2021 PPA Atlanta Georgia Open

 

Pro Women's Doubles Semi-Final Highlight Reel (10+ mins)

Anna Leigh Waters/Leigh Waters vs Sarah Ansboury/Michelle Esquivel 

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#AL Atlanta Open Pro

Women's Singles Results

Anna Leigh Waters vs Jackie Urbinati 11-3,11-0 (W)

Anna Leigh Waters vs Irina Tereschenko 11-4,11-2 (W)

Anna Leigh Waters vs Lea Jansen 15-13, 12-10 (L)

Anna Leigh Waters vs Callie Smith 15-12 (L)

Mixed Doubles

Anna Leigh Waters/Tyson McGuffin Bronze Medal

39:38 Anna Leigh Waters/Tyson McGuffin vs Simone Jardim/Ben Johns (Highlights)

The McGuffin Show Pickleball Podcast - The Atlanta Open

On his podcast, The McGuffin Show, Tyson McGuffin, the number two ranked professional pickleball men's singles player in the world, talked about playing Pro Mixed Doubles with Anna Leigh for the first time.

Women's Doubles

17:35 Anna Leigh Waters/Leigh Waters vs Sarah Ansboury/Michelle Esquivel (Highlights)

Gold Medal Match Lucy Kovalova/Simone Jardim vs Leigh Waters/Anna Leigh Waters

Silver Medal Score: 11-6, 9-11, 11-3, 6-11, 11-6

Highlights: 5th Game, End 2/4 Games

PPA Atlanta Open Recap

Pickleball Fire May/June: Pickleball and Family: Mother’s Day Edition

 

Pickleball Fire Magazine May/June 2021
Pickleball and Family: Mother’s Day Edition By Leigh and Anna Leigh Waters

Hair Ball

 

Leigh's Facebook Post: WARNING: Do not, I repeat, DO NOT wear a ponytail while playing pickleball! You may just may lose the point AND the ball!! 😂🤪🤷‍♀️

Side Note: This actually happened!! AL tried to get out of the way of an aggressive attack and her ponytail caught the ball. We didn’t know where the ball went until she turned around. And then we all broke into histerics!!!

HOW TO HIT A TWO-HANDED BACKHAND TOPSPIN DINK with Anna Leigh Waters: APP Pickleball Academy EP. 9

In this episode of APP Pickleball Academy, Anna Leigh Waters joins Coach Dominic Catalano to break down the two-handed backhand topspin dink. Anna Leigh explains how, why, and when to hit this devastating shot that will keep your opponents on their toes.

Anna Leigh: One of my favorite shots beside the drive, of course, is my backhand roll from the kitchen.

Coach Dominic Catalano: Everybody wants to know how you hit this shot. It is a cross court two-handed roll dink. When you are hitting this shot, what's the first thing you're thinking about?

Anna Leigh: Well, I'm thinking about where I want to hit the roll.

There are a couple places you can hit it.

You can hit it in the middle

You can hit it at their feet or you can bring them out wide.

The only trouble with bringing them out wide is you have to make sure that it's almost like a deep out wide and not so much an angle so that they can go around the post because there are some problems with that.

But, I have my partner here to block that shot if that does happen.

Coach Dominic Catalano: What you are talking about is when you roll the shot you almost want to roll it to the kitchen line sideline tee. Right?

Anna Leigh: Right! Exactly! What you're aiming for is that they are backing up and having to hit up on the ball.

Coach Dominic Catalano: Okay! When they hit up on the ball, you are trying to get it at their feet. Who are you setting up?

Anna Leigh: I'm setting up either my partner down the line to maybe hit an ernie or an aggressive shot that will set up the put away.

Coach Dominic Catalano: Are you trying to be offensive with that shot?

Anna Leigh: That's the great thing about this shot because you can hit it on the offense but you can also hit it on the defense. It's almost easier for me to hit the shot when I'm on the

defense because they're pulling me out wide so I have more angle to hit that shot back cross court.

Coach Dominic Catalano: Why do you prefer that shot on defense?

