It's 10-8 in game 3 with a berth to the US Open finals on the line.

Ryler Deheart and I have been battling #1 seed Jay Devilliers and Ryan Fu for the last hour and fifteen minutes.

This is a moment I've visualized hundreds of times. Ryler serves, we make our way to the kitchen, and we start dinking. Ryler's going cross court with Ryan, back and forth, back and forth — until he takes one out of the air and forces Ryan into a tough, off-balance dink.

He misses.

And just like that, we've upset the #1 seed in the tournament, beating the #12 men's doubles player in the world (Jay Devillier), and earned our spot in the US Open Finals.

I didn't even know how to react.

Ryler turned to me and chest bumped. But there's that slightly awkward moment where you just won the match standing 14 feet from your opponents, and just as fast as the point ended, they're already at the net ready to shake hands.

So, celebrating big time before the handshake feels weird, but…

We shook hands. And then we let out a roar.

Then I turned to my parents.

My dad is standing with his arms up while my mom has her hands on her head in tears from pure joy.

(My mom’s heartfelt reflection of the moment inside ThatPickleballSchool)

I’m looking around, trying to remember I’ve spent thousands, yes thousands of hours training on court and watching film to experience a moment like this.

A moment in front of a sell-out crowd on a big stage. A win against two of the best players in the world.  A moment I will absolutely remember for the rest of my life.  

Now, quick side quest.

A couple of years ago, I wrote an article about how to handle yourself when you get invited to the better games.

And inside that article, I talked about getting invited to a "better game" with Jay Devilliers. And If you could have seen the gap in skill between us that day, you would have never believed we'd be the ones beating him in this match.. 

I've gotta be honest with you, though.

I'm not great at sitting still and looking back at past accomplishments. My natural instinct is to move on to the next thing. But my fiancée Ashlee knows me better than anyone, and she keeps reminding me to slow down and actually honor the moment.

Also — full disclosure — I'm choosing to write about our semifinal win instead of the finals. We lost that one 11-6 in the 3rd, and it's still kinda painful, and I'd rather just be happy right now. 😂

Long story short, I had the best time at the US Open and walked away with two medals.

Mixed Doubles with Allison Harris - Top 8 finish

Men’s Doubles with Ryler Deheart - 🥈

Split Age Pro with Dayne Gingrich - 🥉

If you'd told me a year ago I'd walk into this tournament and come out with those results, I would've been pretty damn proud. And honestly? I am.

I've also gotta shout out every single person who subscribes to this newsletter, watches the videos, or is a member of ThatPickleballSchool and came up to say hi throughout the week. And everyone who cheered for us on Center Court and the stream — trust me, I could hear you. It meant more than you know.

So thank you.

Big thanks to Tim and Melanie in Naples, who hosted my family and me for the week. Two of the nicest people I've ever met. I feel really lucky they let us crash with them.

Honestly, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world right now.

For the past 4.5 years, in addition to making videos, I've been able to pursue pro pickleball. And up to this point, there have really been two chapters.

Chapter 1 — Go from never playing to pro pickleball in 12 months. (It took about 15.) ✅ 

Chapter 2 — Play the full APP Tour and win a medal. (Last year I won 3 silvers and finished #8 in men's doubles.) ✅

Now Chapter 3 is here.

I've decided to switch to primarily playing PPA tournaments, with the goal of cracking the top 50 in men's doubles over the next 12 months.

I'm playing some of the best pickleball of my life right now. (Probably no surprise that it started happening after I met Ashlee and we got engaged. And she reminds me of that often, in the best way. 😂)

I'll keep you all posted on how it goes — both here in the newsletter and inside ThatPickleballSchool.

Okay. Thanks for reading. And again, thank you so much for all the support.

Next week, we'll get back to regularly scheduled programming with the Friday Fix.

See you then,

-Kyle