Pickleball Addiction were crowned winners of the MLP competition on day one of the 2023 Skechers English Nationals at Bolton Arena.
Rhodri Oliver, Thaddea Lock, Mark Johnson and Elaine Brown won a nail-biting final 3-1 against the Top Spin Pro team which featured Freddie Powell, Hermione Baxter Chinery, Roberto Rospo and Karen Farnhill.
For the second straight year in Bolton, eight sponsored teams were split into two groups with a split age format: an 18+ man and woman, a 35+ man and a 40+ woman in each team.
The final was a belter. In the opening women’s doubles tie, Pickleball Addiction’s Thaddea and Elaine romped home 21-9, but the match was squared up when Freddie’s power, lightning reflexes and net domination saw he and Roberto to a 21-15 victory for Top Spin Pro in the men’s doubles.
In the older-age mixed doubles, Pickleball Addiction duo Mark and Elaine were victorious 21-12 over Roberto and Karen, putting Top Spin Pro up against the wall ahead of the concluding mixed doubles tie.
It was down to Freddie and Hermione to try and force a dreambreaker, but Rhodri – who was named MVP – and Thaddea won a thriller to take the title and £500 per player prize money.
The deciding tie went deep and Rhodri and Thaddea thought they had won it at 21-20 when Rhodri thundered a forehand down the line, but it was narrowly called out.
At 24-23, Rhodri slightly mishit, Freddie was deceived by the bounce, wafted at it once, twice, but to no avail. He was left on the floor and Pickleball Addiction were the champions.
Rhodri said afterwards: “I’m pretty much speechless. Thaddea held it together and I just filled in the cracks!”
Thaddea responded: “He did a bit more than that! We knew we just had to hang in there. We knew Freddie dominates but we also knew he had to start missing. He couldn’t keep making them.
“I can’t stress enough how much this is a team event. It’s not just one person, everybody pulls their weight. The guys have been amazing – and we won!”
Elaine said: “I’m not a singles player and the thought of having to play singles on here in a dreambreaker was filling me with dread so I just can’t tell you how relieved I am!”
Mark commented: “I’m just so happy. This is near the top of my career highlights. I’ve represented Wales at squash a few times, but this is very special.”
SB Pickleball (Johnny Adams, Mollie Kubrick-Finney, Ato Stephens and Rachel Kirk) overcame Scantastics (Harrison Wood, Pei Chuan Kao, Peps Giuliano and Angela Needham) in the bronze medal match.
Pickleball Addiction and Top Spin Pro were both unbeaten in the three-match group stage, with all of Top Spin Pro’s victories by virtue of dreambreakers.
Franklin Family, who finished third in Group One with just a single victory, surrendered the MLP trophy they had won last year. They also failed to make it a hat-trick having won the DUPR Team Trophy at the English Open in August.
The semi-finals saw Top Spin Pro see off Team SCAN 3-1 while Pickleball Addiction conquered SB Pickleball by the same margin.
The winning team received £500 per player, with runners-up getting £200 and the bronze medal winners £100. £1000 of the sponsors’ funding was donated to Children in Need.
Pics: paulcurry.co.uk
