In short: The 2026 English Nationals set a record with 1,468 players and a £7,950 prize pot. Players raised fair questions about the match ball, the courts and a late change to Saturday’s round-robin format. Pickleball England has accepted it should have communicated that change, and three simple steps could lift the standard for 2027.
Let me start with what went right, because a lot did.
The 2026 Nationals at Bolton Arena, which finish today, drew 1,468 players, a record, up from almost 1,200 in 2025. That is growth of roughly a fifth in a single year. Sixty-six events, doubles only, with junior and wheelchair events alongside. The prize pot rose to £7,950 from £6,500. Franklin are title sponsor and ball and net sponsor, with Proflex, Skechers, Pickleball Shop and SCAN also on board. And there is an official livestream, produced by The Pickleball Directory, which people have been watching in the Red Lion and at home.
None of that happens by accident. This is a volunteer-run event, and the official event page lists the tournament directors as Trevor Robinson and Karen Mitchell. Moving nearly 1,500 players through four days, across more than two dozen courts, is a huge job. The organisers and the volunteers alongside them deserve real thanks.
The sport got new champions too. James Chaudry and James Ling beat Ben Cawston and Louis Laville for the men’s Open title; Laville and his partner were the 2025 champions. Katie Morris and Molly O’Donoghue took the women’s Open, ahead of Evie Kenna and Eleanor Tomkinson. The Senior Opens crowned new names as well, though not every title changed hands: Anna Linton and Richard Love won a third mixed 50+ crown. The Mixed Doubles OPEN is played today; its result was not yet posted when this piece went live. New winners are a sign of a healthy national championship.
What the runner-up said
On Saturday, minutes after losing the men’s Open final, Laville did the decent thing first. Hands on hips, still catching his breath, he told Nick Hobbis on Pickleball England’s official livestream, produced by The Pickleball Directory, that the day belonged to “James and James”. Fair play to him. Then he raised some concerns that will be talked about at clubs around the country this week.
“Our style of play is just completely negated by the ball and the court,” he said.
He talked about “using a non-approved ball, the court not being up to standard for a professional tournament”. He said: “I’ve worked all year and all… all week with the ball I thought we were going to be using and the set patterns, and then you get to the tournament and they change it all. They change everything last minute.” He added: “it’s not just me saying it, it’s like everyone saying it.” His view of “the National Championships, which is the biggest tournament of the year” was “very sub-standard in my opinion”.
That is one player, straight after a hard defeat, and it should be read in that light. But the questions he raised are fair ones, and they are bigger than one match. As the Nationals grows, what standard should it hold itself to?
What the rules say
Pickleball England events are played under the rules published by USA Pickleball, and the Global Pickleball Federation’s 2026 edition uses identical wording on the points that matter here.
The ball. Rule 3.C says the ball design must be approved by USA Pickleball, and Rule 3.C.2 says “the complete list of approved balls is posted on the USA Pickleball website”.
The net. Rule 3.B.6 sets the net at 36 inches (plus or minus a quarter of an inch) at the sidelines. Rule 3.B.7 sets it at 34 inches, same tolerance, at the centre. That is a half-inch window.
These are the shared baseline of the global game. A club night can happily live with a sagging net and whatever balls were in the bag. A national championship is where players most expect them to be met.
The ball
It is worth separating what Laville said from what we can show.
Laville described the ball as “non-approved”. That is his view, given on the record, and I report it as his.
WPM’s editor, who played in the event, can confirm the ball in use was a Franklin, but not the X-40, the ball Pickleball England names as official for its English Open. Our photograph of a match ball shows a bright yellow Franklin. The side shown carries only the Franklin wordmark: no visible model name and no visible USA Pickleball Approved mark. That does not mean the ball carries no such mark elsewhere. It does mean we cannot identify the model from the photograph.
USA Pickleball’s Approved Ball List includes several Franklin balls besides the X-40, among them two indoor models, the X-26 and the FS Pro Indoor. If the match ball was one of those, it was approved, albeit as an indoor ball rather than one built for the hard courts top players often train on. I could find no Franklin announcement of any other new indoor ball.
Pickleball England has told us it chose the ball and that the balls were supplied by Franklin, its headline sponsor. It has not yet said which model it was, or whether it is approved by USA Pickleball or the GPF. I hope its fuller response will clear that up.
The other half of Laville’s point is simpler. He practised with the ball he expected and found a different one. That is easily solved: name the match ball well in advance.
Courts and nets
Two pieces of evidence, and I want to be careful about what each one shows.