Anna Leigh: Well, I feel like as I'm almost taking the step back to hit the shot. I can accelerate more which is going to create more spin on the ball and it's going to dip even more and maybe even give me more of an angle to hit that shot which makes it harder for the opponent to get it back.

Pickleball Happy Hour - Leigh and Anna Leigh Waters

 

Time Code Question List

7:08 Anna Leigh you are the youngest to be national champion in a major sport. What do you think about that, Anna Leigh? 8:12 What is it like to play as a mother/daughter? What impact does that have on you off the court as well as on? 2018 Texas Open TeamWaters vs Lucy Kovalova/Sarah Ansboury, 2019 Florida Grand Slam Simone Jardim / Corrine Carr vs Leigh Waters / Anna Leigh Waters 12:48 I don't think you're going to go through the terrible teens. You start playing with somebody in they are 10, 11, 12 and then maybe you're thinking what if they go through that terrible teens part. You just seem to have skipped that. Why do you think that is? 15:53 What do you say to yourself? You are the rip it ladies. I'm gonna rip one right at my mom. 17:30 (2021 US Open Mixed Doubles Match) Somebody in your family won. At the end of the day, that's pretty doggone good. But, still challenging personally. 18:55 You two ladies are setting the stage for how people can be in pickleball and...I don't want to say, "just be a pickleball player" I don't know how else to say it, except to say it that way. Because what you're doing is you're creating a brand. You're creating a business. So, you're doing things on and off the court that are going to support you in multiple ways. So, let's talk about the clothing line. i want you share the story. How that came about? Why you're doing these special pieces. You just take it from here and tell us. 22:43 Leigh talks about the clothing line she had for about 5 years. 23:50 Tell me the story behind the pattern? 25:29 Does Paddletek make that or does she (Lindsey ) make that? 28:45 You also have some items that are kind of one-of-a-kind things. Tell us about that. 29:15 What kind of material is that? 29:27 Tell me how those custom pieces work and how you put them out there. 31:15 The Waters Ripit Logo 32:13 Now, there is one that is my favorite visor. 33:14 This is the technical hat. 33:44 This is the trucker hat. 34:02 Beth: Are you going to have your line for a little larger ladies? 34:40 A longer shirt. 35:39 Is there anything else you want to share regarding your goals with the business side of pickleball? 37:40 Doing pickleball camps and clinics is grueling. 39:50 We did a camp in Doyle's town Pennsylvania (before COVID). 41:10 You haven't collaborated and created your own shoe yet have you? 42:48 Carley: I definitely have a question about the grip because I noticed you guys are doing the double-handed on the backhand and the forehand. 46:05 Beth is wondering about drilling practice weekly and what is it what do you focus on time and time again? 50:00 What are you doing different now? 52:35 What is your philosophy and how do you implement your strategy? 54:40 You're using that dink to set up a strategy. 55:57 Kathy: I've always used a two-handed backhand because it's easier for me. You said your power comes from your left is that true of all players because i'm a left-handed player. 56:50 Do you have a coach? 58:51 When we play Engage players he (Josh Elliott) doesn't coach us at all. 1:01:03 Karen: I was wondering how Anna Leigh is doing with her osgood schlatter? I noticed she wore a knee brace at the last tournament. So, is it still giving her some problems or pain or is she's just getting over it? (September 2021: Pickleball Forum Thread - Is Anna Leigh Waters wearing knee braces? are her knees already bad at 14yo??? ugh)

1:03:10 I know Leigh you can say you had a a calf issue....Leigh: and yeah and a back issue... 1:04:23 Carol: Who are each of your favorite Mixed Doubles partners and why?

Mother/Daughter Bond Creates Gold Medals and Golden Moments On The Pickleball Court For Professional National Champions Leigh and Anna Leigh Waters

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

              

Mother/Daughter Bond Creates Gold Medals and Golden Moments On The Pickleball Court For Professional National Champions Leigh and Anna Leigh Waters

DELRAY BEACH, FL (May 3, 2021) -- Last month at the Minto US OPEN Pickleball Championships, the Professional Women’s Doubles National Champions Leigh and her 14 year old daughter Anna Leigh faced each other in a mixed doubles match. As soon as Leigh and her partner Tyson McGuffin won the game, Leigh embraced her disappointed daughter on the court for an extended amount of time, whispering into the teenager’s ear. 

