Dallas Flash Continue Their Unbeaten Run At Major League Pickleball Arizona Event
Jorja Johnson (R) and Hurricane Tyra Black (L) are on absolute fire in MLP this season.
There's no rest for the weary. Major League Pickleball (MLP) presented by DoorDash picked up just a few days after its exciting Austin event and headed west to the (infamous?) Arizona Athletic Grounds for the 4th Stop in its 2025 season. I say 'infamous" because this host site is the basis of a $280M fraud lawsuit against its owners. It's a massive facility, with dozens of courts and has hosted a slew of pro events across all three tours over the years, and one can only hope the facility survives the legalities.
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.
No transactions were announced, but there is a major personnel issue covered in the News section. The next waiver period for both Premier and Challenger is in mid-June, just a couple weeks away.
Bench Players who got in on the action this weekend, either by choice or due to player conflicts, included:
- Utah played Erokhina as its Women's #2 instead of Safdar.
- SoCal played both its bench players Hovenier & newly acquired Ingram in place of Bellamy and Tereschenko to start the event before Irina took over for Match day No. 2. Hovenier played the whole weekend and may have opened some eyes with his play.
- Phoenix replaced Genie Bouchard with Alex Walker early, but then Bouchard was back in action by Friday.
- Atlanta subbed in Rettger for DiMuzio towards the end of the weekend.
Hopefully I didn't miss any player subs, but it is definitely interesting to see how much these teams are using their bench players.
Ahead of the event, here's some news and noteworthy items for MLP.
- Just ahead of the event on 5/29/25: UPA fines and suspends Quang Duong for playing in an unsanctioned (and clearly unapproved) event while traveling to Vietnam to support his new paddle sponsor. This will cost him $50k, one PPA event, and most of the upcoming MLP Phoenix event. He's replaced for the first four games of MLP Arizona by onsite sub Spencer Smith.
Rachel Rohrabacher led her Brooklyn team to a 5-1 weekend.
Day 1 Observations
Day 2 Observations
Tyler Loong (foreground) rips a forehand winner for his surprising Utah Black Diamonds team.
Day 3 Observations
Day 4 Observations
Blaine Hovenier proved to be a spark plug for his SoCal Hard Eights team, leading them to their ... More first win of the season.
Note: all standings are done by points-per-match.
In Premier
In Premier
Here's a new section we're going to include going forward. Given the league structure and the varying attendance of teams at each event, here's some specific takeaways from the event.
1. Dallas is unstoppable. Between Jorja Johnson's leap forward improvement and the team's overall chip on their shoulder from last year, they're clearly the team to beat in 2025. Last year this team went through the motions a couple of times and dropped matches against inferior teams, which led to the No. 3 seed in the playoffs and a harder path to the title. This year they're collectively gunning for an undefeated season.
2. Utah is better than I thought. I had Utah 13th of 16 after the draft (my other pundits generally had them 11-12th). This placed them behind the likes of Carolina, Atlanta, and Phoenix. They're clearly better than all three of these teams right now, though probably not good enough to get into the playoffs unless they can beat the likes of LA (who they lost to 3-1 last weekend) or Chicago.
3. Phoenix is a lot worse than I thought. Just one win this weekend, over Atlanta, and they inexplicably lost to SoCal, who I legitimately thought was going to go 0-25 this season. Phoenix has absolutely no reason to be this bad, not with top players like McGuffin and Irvine who are getting results week-in/week-out on the PPA. What this says to me is that the Flames GM really, really overestimated the capabilities of Sock and especially Bouchard, and may not have understood the chemistry issues they were acquiring with Tyson. I had Phoenix 8th in my pre-season ranks, well ahead of where my fellow pundits had them ranked (10th-11th mostly, with Kloss having them 13th).
Next up on the Pickleball Calendar? According to my Master Pickleball Schedule they're off to Daytona Beach for the third of three back to back MLP events next weekend. Teams in action next weekend include New York, Utah, 1st place St. Louis, LA, and New Jersey. Also back will be SoCal, Texas, Chicago, and the Carolina Hogs, who shouldn't have any lighting issues this time around since it's being held at the frequent pro tour hosting facility Pictona in Holly Hill.
All match stats quoted in this article are courtesy of PickleWave. Visit picklewave.com for the premier source of Pro Pickleball data, including match replays, highlights, stats, and discussion. PickleWave has more than 22,000 matches in its database across all the pro tours.
Also, a great thanks to The Dink's Erik Tice, who maintains a fantastic MLP detailed data breakdown and makes it publicly available at this Google XLS link. Tice's data has proved invaluable this year as MLP does not make match data available at this detailed level at present.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
12 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Senate to Keep Spectrum Sales in Tax Bill, Key Republican Says
A key Republican said senators have reached an agreement to reauthorize spectrum sales to internet companies that would generate billions of dollars in revenue toward funding US President Donald Trump's sweeping tax cuts and spending bill. Spectrum sales were included in the House version of the reconciliation package but the provision had drawn objections from South Dakota Republican Senator Mike Rounds, who previously said they risked undermining the US military's communications capabilities.
