Riley Newman and Lindsey Newman show their strong sibling partnership in three games against Matt Wright and
Lucy Kovalova for gold .
PHOTO BY BRUCE YEUNG ; IG : @ YEUNGPHOTOGRAPHY
As the world slowly began to recover from the effects of the pandemic , perhaps no other community was as anxious to return to normalcy as those who are passionate about pickleball . When the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the sport , canceling or postponing events throughout the country in 2020 , no other tournament was missed maybe as much as the 2021 Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships presented by Pickleball Central staged at the beautiful Indian Wells Tennis Garden outside of Palm Springs .
With an increased purse this year , expanded media coverage and more than 2,300 players eager to hit the nearly 50 courts , anticipation ran high , and excitement was at a feverish pitch .
But another kind of fever had already been forcing the slamming of brakes and restrictions of development for most of the athletes , who were impacted by various shutdowns . However , they did find creative ways to keep their games and more importantly , their minds sharp .
“ It was really tough ; the pandemic definitely affected my play a lot . Even though Arizona had some open courts , I wasn ’ t playing nearly as much as I would have liked to ,” says Lindsey Newman , who paired with her brother Riley and took home the Mixed Doubles title at the 2021 Nationals . “ I instead took the opportunity to work on my off-court training . I was exercising using a weighted jump rope , doing a lot of ab work , push-ups and biking .”
Jennifer Dawson , who captured the elusive Triple Crown at this year ’ s Nationals — winning the Senior Women ’ s Pro Singles , Doubles and Mixed Doubles — also found the transition back into tournament action challenging at best : “ I found that it was difficult to keep the tournament toughness . It definitely took a few tournaments to get back into the tournament mindset .”
She knew the road to win all three titles was going to be a tough one , but her play heading into Indian Wells was strong and she had a considerable level of confidence on her side .
“ Going into Nationals I felt like I had a chance to win all three events , but it definitely would not be easy . All the players in my brackets are extremely tough . So many teams were capable of winning the tournament ,” says Jennifer .
As the tournament got underway under beautiful California skies , many eyes were focused on the play of teenage phenom Anna Leigh Waters , with the knowledge that a solid tournament run in Women ’ s Singles might propel her into the world ’ s top ranking at the end of play .
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JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2022 | MAGAZINE 37