The mother/daughter duo explained their Golden Moment in a live stream interview with “In The Kitchen” host Scott Golden. 

Anna Leigh: There were a lot of emotions going on after that match.

Leigh: We have played against each other before and we have learned from our mistakes. The first couple of times we played it was very competitive and we both wanted to win and nobody wanted to lose to the other. 

Anna Leigh: And we have played each other in singles before, too.

Leigh: Yeah. We would have these moments that after the match is over, one goes here and the other goes there and it’s awkward. We have grown past that. We understand that somebody has to win and somebody has to lose.

Anna Leigh: It is kind-of-like the “Serena/Venus” thing going on.

Leigh: We understand at the end of the match that the most important aspect is that we are mother/daughter. Afterwards, I could tell that Anna Leigh was upset as I would have been if I had lost. I knew that if I could just grab her and get a hold of her and hug her and say a few things in her ear that it would help the situation. I think it did. Don’t you?

Anna Leigh: (Shakes her head smiling, yes.) I had ice cream afterwards. 

Leigh: At first I was saying: Don’t be upset. Don’t cry. It is okay. I wish you could have won, too. And then I said, “Do you want to go get an ice cream?”

Anna Leigh: Laughs and shakes her head.

Leigh: I was trying to say things that were funny. And finally, I got her to laugh. And when she laughed, I knew that we could move on.

In their interview (May 6, 2021) on the "Pickleball Happy Hour", Leigh and Anna Leigh explained their US Open mother/daughter moment in more detail.

April: Scott Golden In The Kitchen Interview With TeamWaters

 