CNN
16 minutes ago
- CNN
Why Tesla now needs the EV tax credit that Musk once said should go away
It wasn't long ago that Tesla CEO Elon Musk was advocating for ending the $7,500 tax credit for buyers of electric vehicles. 'Take away the subsidies. It will only help Tesla,' he said in a post on his social media platform X last year, adding 'Also remove the subsidies from all industries!' But now, with House budget and tax bill known as the 'big, beautiful bill' proposing to end that tax credit, he and Tesla are suddenly arguing for the continuation of those same credits as the Senate debates its own version of the bill. 'Abruptly ending the energy tax credits would threaten America's energy independence and the reliability of our grid' said Tesla's solar power unit in its own post on X late last month. 'There is no change to tax incentives for oil & gas, just EV/solar,' Musk said in a follow-up post. The turnabout may have to do with the recent financial troubles at Tesla. Many experts believed that getting rid of the EV tax credit would hurt legacy automakers, which continue to lose money on their EV operations, more than it would hurt Tesla. But Tesla's sales took a nosedive this year, and it needs the credits to maintain buyer demand. The battle over EV tax credits, and Musk's broader opposition to the Republicans' budget and taxation bill, has caused a major split between President Donald Trump and Musk – a member of the administration's inner circle as recently as last week. The outcome could endanger the key legislative priority of Trump and Republicans. It could also be affect the finances of the beleaguered Tesla. Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson have both suggested that the loss of federal support for EV's is driving Musk's opposition to the bill. 'Elon and I had a great relationship, I don't know if we will anymore,' Trump told reporters Thursday. 'I am very disappointed. Elon knew the inner workings of this bill… all of a sudden he had a problem and he only developed the problem after he found out we had to cut the EV mandate.' Despite Trump's reference to an EV mandate, there has never been a federal rule requiring Americans buy EVs rather than gasoline-powered cars. But the Biden administration did pass the $7,500 EV tax credit in an effort to spur demand for EVs. Musk immediately denied removal of the EV tax credit was the reason for his opposition to the bill. 'Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill,' he posted on X shortly after Trump's remarks. Tesla shares (TSLA) fell 14% following the exchange. Musk has focused most of his criticism on how the domestic policy bill would balloon the deficit. However, he is also no longer is arguing that ending the EV tax credit would be good for Tesla. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. However, Musk's shift on the EV tax credit likely reflects changes at Tesla since late last year. Backlash to Musk's political activities played a major role in the company's recent sales troubles, including its first drop in annual sales in 2024 and its biggest ever drop in its sales during the first three months of the year. That resulted in a 71% plunge in net income in the first quarter. While the $7,500 EV tax credit goes to car buyers, it indirectly benefits EV makers by increasing demand. When an earlier version was phased out in 2019, Tesla was forced to cut prices to keep buyers interested. It's not just Musk who changed his opinion on the credit's important to Tesla. The same analysts who once believed removing the EV tax credit would help Tesla are now concerned over its loss. In a note to clients the day after the election, Garrett Nelson, an analyst for CFRA Research, wrote that ending the credit 'will widen Tesla's competitive moat by making competing EV models even more uneconomic, as we believe (Tesla) is the only profitable manufacturer of EVs.' But now, Nelson is expressing worry over Tesla's value if the credits go away. 'Our view is the 'Big Beautiful Bill' would be a net negative for Tesla, as tax credits for EVs, energy storage and solar would be going away,' Nelson said in response to questions from CNN. 'That, and ongoing EV market share losses in China and Europe, are some of the primary reasons why we downgraded the stock in April.' Still, despite cutting his price target for Tesla, Nelson still has a buy recommendation on Tesla shares, as does Dan Ives, another Tesla bull. The tech analyst for Wedbush Securities said the change in finances at Tesla make the tax credits more important than in the past. 'Musk has definitely changed his tune from earlier on this,' Ives told CNN. 'The reality is it will hurt Tesla less than other EV makers, but it will still hurt. And Tesla needs all of the demand help it can get.' Under current bill language, the tax credit remains in place for upstart EV makers like Rivian and Lucid but goes away for Tesla and most legacy automakers, said John Murphy, auto analyst at Bank of America. But he said the greatest challenge for Tesla is that demand for EV among American buyers appears to have stalled. 'I think 8% market share might be the high water mark for EV,' he said at a presentation Wedneday, speaking about overall demand for electric vehicles in the US market. Because of that, and the lack of new Tesla models, especially a lower-priced version that had been promised, 'I think (Musk) is going to be challenged to grow volume.'
New York Times
16 minutes ago
- New York Times
Trump Threatens Musk Contracts as Feud Escalates
President Trump threatened to cut billions of dollars in federal contracts and tax subsidies for Elon Musk's companies on Thursday, the latest escalation in the growing feud between the two men. 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,' the president wrote on Truth Social. 'I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' Last year, Mr. Musk's companies were promised $3 billion across nearly 100 different contracts with 17 federal agencies. Most of the contracts were for SpaceX, Mr. Musk's space technology company. Tesla, his electric vehicle company, also has contracts with the federal government. But the relationship between the two men very publicly dissolved Thursday. Mr. Musk until last week was a top presidential adviser and has since turned into a critic of one of Mr. Trump's priorities. Mr. Musk has called the president's signature legislation currently moving through Congress a 'disgusting abomination.' The two lashed out at each other from on their own social media platforms on Thursday. 'Elon was 'wearing thin,' I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!' Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. Mr. Musk responded on X, the social media platform he owns, 'Such an obvious lie. So sad.'
