as Shick, a former collegiate player (Virginia Commonwealth and then Coastal Carolina) who briefly turned pro before returning to his native Australia, then came essentially out of nowhere to compete at a very high level in a pro singles event.

From the bottom side, there were even more upsets. #7 William Sobek took out the two-time defending gold medal champ #2 Yates Johnson in the quarters, then advanced to the winner’s bracket final over #3 Ryler DeHeart before falling to Wolf in the winner’s bracket final. Sobek rebounded in the Bronze medal match, topping #6 Jhonnatan Alvarez Medina (who himself had a heck of a back-draw, beating #1 Johnson, #2 Johnson and #5 Cincola to even reach the bronze medal match) to earn another shot at Velickovic for the gold medal.

A first-time gold medal was up for grabs: Sobek had never gotten any medal higher than a bronze in his long history of touring, while Velickovic was guaranteed to medal in just his second pro event. Sobek came out on fire and topped Wolf in two straight games to eleven to force the winner-take-all game to 15, and that’s when fans got to witness perhaps the best match they’ll ever see. Velickovic raced out to a 14-6 lead in the tiebreaker and looked to get a shocking win, but Sobek came back from the dead, saving no less than seven match points to turn a 14-6 deficit into a 16-14 win for the gold.

Gold: William Sobek. Silver: Vuk Velickovic. Bronze: Jhonnatan Medina Alvarez.

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Women’s Pro Singles Recap

The top three seeds in the women’s pro singles draw were joined in the semis by the #12 seed Audrey Banada, a former 4-year tennis player from Miami who now lives outside the DC area and who has been playing an active pro tourney schedule this spring. Banada beat the 5th seeded Amanda Hendry and then the #4 seed Alix Troung to advance to the winner’s bracket semis, where she took a game off of #1 Salome Devidze before falling in three. A great showing for Banada.

Meanwhile, the bottom of the draw felt top-heavy, with the #6 and #7 seeds losing early but with the #2 and #3 seeds advancing to the winner’s bracket semis. There, #3 Judit Castillo (who seems to have dropped the -Gargallo in pickleball tournaments) topped #2 Megan Fudge to get to the winner’s bracket final. However, Castillo dropped that match to Devidze, then dropped the bronze medal match to Fudge.

In the gold medal match, Fudge kept it close but fell to Devidze, who increases her lead atop the pro standings. Fudge earned her fourth silver medal in singles this year, while Devidze earned her 3rd gold medal this year and her 8th overall on the APP tour.

Gold: Salome Devidze. Silver: Megan Fudge. Bronze: Judit Castillo-Gargallo.

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Mixed Pro Doubles Recap

#4 Seeds Susannah Barr and Rob Nunnery broke through with their first pro mixed doubles title together, improving on their Cincinnati result by topping #3 seeded Simone Jardim and Stefan Auvergne in the gold medal match to avenge an earlier loss. Barr & Nunnery took out the top seeded Parris Todd & Hunter Johnson in the winner’s bracket semis, and Todd/Johnson’s attempt to work their way back into the gold medal match was thwarted by the eventual bronze medalists Maggie Remynse & Andrei Daescu, who topped them in the consolation bracket semifinals.

The final between Barr/Nunnery and Jardim/Auvernge featured a compelling and close match, with the underdogs fighting back from the loser’s bracket, topping Jardim/Auvergne in three to force the winner-take-all game to fifteen. That game was as close as it could be, with the gold medalists taking it 16-14 to the delight of onlookers.

Gold: Barr & Nunnery. Silver: Jardim & Auvergne. Bronze: Remynse & Daescu.

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Men’s Pro Doubles Recap

The early rounds of the winner’s bracket of the Men’s Pro doubles draw saw the 5th, 6th, and 8th seeds knocked out early by less-than-household names, but the top four seeds eventually advanced into the winner’s bracket semis.

From there, it was the Andres Daescu show, as he continued to be an unstoppable force in APP pro doubles irrespective of who he plays with. This week (as he was in Cincinnati), he was paired with Rob Nunnery, and together they battered their way to the gold medal. They were only really challenged in the gold medal match, giving up a combined 15 points in four matches to get there.

In the gold medal final, they met the Johnson brothers, who put up a challenge but ultimately fell 6,10 to give Daescu his 6th straight pro doubles title in 2023, and to give Nunnery the “doubles double” for the tournament. The #3 seeds John Cincola & Brendon Long took the bronze, making for a perfectly chalk podium when all was said and done.

Gold: Daescu & Nunnery. Silver: Johnson & Johnson. Bronze: Cincola & Long.

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Women’s Pro Doubles Recap

The #1 seeds Parris Todd & Simone Jardim made it 6-for-6 in 2023, winning their sixth straight women’s pro doubles title together on the season. They topped the 2nd seeded team of Megan Fudge & Alix Truong in both the winner’s bracket final and then in the gold medal match for the win. Fudge continues her own streak of consistency; this is her 6th straight pro doubles silver medal (with three different partners) for 2023. The #7 seeds Riley Bohnert & Emily Ackerman ground out an excellent back draw come-back for the bronze and to give Ackerman her first ever pro medal.

Gold: Todd & Jardim. Silver: Fudge & Troung. Bronze: Bohnert & Ackerman.

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Senior Pro Competition Quick Recap

· Men’s Senior Pro Singles: #1 Steve Rogers won his second senior pro singles gold medal of 2023 with a come-from behind gold medal win over #10 Lee Sponaugle.

· Men’s Senior Pro Doubles: #2 Rick Witsken and Peter Prodanov avenged an earlier loss to beat #1 Jaime Oncins & Paul Olin twice for the gold.

· Women’s Senior Pro Singles: Karin Ptaszek-Kochis won her first ever APP medal by taking the senior pro singles draw.

· Women’s Senior Pro Doubles: Chris Karges & Sheri Courter each won their first ever women’s senior pro gold with solid win over the #1 seeds Eva Welsher & Jenny Klitch.

· Mixed Senior Pro Doubles: Eva Welsher & Jaime Oncins De Oliveira won their second senior pro mixed title together since January, and Welsher won her 11th overall in the history of the APP.

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Next up on the APP Tour? According to my Master Pickleball Schedule, the APP next visits Newport Beach at the end of June.

Next up on the Pickleball Calendar? The PPA is in one part of Dallas this coming weekend for a regular tour stop, and the NPL has its first event in another part of Dallas, so lots of people flying to DFW on Tuesday and Wednesday.