St. Louis Sweeps And Johns Brothers Quit At Major League Pickleball Columbus

Forbes

05-05-2025

St. Louis' ladies (Kate Fahey on the left and Anna Bright on the right) power the Shock to an ... More dominant, undefeated weekend in Columbus.
Event two of the compact 2025 Major League Pickleball (MLP presented by DoorDash) season saw most of the Premier teams travelling to the uniquely decorated Pickle & Chill facility in Columbus, Ohio for an interesting weekend of team pickleball.
Key Links for tracking the event this weekend, which featured livestreams from the two primary courts at the facility on MLP's YouTube channel and on PickleballTV.com.
Premier League Recap
Day 1 Observations
Wow that's a lot of Orange. The Orlando Squeeze entire team gathers around their coach for a ... More mid-match strategy session.
Day 2 Observations
A quick editorial about this situation:
The reaction to the Johns brothers' withdrawal online in the pickleball-sphere was fast and furious, from players, fans, and MLP team representatives. Ben doubled down on social media with discussions about ambient light wattage and what not, which is fine … if the entire pickleball world didn't already know the truth.
The problem is, Ben Johns has been overtly showing a lack of effort in MLP dating back to mid-season last year. Collin Johns famously ranted about the MLP format in a series of leaked texts/emails mid-season last year. We're all well aware of Ben's issues playing indoors with his childhood eye condition and can certainly understand his concerns, but then why did a) Ben agree to play at all, and b) why did Collin withdraw as well? Does Collin also have a childhood eye injury causing him issues with indoor lighting? Furthermore, why did the Johns brothers subsequently leave the facility instead of cheering on their replacements (as Jimmy Miller sarcastically pointed out on twitter)? Lastly, there's nine teams in Columbus competing this weekend; how is it that the Johns brothers are the only ones complaining about the lights and refusing to play? The facility with such poor lighting, by the way, has hosted a slew of professional tennis events and is the home of the Ohio State college tennis team, making one question just how 'bad' their lighting could be?
During the MLP media day earlier this year, I asked a pointed question to the league whether the Johns brothers were going to take this competition seriously this year. I was assured specifically (by a member of the Johns family on the call) that they would. It took less than an event and a half of lackluster results for the Johns brothers to prove otherwise, to the surprise of few in the industry.
The UPA is stuck between a rock and a hard place right now with one of its signature players, whose actions and comments usually lead to rule changes and policy shifts for the tour. CEO Connor Pardoe tried to spin things a bit by saying that we shouldn't 'let this situation take away' from the great play this weekend. But the elephant has left the room at this point. It has become harder and harder to explain why a billionaire team owner in Tom Dundon refused to spend money last year to put a competitive team around Ben Johns, why he refused to spend anything more than the bare minimum in the 2025 draft to do the same, and it's become harder and harder to reconcile the on-camera actions of these players, knowing as we already do from their own mouths last July, that they don't care about playing MLP.
If they don't want to play MLP, Fine. Release them from their contracts, reduce their pay or reassign their salary obligations to clinics or other activities (as the league has done with dozens of other players), replace them on the Carolina team with scrubs off the waiver wire, and move on. It just isn't fair to the rest of the players who are trying, or the fans who care, to watch this farce go on any longer. There's a dozen UPA players opted out of MLP at this point, some of whom flourished in the MLP format (ahem, Julian Arnold), so what's a couple more?
Coincidentally, Zane Navratil posted an event recap video that echoes many of the items I said above.
Miami's dynamic French duo (Jay Devilliers on the left and Noe Khlif on the right) have helped them ... More move into playoff position.
Day 3 Observations
Day 4 Observations
Team Standings Update post Event
In Premier
Player Standings/Stats Analysis for the Weekend:
Unfortunately, MLP has eliminated the per-event player points link, which was a great way to highlight individual performers for a weekend. That's a shame and I hope they return that feature.
In Premier
In Matty Pickles' media MLP Pick-em competition, I went 7/8 for the week, missing only on the Atlanta-Chicago tie.
Next up on the Pickleball Calendar? According to my Master Pickleball Schedule, the APP returns to action next weekend at the Vlasic Classic in Cincinnati. It's also the first waiver period for MLP (which should be fascinating). The rest of the month gives us some of the biggest events of the season: PPA's Atlanta Grand Slam and the APP's NYC Open follow in successive weekends in mid to late May. It's a great month for pro pickleball!
The MLP returns to action at Month's end, with Event No. 3 set for Austin, Texas, hosted by the Texas Ranchers.