Megan Fudge enjoyed the perfect end to a great weekend at the Skechers Pickleball English Open when she claimed gold alongside fellow American Jack Munro in the mixed doubles.
Fudge and Munro impressively defeated compatriots Erik Lange and Allison Harris, gold medallists in the men’s and women’s doubles the previous day, 11-5 11-8 on the show court at the Telford International Centre.
It made up for the disappointment of losing in doubles finals involving their opponents for both players, with the Americans largely dominating the latter stages of the ‘open’ tournaments held over three of the seven days of the English Open.
Fudge, 36, was born in Dusseldorf, Germany, and now tours the United States in an RV with husband, and fellow pickleball professional, Ryler Deheart.
She said: “I’m super excited. Jack played unbelievable – he and I play a lot together in the States and coming over here to England, in front of all the crowds, there was a great atmosphere.
“My family is here from Germany as well, so it was just a great way to finish the weekend.
“The drama started in the semi-finals [against Spencer Lanier and Lauren Mercado], we had a huge battle to win that match to earn our spot in the final.
“I didn’t know how much we had left in the tank, to be honest, and I knew they would come out firing – Allison has been playing unbelievable this week, and Erik as well.
“I knew we had our work cut out, we had a certain game plan in mind, we just didn’t know if we had enough energy to execute it, but it was fantastic, knowing this was the last match of the day, the last match of the weekend for us, to give it one more push.”
The 2024 English Open was the largest pickleball event to take place outside of North America, with a record number of almost 2,000 players from 42 countries set to participate.
It was a second visit to Telford for Fudge, who said: “This was one of my favourite events outside of the US last year and it was my first international event.
“We’ve come back this year and it’s double the size, with almost 2,000 participants and literally players from around the world.
“It’s become such a staple in Europe that people want to come to, and us Americans feel the same way, that we want to be part of the growth, part of the energy and part of the atmosphere, so it’s been a fantastic tournament.”
Pickleball England has announced a record number of players competing at this year’s English OPEN from the 8th-14th August at the Telford International Centre in the largest pickleball event taking place outside of the USA EVER – visit pickleballengland.org
