There’s no Ben Johns in Minnesota.
Anna Leigh Waters was somewhere warm, posting videos of her dog on Instagram.
And for the first time in PPA Tour history, Championship Sunday is void of all the Waters, all the Johns and all the Newmans.
But guess who’s still around?
There are up-and comers, there are new faces, and there have been some upsets, but Callie Smith has demonstrated that she is still one of the top names to beat. She and partner Lucy Kovalova earned their way back to the finals with a 9-11, 11-2, 11-7 victory over Andrea Koop and Anna Bright.
“It’s awesome to be here in the finals again with my partner Lucy,” Smith said. “Do you see these smiles right now? This is what it means to play pickleball. I love my partner, I love pickleball, I love Minnesota. Let’s go!”
It’s not like Smith’s showing on Saturday was a surprise, to be clear. She and Kovalova were the No. 1 seeds and they’re also the defending champs here at the Indoor National Championships in Lakeville, Minn.
But Smith and Kovalova have been pursuing another title together for most of the latter end of 2022 with no success and they’re hungry for a big finish. And at a tournament where several players have grabbed headlines for a number of different reasons, Smith is still…
