Friday, August 21, 2026

2:27 p.m. EST

Just wrapped up with the mixed, we lost in the third round of backdraw. Pretty good level, we just lost to a tough team, 15-11. It was close, really good points. It was a blast here on the court with Sara all day, she played great, her forehand speed up is nasty off the bounce, and it was just a lot of fun. The guys we lost to, they played really good, and it was tight. There were a couple opportunities there that we didn't capitalize on, but that's okay, that's part of the game.

I'm gonna reset real quick, maybe stretch for a little bit, and then get some reps in with my boy Jae Centonze, who I'm playing doubles with tomorrow, and it's going to be a blast. After we get some reps in, we're going to probably go get a good dinner somewhere, hang out with the boys, and take it easy, early bedtime, and then get up ready for tomorrow to go have a good run in doubles. Let's get it!

12:58 a.m. EST

Just got through with the first backdraw match. We came out on top 16-14, and saved a couple match points. Happy to get through that one. Obviously, it's tough when you have like a three or four hour wait after losing. We came out a little bit slow and we got down, I was missing some of my shots, but then at the end of the match, I started executing because I was locked in and playing well. But I need to get better at when there are long breaks, like really take some time before the match, probably like 30, 45 minutes to do another dynamic, get ready mentally for the match and be completely dialed in. Even though it's backdraw, it's a great opportunity for more matches, more points, and just great reps in general. So I just need to get more locked in before my backdraw matches and warm up. Really happy to come away with a win there, and I think I learned something. Let's keep it going.

9:20 a.m. EST

I just got off court. Unfortunately, we lost to Richard and Nicola, they played well. We won the first game, Sara and I were playing well, the score was 11-6, so we got off to a hot start. Sarah was playing great, she was speeding up with her forehand, her forehand speed up was on, and we were just playing solid as a team. In the second game, they kind of switched up the rhythm a little bit. Richard started playing bigger. He was covering a lot of the court, and then she was just solid, making a lot of balls, and we ended up losing that game pretty easily, 11-2. Going into the third set we tried to change up some stuff, maybe go a little bit more behind Richard, and then open up the court a little bit and drive thirds and drop fifths, but they played well and they ended up winning 11-5, and they played well overall. It was fun sharing the court with Sara. It was a great first match and I'm looking forward to the back draw.

One of the things with going from singles to doubles, obviously I was a tennis player all my life, so I really had to learn the doubles game, learning all the little things that matter, like dinking, placement, soft hands, and the rolls and such. I still definitely need to get better at that but I'm just continuing to look forward to improving my doubles game and getting better at singles at the same time, but really focusing on doubles and just getting more solid and being able to go deeper in the draws.

7:49 a.m. EST

After I got done singles yesterday, I got some good reps in to finish the day - some good drilling and some good doubles practice. Did not get to play mixed, but just got to play some in the morning here. This morning I got some good reps in with my partner, Sarah Remynse, and it's just going to be a blast.

Yesterday after after we drilled we stopped at some stores, hung out for a bit. We we went to Chick-Fil-A again and had a good time with all all the guys: Dusty, Naveen, Dylan, and Jake. It was just fun hanging out with those guys, and then we went back to the house, and then later that night we actually went out to ice cream. So that was a fun little treat that we got to go and have some good Michigan ice cream, and had fun. Got to bed early and ready to go today.

Really looking forward to this mixed doubles, it's always a blast. I actually get to play Richard again in mixed, I played him a lot over the last couple weeks. It's always a pleasure sharing the court with him, so it's going to be a blast, and really looking forward to it. Let's go, Sara!

