Targeting Ben Johns ON PURPOSE — And It's Working

Targeting Ben Johns ON PURPOSE — And It's Working

From PicklePod by The Dink Pickleball

June 9, 2026 · 1h 9m

About this episode

The episode discusses recent pickleball performances, strategies to beat top players, and features a new age-based draft segment.

Last week Zane called out Hayden Patriquin's Columbus performance. Hayden texted back one sentence — and then went 10-0 in St. Louis. We cover all of that, the Shock's total demolition of the Mad Drops, a deep dive on how to actually beat Ben Johns, and full MLP power rankings with a new segment: the James Ignatowich Terminated Team of the Week. 🪓 We also run a brand new age-based MLP draft (teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s — yes, all age groups must be represented), Nico recaps his wild weekend at the Bread & Butter Nerdy Tournament in Vero Beach (featuring Robert Slutzky playing right-handed and Doug dropping $420 checks), and we debate whether the pro pickleball world needs to stop glazing Ben Johns just for showing up. Plus: the dead spot problem is real, Nico's most awkward fan FaceTime, and another round of Guess My DUPR. 🗳️ Vote on our age draft in the Pro Pickleball Talk Discord → https://www.discord.gg/JxEcUZ54z 📣 $500 Midwest Racket Sports Giveaway → www.giveaway.thedinkpickleball.com (ends June 10th!) 💊 Marekk Health → www.marekhealth.com | Code: THEDINK for 10% off 🩺 ZocDoc → www.zocdoc.com/thedink Be the first to try Zane's new course here…

People in this episode

Hosts: Zane, Nico

Topics covered

  • pickleball performance
  • MLP power rankings
  • age-based draft
  • tournament recap
  • pro pickleball debate

Keywords

  • pickleball
  • Ben Johns
  • MLP
  • tournament
  • age draft
  • performance
  • power rankings

Sponsors

Midwest Racket Sports, Marekk Health, ZocDoc

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Pro Pickleball Talk

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