{"id":30611,"date":"2026-04-29T15:45:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/?p=30611"},"modified":"2026-04-29T15:45:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T20:45:58","slug":"franklin-us-open-pickleball-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/?p=30611","title":{"rendered":"Franklin US Open Pickleball Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, you read that right. The Minto US Open is now Franklin US Open Pickleball Championships – at least this year, anyway. To get a recap from previous years, read this<\/a> and this<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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You can’t go to the US Open and not take a picture in front of this wall. It is iconic. I love how they add every single year so it’s easy to tell what year you were there. They’re starting to run out of room, though. <\/p>\n

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Some key differences between this year and previous years – besides the obvious absence of two major sponsors (Minto and Margaritaville) – the player goody bag was just a basic string bag and not as nice as past year’s bags, and there was not much in it this year in terms of swag. You still got a tournament shirt, though, which was nice and always appreciated. Since Franklin is the title sponsor, players also got a commemorative Franklin X40 ball this year.<\/p>\n

Brian and I ran into a few people at the tournament such as Ramon’s friend Johnny (whose last name I forget) and William and Rosti Sobek (below).<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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We also had a fun Lunar sighting. This young kid named Nicholas from California is sponsored by Lunar.<\/p>\n

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The usual suspects were there – Kyle Yates and Rob Cassidy.<\/p>\n

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We got to see Rich Lively, a senior pro who we met through our friend Susie Ternes because she hosted him one year.<\/p>\n

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And we got to watch Jack Oxler play several matches throughout the week.<\/p>\n

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And, of course, we also watched our favorite pro Jay Devilliers. He got to partner with Anna Leigh Waters in mixed doubles which was amazing! <\/p>\n

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My friend Laurie Adams and I played together in 3.5 women’s doubles 40-49 age group on Thursday. I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of us in our matching Chicken N Pickle team uniforms!<\/p>\n

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Then on Saturday I played 3.5 mixed doubles 40-49 age group with Michael Cheung. We played in our matching Lunar shirts.<\/p>\n

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I actually got accept for 3.5 singles 40-49 age group as well but the event was on Saturday, April 11, the day we were flying in so I had to withdraw. At least I withdrew early enough that I didn’t have to pay for the event that I couldn’t play in. <\/p>\n

I was a bit more subdued this year and didn’t hound people for pictures. Something I deeply regret because I love looking back at photos and there’s not as much for me too look back on from this last trip. However, I did get participate in the iconic US Open flag ceremony<\/a> this year. <\/p>\n

Brian didn’t want any part of it so he just stayed in the Fan Zone while Michael and I walked with the Philippine contingency. It was so cool. The flag ceremony is one of the most unique and distinctive features of the US Open tournament and I was grateful to be part of it. I want to bring the Wichita flag next year. <\/p>\n

Besides spending time at the tournament, Brian and I got to eat some good (albeit expensive) food and do some touristy things while we were in Naples. I’ll share more about those activities in the next post. Stay tuned!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes, you read that right. The Minto US Open is now Franklin US Open Pickleball Championships – at least this year, anyway. To get a recap from previous years, read this and this. You can’t go to the US Open and not take a picture in front of this wall. It is iconic. I love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3419,21],"tags":[2153,3466,3467],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30611"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30611"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30632,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30611\/revisions\/30632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}