Joey shared all about the AOPS experience from his perspective, but I’d be remiss not to jot down a bit of my own pov. Here’s my side of the story leading up to the final moments of the first ever Pickleball Grand Slam feature.
Walking into Melbourne Park for the first time Friday morning was surreal. The event started before the grounds were open to anyone with a grounds pass, so we had a quiet moment to take it all in before the place was buzzing with tennis fans.
While I’ve never been much into tennis, I felt so privileged throughout that whole weekend watching all the players compete on courts that have hosted some of its greatest matches. We were literally in a stadium… in Australia… for pickleball. INSANE.
While some places around the world (primarily the US) are getting more used to big venues and large crowd for pickle tournaments, we just haven’t seen much of that yet in Australia. Honestly most of the time you’d be lucky to spot a few people watching the tournament who aren’t somehow related to a player on the court.
I think that is what made this time in Melbourne all the more special for the Aussie players (and your local professional sideline fans, aka, me) between the AOPS and the PPA tournament last weekend. Giving people an opportunity to see how exciting, inviting and inclusive this sport really is.
It was such a contrast going from spectating the tennis match where you are shunned if you so much as cough during a point, to the absolute party on Court 3 fitted with a DJ, an emcee, some rowdy fans who showed up for the queen Katy Hart (aka Stacy) and a different crew who went wild for team pink… literally.
And of course, cheering Joey and Team Hosier on throughout the AOPS was a special kind of stress. People may be surprised to know I absolutely love being on the sidelines, despite wanting to walk away every 5 minutes because it’s just that anxiety-inducing for me.
This weekend was particularly hard for Joey after receiving some heartbreaking family news just before it all kicked off, so I did my best to help him keep his mind focused on the court and find some ounce of energy where possible.
At the end of the day, I can’t control what happens, but I can control how I show up for him.
I think the hardest part of this all for me is the extreme feelings it all creates. I can’t explain the intense joy I felt for Joey and his team who took the win by literally one point vs how gutted I was for George, Roos and their team.
One ball that didn’t quite make it over the net was the difference between first and second place.
These teams played each other earlier on Sunday in the pool round and pink (hosier) got absolutely smoked by green (guildford). Honestly at that point I was hard pressed to picture a win for them, but based on the team rankings up to that point we knew it would be a pink vs green rematch to come so I was hopeful they could find a bit of energy before the finals.
And if you happened to miss how the finals went down… essentially there were 12 games total per match (8 singles, 2 gender doubles, 2 mixed doubles). Winning 7/12 games would give a team the majority and automatic win. (So here’s the part where I mention that in the morning play, green beat pink 9 games to 3).
For the final, they made use of both courts, so we had two games going at the same time. This made it hard for teammates to support each other and fans had to focus their attention on one of the courts, but it also meant that we could see the win/loss ratio at double-speed.
Green had an impressive start (and an incredibly lucky ‘golden point’ win in a women’s singles game) that put them 6-4 going into the last two mixed games (as opposed to 5-4 if the singles game had instead counted as a tie, and then the win may have been determined by game score as was the case the entire weekend leading up to the final).
This meant pink HAD to win BOTH mixed games in order to tie up the score at 6-6 and force a “5 point shoot-out”… which, no one had a clue what that would look like.
This is the first time that had been introduced all tournament.
Somehow, pink wins both of their mixed games, ties it at 6-6, and then each team has to put up a mixed pairing of their choosing for this 5-point shoot-out.
That worked probably exactly (or nothing) like you’d imagine… 5 points in rally scoring with the first team to get to 5 taking the prize. Not even winning by a 2-point margin… literally just first to 5.
At this point, I feel claustrophobic and need to leave the stadium. My stomach was in my throat, I felt like the stands were closing in on me and I was 3 seconds away from passing out next to Blitzy and Grabovic. I leave my bag behind and go to walk out when I see Ollie, Bella and Chris Pascoe in the stands.
They’re sitting in the front row of a section that has a bit of a flat clearing in front of them, so I decide maybe with a bit more breathing room I can stay and try to watch the finale.
Once I see Joey and Mickie are representing their team, I bury my face in Chris’s arm and ask him to narrate whatever is happening to me because I truly could not look.
Joey and Mickie won the first point… and then were down 2-1, then 3-1.
They somehow brought it back to 3-3, before losing the next point. So they’re at 4-3 down with green to serve.
By some miracle, a ball goes long and the game is tied at 4-4. (I’m still not watching at this point). It’s the golden point.
Mickie serves the ball, rips a 3rd shot drive straight at George then makes the most beautiful 5th shot drop.
The return dink doesn’t make it over the net.
Pink is first to 5.
There’s a video Bella took of me jumping out of my seat 2 seconds delayed because I didn’t see the final point. I think I heard the cheering and could make out it was Joey’s team, and that’s when I reacted. Just an insane flood of shock, gratitude… mostly shock.
It’s hard for me to say whether I felt like pink ‘deserved’ that win or not because honestly, so many of the wins and losses in this sport are literally decided by centimeters. And the way you think you can predict who will be a strong team on paper is sometimes wildly corrected by how players actually show up on court.
There are so many factors to wins and losses… the ball used, court conditions, different paddles, a bad bounce, one gust of wind, a ref overturning a call and, for the first time in history, a ‘golden point.’
I guess that’s the hard side of being so intertwined with the pro scene and all of the incredible players who we call friends off court… you just know everyone deserves the best, a win means so much to every single person, and yeah… it’s always bittersweet for me.
From my perspective, it’s a game of intense skill, and in some instances, intense luck. Just one weekend later, Joey and Zane were two bad bounces escorted to a fourth-place finish against Jay Devilliers and Collin Johns at the PPA Australia Open.
Sadly that’s just the way the game rolls, but it does put into perspective the importance of being mentally “in it” for the entirety of the match, having strong chemistry with your partner and sometimes getting the crowd around you for a bit of energy.
Needless to say, I’m amazed by everyone who showed up to compete that weekend. From the international talent on display from France and the US, to our local heroes Aaron Blitz, Jai Grewal and Vuk Velickovic who stepped in as last-minute fill-ins.
The tournament format was new, the venue was new, the crowds were new and in a game decided by a few points and a few seconds, I’m sure there was intense pressure on the court. I obviously couldn’t do what they do.
Most of all, I’m incredibly proud of my husband. He’s said himself that he had probably the worst showing to date at this event, understandably so, but he pulled it together and was still there alongside his team. I think it’s easy to forget that everyone has so much happening off the court and the pressure is still pretty new for a lot of the players.
Honestly I imagine it will only get harder to perform as crowds grow, chirping becomes more regular and bigger dollars are on the line. But…
If these tournaments were any indication of what else is in store for the rest of 2025… strap in, folks! It’s gonna be electric.
xo,
Tati
Did you watch the AO Pickleball Slam? What did you think? Should this be a new yearly tournament?