Mother-Daughter Duo Leigh and Anna Leigh Waters on Battling Each Other, Ice Cream, and Golden Moments/Medals Pickleball’s Newest Mother-Daughter Stars Open Up About Their Rapid Rise to Success and Competing Against One Another on the Sport's Biggest Stage Anna Leigh Waters, 14, and her mom Leigh Waters, 42, took the pickleball world by storm in 2019, winning a gold medal together in women's doubles at the Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships in Indian Well, California. The thrilling mother-daughter duo spoke with host Scott Golden in an April 2021 "In The Kitchen" interview about battling each other on opposing mixed doubles teams, embracing after an emotional win by Leigh, Anna Leigh's go-to ice cream order, waking up at dawn to finish a rain-delayed match, and much more. [1] 0:46 What was it like playing against each other in the US Open? Leigh called playing against her daughter in mixed doubles at the U.S. Open "the weirdest experience you can imagine." She elaborated: "Even though you want to win and you don't want to let your partner down, you also want them to do well and win, so it's just like a weird dynamic going on there." Anna Leigh confessed: "I personally hate it. It makes me physically ill when I see that I have to play her in a draw." She explained that while it's scary playing her talented mom, the "mother-daughter dynamic" also makes it extremely awkward. "I want her to win and do really well but yet here I'm playing with Tyson McGuffin - he doesn't want to go out, he wants to win." Leigh admitted they avoided saying "Come on!" when winning points against each other, making for a subdued and uncomfortable match. [2] 2:13 Can you talk about the long embrace after your mixed doubles match: Leigh Waters/Tyson McGuffin vs Anna Leigh Waters/Kyle Yates? After losing to her mom 15-12 in mixed doubles, Anna Leigh was visibly upset. Leigh recognized her daughter's disappointment and made a point to grab and hug her after the match, whispering encouragement in her ear. The embrace helped diffuse the emotion of the tough loss. Leigh later treated her daughter to ice cream, making jokes until she got Anna Leigh to laugh and put the difficult match behind them. "We understand that at the end of the match like most importantly we're mother daughter and so afterwards I could tell that Anna Leigh was upset as I would have been had I lost and I knew that if I could just grab her and get a hold of her and hug her and just say a few things in her ear that that it would help the situation and I think it did," Leigh explained. [3] 4:04 Anna Leigh - what ice-cream flavor did you get? To help cheer herself up after losing to her mom, Anna Leigh treated herself to cookies and cream ice cream in a waffle cone. As she put it: "I got the waffle cone cookies and cream ice cream after we after I lost that has to be a little bit better." The sweet snack was the perfect pick-me-up following the disappointing loss. [4] 5:08 What was it like to finish your Friday Women's Doubles Bronze Medal match on Saturday morning? Leigh and Anna Leigh were leading 8-3 in the second game of the women's doubles bronze medal match when heavy rain forced an overnight delay. They worried all night about losing momentum and struggled to sleep. After warming up for an hour the next morning, they managed to close out the match 11-5. However, the near-empty stadium lacked the typical electricity of medal matches. The unique COVID-19 protocols prevented crowds. Leigh felt the outdoor courts were actually more lively, saying "the people were just stacked and they were so close to you and that energy and there were way more people on the outside courts than there were at least it felt that way." Anna Leigh agreed "100 percent" that the outdoor crowd was more energetic. [5] 7:45 How did you first hear about Pickleball? The Waters family discovered pickleball while evacuated in Pennsylvania during Hurricane Irma in 2017. With limited entertainment options, they started playing pickleball at local parks - using borrowed wooden paddles at first. Leigh said they "loved it from the moment we were on the court we were hooked." Upon returning to Florida, they joined the Delray Beach Pickleball Club which introduced them to competitive tournaments. Delray hosted Anna Leigh's first-ever tournament. [6] 8:38 Paddletek paddles? The Delray tournament marked the beginning of the Waters' partnership with paddle company Paddletek. Founder Ken Fried saw a 10-year-old Anna Leigh playing and put a Paddletek TS5 in her hands - the same paddle she still uses today. Leigh initially played with a Selkirk paddle but switched to Paddletek around the time of the U.S. Open as well. She said "here we are today" playing exclusively with Paddletek paddles. [7] 9:57 What is your racket sports background? Anna Leigh has played tennis since age 8, competing in both tennis and pickleball for a while until focusing exclusively on pickleball during COVID. She believes tennis still helps her pickleball game and wants to play occasionally again. Leigh was a competitive junior player who earned a Division 1 tennis scholarship at the University of South Carolina. She played #1 singles and doubles all four years, quitting tennis after graduating. But when 8-year-old Anna Leigh wanted to learn tennis, Leigh picked her racket back up for a few years until discovering pickleball. [8] 11:13 How good/bad were you in your very first game? The Waters admit they were "probably terrible" in their first-ever pickleball game, mostly hitting tennis groundstrokes. Anna Leigh mused they were "good and bad" - impressing novices with their power while confusing experienced players by violating pickleball-specific strategy. Leigh recalled missing many nuanced pickleball shots early on, like returns off of tricky third-shot drops. [9] 12:32 When was your first tournament? How’d you do? Leigh's first tournament was the Delray Beach Open. She lost every match in the 5.0 women's bracket to vastly more experienced players like Andrea Coop. But she found more success partnering with seasoned player Stacy Townsend and winning the 4.5 mixed title with her dad. During the event, Anna Leigh's talent was so apparent that organizers bumped her mid-tournament from 3.0 to 3.5. [10] 13:58 Who is your favorite player to play against? Why? For Leigh, fellow top pro Andrea Koop is her favorite opponent. Their familiarity with each other's game leads to "so many inside jokes" and funny on-court moments. Anna Leigh enjoys facing off against Irina Tereschenko, citing their "mutual respect" and Tereschenko's wittiness even during intense points. [11] 15:20 Who is your least favorite player to play against? Why? Anna Leigh named her mom as her least favorite opponent, an easy choice given their awkward mother-daughter dynamic. Leigh wholeheartedly agreed: "I'll play anybody before playing her." They get anxious whenever they see they've been drawn to play one another and actively hope to land on opposite sides of a tournament bracket. [12] 16:36 What is your favorite shot? For Anna Leigh, her go-to is the backhand roll from the kitchen that she's trying to name. She loves how it comes in handy for mixed doubles. Leigh's favorite is the forehand speed-up shot from the kitchen, allowing her to seize offensive control of points. [13] 19:26 Where is your favorite place to play? Anna Leigh cherishes the electric atmosphere of the stadium court at the Indian Wells National Championships. Leigh points to Delray Beach where she started competing. The local club's first tournament holds special meaning as her pickleball origin story. [14] 20:02 What does your pre-match/tournament regiment look like? The Waters have an unconventional routine of eating a big Italian dinner the night before matches, then eating lightly in the morning. Anna Leigh isn't a big breakfast fan. They arrive about an hour early to warm up, take a break, then warm up again right before taking the court so they don't get cold. They say a prayer beforehand and listen to pump-up music, usually a rap song Anna Leigh plays that Leigh tries to sing along to. [15] 21:23 What’s one thing in your bag that people wouldn’t expect? Anna Leigh uses her bag to store medals from past pickleball and soccer tournaments, finding random medals buried in there from months or years ago. Leigh always carries unused server bands on her shoes and bag, building a collection over time that she can provide to other players if needed.

