Kitchen Konversation: Federico Staksrud - Beating Ben & The Merger

 

Professional Pickleball Players Discuss Tour Developments and Personal Growth Kitchen Conversation with Federico Staksrud, and Christian Alshon In this episode of Kitchen Conversations, co-hosts Jason Aspes and Jared Paul interview professional pickleball players Federico Staksrud and Christian Alshon about recent developments in the pro pickleball tours, how they approach the mental game, and their personal growth as players.

1. (0:57) How have you improved your doubles game over the past year as you transitioned from being primarily a singles player? Over the past year, Federico has focused more time practicing and developing his doubles game rather than just singles. He now practices doubles 70% of the time compared to before when he was more of a singles specialist. He's worked on skills like resets, dinking, offensive and defensive strategies that take more time to develop in doubles. His doubles game has improved through this dedicated practice.
   

2. (6:50) Walk through the match with Ben in the singles final, being down big in the third set but coming back to win. What was your mentality and approach during that comeback? In the third set of the finals match against Ben, Federico was down 8-3. At that point, he felt mentally relaxed since he had "nothing to lose." Even though Ben usually comes back in these situations, Federico surprisingly came back to win 12-10. He got a bit lucky at the end but stayed mentally engaged. The match had long intense points with incredible gets. Federico changed his strategy a bit rather than hitting hard crosscourt drives.
   

3. (15:16) What was it like being a top instructor at the Joola championships and seeing the growth of pickleball there compared to last year? Federico enjoyed being a top instructor at the recent Joola championships. He noticed major improvements from last year, with many more courts set up and a small stadium. The players were very enthusiastic about learning. It was great to see the growth of pickleball at this event with other pros like Ben Johns, Lea Jansen, Anna Bright, etc also instructing.
   

4. (23:02) Christian: What went into your decision to choose PPA initially and what factors were most important to you? During the Kansas City PPA event, Christian got an email about MLP contracts and spent that Thursday figuring out what it meant. By the end of the day, his agent said it was "war." The next day Christian worked to gain more info about the contracts and where players were going. He ended up choosing PPA because he wants to prove he's the #1 player in the world, which he felt would be harder to do in the team format of MLP.
   

5. (26:27) Federico: Walk through your experience in Kansas City receiving the early MLP contract offer and deciding to sign. Federico and his agency, Top Notch, were some of the first to receive the MLP contract offer on Thursday of the PPA Kansas City event. He thought the contract provided good stability and salary for the next 3 years. After talking with his agent, he decided to sign with MLP before the "bomb" dropped and before PPA could counter. He thought it was a good opportunity.
   

6. (29:02) Now that the tours have reconciled, do you expect any lingering hurt feelings or animosity between players who originally chose different tours? Christian doesn't expect big lingering animosity between the two player groups. In the long run, he thinks if players can sustain their high level of play, they'll earn what they deserve regardless of some originally signing for less. Players can now focus on competing rather than the drama.
   

7. (37:36) You're playing with Riley Newman in Atlanta - how do you expect teaming with him to go? Christian has practiced some with Riley leading up to Atlanta and says they have a decent chance. Christian can play either side and handle Riley's intensity. They beat another MLP team in practice. Christian jokes he'll likely put Riley on the right and will have to handle any eye rolls from him if they struggle.
   

8. (38:44) Let's reminisce on your big singles win over Ben in Atlanta last year - walk through that moment and reaction after. Christian brings up his big singles win over Ben last year in Atlanta. He recalls Ben trying to call a double bounce on him during the match. After Christian won, he was waiting for a bigger reaction from the crowd. Most people didn't even realize he won since there was no scoreboard. It was a huge moment for Christian to finally beat Ben.
   

9. (40:05) We notice you tend to pause in place after difficult losses - why do you do that and what's going through your mind in those moments? Christian acknowledges he does pause in place for a period of time after difficult losses. He says the closer the matches are, the longer he'll stand there thinking about it. For example, after his semi-final loss to JW he stood there for a very long time analyzing since it was his first chance at a finals appearance. The harder he competes, the tougher close losses are to accept right after.
   

10. (43:00) Now that MLP and PPA have reconciled, what can they do to simplify things and build a solid foundation going forward? Federico thinks MLP and PPA now need to find ways to simplify things and create a solid foundation to build on. The team vs individual format confuses fans. He suggests establishing more of a team events vs tour events structure that's still connected. They need infrastructure to prevent issues in the future now that they are united.

Summary: In this wide-ranging discussion, hosts interview professional pickleball players Federico Staksrud and Christian Alshon. They discuss recent developments in the professional pickleball tours, including Federico signing an early MLP contract and Christian choosing PPA. The players provide their perspectives on the chaotic tour split and subsequent reconciliation. They also talk about improvements in their own games, with Federico focused more on doubles fundamentals and Christian pursuing the #1 singles ranking. Other topics include memories of big wins and losses, approaching the mental game, and ideas for simplifying the pro tours going forward now that they are reunited.