Pickleball 52 caught up with England’s Louis Laville who was a quarter-finalist in the singles, mixed and men’s doubles at the English Open. He says this year’s seven-day blockbuster in Telford showcased the sport’s growing stature and indicated that the UK is “closing the gap” on the USA’s full-time professionals.
“There’s no doubt about the stand-out performance at the English Open from the home nation’s point of view – that was Mollie Knaggs’ singles victory which was one of the best women’s singles performances I’ve ever seen.
She was playing an absolute joke all day. It will be really cool to watch her more and more as she continues to improve. She’s going to a tournament in the States soon and if she plays like that, I can’t see many people stopping her. It was pretty awesome to see.
All our top players had successful weekends. Although the men came away without any medals, to get a gold and three bronzes on the women’s side was a really excellent outcome.
James Chaudry and I both made the quarters in the men’s singles. We’d had a really good run until I lost to Max ‘Purple Jesus’ Manthou and James to Will Sobek, the eventual champion and bronze medallist.
James and I both had stand-in partners in the men’s doubles but we both made the quarters. I was supposed to be playing with Jack Foster who had a flight cancelled from the States, so I played with Freddie [Powell] one more time before he moves to North Carolina.
Pei [Chaun Kao] won a bronze singles medal and then teamed up with Thaddea [Lock] and did brilliantly in the women’s bronze play-off to defeat Roos Van Reek and Kaitlynn Hart who are a very strong pair.
What does this tell us about our status in global pickleball? Well, the level at the tournament was incredibly strong. Megan Fudge came over again and she’s world no.1. Jack Munro plays full-time. The Indian pair Harsh Mehta and Armaan Bhatia (who won men’s doubles bronze) were superb.
However, I’d say the gap between us and the Americans is closing a bit. What’s going to be important is if we [the top English and European players] can dedicate more time to pickleball. I think in the next year or two that will start happening because it’s exploding so much here.
The first stage is facilities. In the last year, there are a few more places putting down pickleball lines and dedicated courts. And very excitingly, in Kingston upon Thames, hopefully in 2025 there will be a 10-court facility Franklin Pickleball Club. The more those facilities emerge the more people want to play, and the bigger the prize pots become at tournaments.
The English Open started as a few hundred players and now it’s 2000 which is testament to how much pickleball has grown.
Our Premier Pickleball League started last summer on one tennis court at a boiling hot tennis centre. This year, we’ve got Premier, Masters and Challenger divisions, with live streaming, over 100 players and events all over the country.
What’s really nice is that it’s getting bigger, but maintaining its sociability and community. That’s the only reason I’m in pickleball. My life is pickleball, whether we’re competing against each other or sharing a beer afterwards. That will never change, however big this sport becomes.”
