Patience, thy name is Pickleball. Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters won their triple crowns at the OH SNAP! Denver Open in characteristic fashion. The champions known for consistency and precision journeyed through a few rises and falls in play on Sunday, but were able to reset and regain control each time, notwithstanding the savvy play of the weekend’s underdogs.
Pablo Tellez and Federico Staksrud, the lefties who took on the Johns brothers in the Men’s Doubles final, came out aggressive and intentional early in the first game, sliding fast and countering Ben’s speedups with care. Tellez and Staksrud quickly built a 4-0 lead.
After that opening salvo, the brothers were quick to reassess.
“They were hitting a lot of out balls,” Collin said after the match, “and they kept hitting the net. They got three or four of their points off netballs.”
In response, the Johns brothers drew out dink rallies for longer and waited for more attackable balls, while Tellez and Staksrud continued to play well, but began to unravel. The Johns brothers won the men’s doubles championship, 11-7, 11-4, 11-4.
Earlier, in the women’s doubles championship, Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright found that taking their time would be more important than trying to hit quick winners…
