“ It just shows the grit Sofia and Casey have,” added Waters.“ It means a lot, because it was so tough, especially in that third game. The feeling is hard to explain, but I think it means a lot to win like that than to win 4 and 4.”
“ I’ m really happy to have been in the final with Casey,” said Sewing.“ We’ ve been looking forward to it for a very long time.”
Anna Leigh Waters is approaching 200 gold medals in her illustrious career, many of which in mixed doubles with a few different partners over the years— most notably Ben Johns. However, in the short time they have shared a court together, she is fond of playing alongside Devilliers.
“ I love to play with positive partners, and Jay was superpositive all week and plays very aggressively. I feel like in mixed doubles, you really have to trust your partner because they’ re coming over on your side, so you have to be comfortable with letting them take space. And with Jay, he makes me feel super-comfortable on the court, so he can take whatever he wants.”
Devilliers, a resident of Wichita, Kansas, is ranked 9th in the world in mixed doubles, and— like so many partners before him— was excited to compete but did not want to disappoint the world’ s top player.“ This is definitely not something new for Anna Leigh, but for me it’ s so special. I’ m just glad I didn’ t let her down. So very happy to get this one done.”
In Champions Pro action( ages 50-59), for women’ s doubles, Lee Whitwell and Eugenia Carolina Lopez Ascarate defeated Molly Carter and Sheri Courter for the gold, while Amy Blumrosen and Ellen Novosoletsky took home the bronze medal.
In men’ s doubles, Dave Weinbach and Dayne Gingrich captured the gold medal, beating Marcello Paiva Jardim and Jaime Oncins. The bronze went to the team of Youssef Bouzidi and Marco Osorio.
In mixed doubles, the team of Whitwell and Oncins stoop atop the medal platform, having beaten Karin Ptaszek-Kochis and Gingrich. Bronze was taken home by Mircea Morariu and Audra Spielberger.
For the Masters Pro events( ages 60 +), doubles gold for the women went to Sophie Amiach and Anna Shirley, having beaten the duo of Katherine Gillis and Debbie Seabold. Jean Halahan and Leslie Bernard left Naples with the bronze medal.
Men’ s doubles saw Martin Reist and Dan Granot capture gold over the pairing of Rob Krizmanich and Mark Wilder. The bronze was presented to Bruce Dinopoulos and Mark Redding.
Krizmanich would walk away with his second silver medal of the tournament after teaming with Bernard in mixed doubles. They lost in the final to gold medal winners Lee Sponaugle and Shirley. Michael Chen and Pam Gilbert won bronze.
Ten years and counting for the US Open— the“ Biggest Pickleball Party in the World”! •
Drew Wathey is a published author and screenwriter(“ A Season With Hope”) and former director of communications for the PGA Tour’ s Phoenix Open. Wathey is the owner of SportsLink, a home-based sports public relations and marketing company. He is also a national sports anchor for iHeart Radio. His family lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
FANS IN THE VIP SECTION WATCH A PRO WOMEN ' S DOUBLES SEMIFINAL MATCH PLAYED ON ZING ZANG CHAMPIONSHIP COURT.
36 TO SUBSCRIBE, CALL 412.914.8294 OR GO TO PICKLEBALLMAGAZINE. COM