Newman and Ignatowich Pairing Make ‘Connection,’ Earn Bronze

If this was “Love Connection,” James Ignatowich wouldn’t be expecting a chance at another date.

OK, that 1980s game show reference is a bit outdated. If Friday in Utah was “The Bachelor,” Ignatowich probably wouldn’t be getting a rose.

“I have a feeling that Riley may block my number,” Ignatowich admitted. “I’ll pay him, I will beg him, I’ll even let him have all the prize money if we win. He can have my appearance fee if he’ll give me another chance to get better at pickleball.”

Yo, James. Settle down. Desperation isn’t a good look on you, man.

Perhaps Ignatowich was a bit hard on himself. Sometimes those “first dates” don’t go like we envision but they might not be the total nightmare we imagine either. And of course, Ignatowich doesn’t have to beg for a chance to play with anyone. He’s one of the top players on tour.

And sure, in the case of Riley Newman and Ignatowich, it might not be a long-term marriage we’re talking about, but third place at the Selkirk Red Rock Open isn’t a disaster.

“James is a guy on the upside,” Neman said. “I wanted to play with him, so I asked him and he moved things around and was able to do it. It wasn’t the result we wanted, but it was a first-time partnership and going deep into a tourney is not too bad.”

See, James, it wasn’t so bad now, was it?

Newman usually plays with Matt Wright, but said Wright couldn’t make this tournament so that meant Newman was on the lookout for a new partner, and the pairing of him with Ignatowich is a bit curious, considering both are “Alpha” players, both like to dominate the court and both often take a majority of third shots, middle shots, and all the “big” shots.

“That was the difficulty of it,” Ignatowich said. “Usually I’m the one taking the middle and taking the initiative and being as aggressive as I can. In this case I was playing the ‘Beta’ role and playing the set up role and it didn’t work out. Riley played great. I just played poorly.”

The two came into the tournament as the No. 2 seeded team and didn’t lose a game until falling to the sixth-seeded team of Tyson McGuffin and Brendon Long, 11-9, 13-11 in the semifinals. The two came back and won in the third-place game and topped AJ Koller and Travis Rettenmaier, 11-7, 11-1.

So, will there be a second date?

“Potentially, there are so many young and up and coming players,” Newman said. “It excited me to play with someone new, and if Matt can’t go, who knows? We both have our moments where we can get loud and fiery and chippy. James is more vocal in the interviews, that’s for sure, but I liked playing with him because he gave me a lot of energy. He was loud and I liked it.”

Meanwhile, it’s a first championship appearance for Long, paired for the first time with McGuffin. Long. Long’s on the upside as well. He has played impressively at Major League Pickleball and has even beaten Ben Johns in singles. He and McGuffin will take on the top-seeded team of Collin Johns and Dekel Bar. Collin Johns usually plays alongside his brother Ben, but Ben didn’t make the trip to Utah.

On the women’s side, the top three teams are out and the sixth-seeded team of Megan Sheehan-Dizon and Etta Wright are in. Wright and Dizon topped the third-seeded team of Irina Tereschenko and Jessie Irvine in the quarterfinals and then the second-seeded team of Anna Bright and Vivienne David in the semifinals. 

On the other side of the bracket, it’s the fourth-seeded team of Allyce Jones and Lea Jansen in the finals. They topped the top team of Lucy Kovalova and Callie Smith in the semis.

Kovalova and Smith went on to win the bronze with a three-game victory against Bright and David.

James Ignatowich

“Before the tournament, I spoke to Riley to find out who would take certain shots, like thirds or at the kitchen, and obviously, at the moment Riley is the better men’s doubles player and I was happy to let him take over and ultimately it didn’t pan out and that was the difficulty of it. Usually, I’m the one taking the middle and taking the initiative and being as aggressive as I can. In this case, I was playing the beta role and playing the setup role and it didn’t work out. Riley played great. I just played poorly.

Well, based on how I played in the semifinals, I have a feeling that Riley may block my number but if for whatever reason I get better at pickleball, we’ll see. I will beg him. I will pay him. I will let him take all the prize money. 

Riley is definitely more of a trash talker, and we’re both vocal, but I’m mostly just hyping myself up with random things, and sometimes if I get really hyped up I’ll speak Spanish to myself and I don’t even speak Spanish. Riley has conversations with people he is playing against. I wish I was that cool, but I just get nervous when I do that. 

The craziest I had was more of me just watching Riley with an exchange with Zane and I think Riley hit Zane like three times and I think he was counting the number of bodybags and then Zane got him back and I was taking a backseat and watching and it was cool to see.”

RILEY

“Matt told me he was unable to play about 2 weeks ago. James is a guy on the upside I wanted to play with so I asked him and he moved things around it wasn’t the result we wanted, but it was a first-time partnership, and going deep into a tourney is not too bad.

We’re both used to playing the left side so the middle ball was a tricky challenge shot for us. We have to communicate and we do it as much as we could. Over-communicate is better when you have two dominant players who like to take a lot of the court. 

Potentially, there are so many young and up-and-coming players and it excited me to play with someone new and if Matt can’t go, and whose style meshes well and who knows. 

We both have our moments where we can get loud and fiery and chippy. James is more vocal in the interviews, that’s for sure, but I liked playing with him because he gave me a lot of energy. He was loud and I liked it. 

There was a point in the first round and a long rally and we gave each other a look like wow we actually won that point, and I shoved him in the back and it was a fun moment. He was fun to play with.”

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