16] 23:28 What do you look for in a doubles partner? The Waters both prioritize finding mixed doubles partners who remain positive, even after mistakes. Anna Leigh explained that women face immense pressure receiving most shots, so a supportive partner is crucial. Negative energy or eye rolls create anxiety. They credit frequent partners Tyson McGuffin and Kyle Yates for staying upbeat and encouraging. Leigh also appreciates strategic partners who communicate tactics before points. [17] 25:56 Who enjoys being in the kitchen more? Anna Leigh loves cooking Italian food, especially meatballs, meatloaf and pasta made completely from scratch. She also makes excellent pancakes for breakfast. Leigh revealed that Anna Leigh prepared the entire Thanksgiving dinner herself last year. Her baking talents shine through on cakes as well. [18] 27:11 What are you binge watching? During rain delays at the U.S. Open, the Waters used the downtime to stream episodes of Pretty Little Liars. They became engrossed in the mystery/drama series, binging multiple seasons in just a few weeks. It provided a compelling distraction between matches in Naples. Leigh and Anna Leigh Waters have medaled at the sport's highest level while navigating the delicate balance of fierce competitors and loving mother-daughter duo. As pickleball explodes in popularity, keep an eye out for this emerging mother-daughter team as they continue battling opponents and rain delays on their quest for golden moments.

Time Code Question List

1. 0:46 What was it like playing against each other in the US Open?
2. 2:13 Can you talk about the long embrace after your mixed doubles match: Leigh Waters/Tyson McGuffin vs Kyle Yates/Anna Leigh Waters
3. 4:04 Anna Leigh - what ice-cream flavor did you get?
4. 5:08 What was it like to finish your Friday Women's Doubles Bronze Medal match on Saturday morning?
5. 7:45 How did you first hear about Pickleball?
6. 8:38 Paddletek paddles?
7. 9:57 What is your racket sports background?
8. 11:13 How good/bad were you in your very first game?
9. 12:32 When was your first tournament? How’d you do?
10. 13:58 Who is your favorite player to play against? Why?
11. 15:20 Who is your least favorite player to play against? Why?
12. 16:36 What is your favorite shot?
13. 19:26 Where is your favorite place to play?
14. 20:02 What does your pre-match/tournament regiment look like?
15. 21:23 What’s one thing in your bag that people wouldn’t expect?
16. 23:28 What do you look for in a doubles partner?
17. 25:56 Who enjoys being in the kitchen more?
18. 27:11 What are you binge watching?

 

"I would say this was my most special moment of the US Open. Opponents...mother, Leigh hugging her daughter, Anna Leigh, after Leigh and Tyson won to advance in mixed doubles. A "forever moment" to remember. It was a hug that seemed to last forever, and there were cheers and tears from the gallery as we all watched. These two are special and I feel fortunate to watch them as players and know them as people, two amazing individuals!" Dotti Berry 

Pickleball Fire Magazine May/June 2021
Scott Golden Interviews Leigh & Anna Leigh Waters After the U.S. Open in April of 2021