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S
s C
n.
pio
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Tyson M
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gle
in
m
ha
t was the biggest
tournament in
pickleball history,
and the Indian Wells
Tennis Garden met
the challenge with
ease. With 45 courts
converted for pickleball
by the Indian Wells
Tennis Garden team—including
a stadium court that seated
around 2,500 spectators—the
national championships brought
world-class talent to a world-class
venue.
More than 2,200 players from around
the world played 4,290 matches in front of
a live audience of more than 10,000 during
the course of the week. On the line was $75,000
in prize money.
Blue, cloudless skies gave players and spectators
little opportunity for relief from the 90-degree-plus heat
that opened the tournament. Quick to meet that challenge,
the facility’s crew of professionals increased shade and beverage
stations.
Despite the heat, this year’s national championships gave the
pickleball world some of the finest competition ever seen. Tennis pro
Tyson McGuffin from Yakima, Washington, and pro Lucy Kovalova from
Wichita, Kansas, lit the courts on fire with spectacular, award-winning
play.
Kovalova, in fact, left the tournament as a Triple Crown winner,
shutting out competition in Open Singles, Open Doubles and Open
Mixed. In her Open Doubles match, Kovalova and her partner, Irina
Tereschenko, defeated the powerhouse team of Simone Jardim and
Corrine Carr, who earned silver. Jardim was a Triple Crown winner last
year. Kovalova went on to defeat her own partner in singles competition,
leaving Tereschenko with an Open Singles silver medal finish.
In Open Mixed Doubles, Kovalova and her partner, Matt Wright,
defeated Jardim and her partner, Kyle Yates, 11-5, 7-11, 11-4. In
Mills Miller
Continued on page 31 >
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018 |
MAGAZINE
29