Thursday, August 20, 2026

11:35 a.m. EST

Unfortunately, just lost in the quarters to my good friend Dusty Boyer. He played pretty well all match. It was pretty close in the first, I lost 9-11, had opportunities, started up in the first game 5-0, and then with him he's just super powerful. His forehand's huge, and he just had a good run, and I couldn't really stop it. Thing to learn is I probably should have used a timeout earlier in the first game, but lost that game 11-9. Then we got into the second set and I was down pretty much the whole second game, and then unfortunately, I made him run on a ball, and he sliced his hand on the fence. So it was like 15 to 20 minutes we had to wait, and then he got bandaged up, and I was like, 'okay, maybe he won't be able to hit a backhand,' and I was just trying to find his backhand because his forehand's unbelievable. It was working a little bit, but still ended up losing 9-11. I was down like 10-5, got it back to 10-9, and and then he got a stop, and then unfortunately he got it. Congrats to Dusty. He played well. I room with him at almost all the tournaments. I normally share Airbnbs with him, Naveen, and Jake Bower, and a couple other guys. We're pretty good friends, and it's just tough sometimes playing them. You just have to have two different mindsets. Off the court you're friends, and you can be chill, but on the court, obviously everyone's enemies, and you have to just forget that you guys are friends and just play your hardest and try to go kill them. So unfortunately, I did not kill him today, but next time I will do my best. So good luck to Dusty the rest of the tournament, he played great.

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10:28 a.m. EST

I just got done with my first match because I got a walkover on the first match. I played Richard Livornese, who was actually one of the the best APP Next players. He played APP Next for so long, and that's actually who I played and saw in one of my first APP Next Tournaments. Not to go off subject, but APP Next I think is a great format. You get to be there with all the kids, your peers, people that are younger. You get great matches, a bunch of great reps, you get to play with better players than you, and then also you get to hang out with Ken, Chad, Lee that give you amazing coaching, and you just can learn so much from being in that arena and playing so many good matches. I think next gens are amazing, and it's really helped me get a bunch of reps in, and then when I come out here, I just feel confident on court, knowing I put in the hours and I'm just ready, ready for my match.

To go back to the match, I don't think I played amazing, but obviously you're not going to play great every single match. Richard, I don't know if he was playing great either, but it was first match for me. Got off a little bit long on the first set, it was 11-9, and ended up getting through it. And then second set, I was down, Richard was playing great. He was changing up the tactics, he was serving a lot bigger, and he was just playing really well. He covers the net great, but I was able to come back from 10-5, and I came back from that and got it back to 10-10, and then I ended up getting a little bit lucky and winning that one 13-11. But great match for Richard, and sorry about that! But it was a super fun match.

Great first match, really looking forward to the next one, and hopefully gonna come out with some energy and learn from the conditions that I just played in.

7:53 a.m. EST

Hello, my name is Tristan Dussault, welcome to the blog! Super excited to be doing this in Detroit this week, and it's just going to be so much fun!

Got to Detroit yesterday morning. Got an early flight. Met up with Dusty and Naveen, and Jake Bower, the other guy that I'm staying with, was already here. First we got Chick-Fil-A, Dusty and I, so that was a pretty good lunch. Chick-Fil-A is the standard! Then we all just came to the site, got a very good hit in. Got some singles reps. Looking forward to today, it's going to be great. There are a bunch of great players, it's going to be fun day.

I came to Detroit straight from the English Open. It was personally my first time playing outside the United States for pickleball, and it was probably one of my funnest experiences yet. It was so much fun! Thank you to Ken Herrmann and Chad and Lee and the whole APP Next team for bringing us out there. It was just an amazing experience. I got to see all the international players, got to play on those courts, It's just a whole different atmosphere. And it went pretty well overall. Ended up losing in quarters of singles to the guy I was actually supposed to play today, but he ended up walking over because he was sick, unfortunately. (So get better soon, Mateusz, and hopefully we'll get to play again soon.) In men's doubles I played with Ronan Camron, it was kind of like a last-minute partnership so I was really looking forward to that, and we ended up getting silver. We played great all day, and it was just super fun to share the court with Ronan. He had such great energy, and it was just an amazing experience. Then mixed day, I actually played with a local named Evie Kenna from from UK, and it was just so much fun. We ended up getting fourth overall, so we had a very great day. We had some good upsets, got to play in front of the crowd - the crowd was obviously rooting for my partner - and it was just so much fun to play with Evie. She had such great energy.

Was here for a day, and then this morning we got in a Dunkin breakfast, got here and just looking forward to this tournament. Super nice indoor convention center, and the courts are actually playing very well. Looking forward to it!

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