The first is our own photograph of the Court 1 portable net. Yellow tape is wrapped around the centre post, and tennis lines are visible beneath the pickleball court. Neither is unusual; many good events run on converted tennis courts. The tape suggests the net may have needed a running repair. It does not show the net was the wrong height. It is simply worth checking.
The second is Pickleball England’s official livestream. In one rally a ball dies near the kitchen line, and the commentator says on air: “That’s a dead spot on court, that’s for sure.” That is one moment on one court, not a survey of the venue, but it relates to what Laville said about the court.
The event page planned 27 courts; a Pickleball England page says 25 were created from 8 tennis courts. That is impressive logistics, and it naturally leaves less margin for level surfaces and well-kept nets.
So these are questions, not conclusions. Were nets measured to the 34-inch centre and 36-inch sideline standard before play? Why was tape needed on the Court 1 centre post? Were surfaces checked for flatness and dead spots? They are routine questions, and a simple record of checks would answer them.
The format
The published Open format is clear. Round robin, one game to 15, win by 1, no timeouts. Knockouts, one game to 15, win by 2. Semi-finals and medal matches, best of three games to 11, win by 2. That is from the official event information on Picklebook.
Laville said that “they change everything last minute”, so I looked at Pickleball England’s own results on Picklebook for Saturday’s (31 October) Open round robins.
They were played to 11 rather than 15. In the Men’s Doubles OPEN, every group winner finished 4-0 with exactly 44 points: 11 a match. In Group A, Cawston and Laville won 11-3, 11-6, 11-2 and 11-0, and one match finished 11-10. In the Women’s Doubles OPEN, Morris and O’Donoghue also finished on 44 points from four wins, as did Kenna and Tomkinson.
Pickleball England’s explanation, set out below, is that Saturday was at capacity with a hard stop time, so compromises were made, and that Sunday’s play is back to the published format. It also accepts the change was a late decision that should have been communicated. I have not checked the knockout or semi-final formats, so I make no claim about them.
Pickleball England’s reply
I put questions on the ball, the round-robin format, players’ concerns and plans for 2027 to Karen Mitchell, one of the tournament directors, on the morning of 1 November. She replied in writing the same day, in the middle of running the final day, and her points deserve to be set out in full.
The tournament is sanctioned by Pickleball England. The terms and conditions players accept say the Tournament Director may “alter group sizes or knockout structures”, “amend court allocations, start times or the order of play” and “make other reasonable changes necessary for the safe and effective running of the tournament”. On Saturday, she said, “we were at capacity with a hard stop time, so compromises were made.” Sunday is “working to the published format”. On the ball: “it is our right to choose the ball and the ones used were provided by our headline sponsor Franklin.”
And, frankly and to its credit, Pickleball England said: “We accept that we should have communicated the changes which was a late decision.”
Ms Mitchell said Pickleball England would prefer to comment more fully after the tournament, once players have finished and there has been time to reflect. That is reasonable, and WPM will publish that response in full when it comes.
That is a straightforward reply, and the admission matters. The terms allow the organisers to adapt on the day, and with a venue at capacity and a hard stop, shortening Saturday’s games was a practical call. The wider conversation is about how a growing national championship communicates those calls, so that players who prepare for a published format hear about a change before they reach the court. On that, Pickleball England and Laville appear to be in the same place. On the ball, the one open question is whether the model used is on the approved list, and I look forward to the answer.
Why it matters
The approved list exists so that a ball in Bolton behaves like a ball in Florida. Net height is fixed to a quarter of an inch so that a dink in one hall is the same dink in another. That consistency is what lets ratings and rankings mean something. At Open level, where the best English players play patterned, controlled pickleball, small margins matter. That is what Laville meant by “our style of play is just completely negated”.
There is a fair counter-argument. This is a volunteer-run, mass-participation event. Most of those 1,468 players were not in the Open, and for them a well-run weekend in a good venue at a fair price is the job. By most accounts, it was done. Nobody is paid to run this.
All true. But growth brings attention. The next wave of players, sponsors and broadcasters will judge the sport by its showcase, and the Nationals is that showcase. The good news is that the fixes are small.
Three suggestions for 2027
- Announce the match ball in advance, with its model and approval status, so players can practise with it.
- Publish the format and stick to it where possible. If capacity forces a change, flag it early on the event page, by email and at the desk.
- Walk the courts for dead spots and flatness, especially the show court.
The verdict
A record event, a bigger prize pot, a livestream, new champions and a great deal of hard volunteer work. Also some fair questions from players about the ball, the courts and a late format change, one of which Pickleball England has already acknowledged.
The sport is growing faster than its biggest event’s standards, and that is a good problem to have. With a few practical steps, the 2027 Nationals can be as well run as it is well attended. I look forward to Pickleball England’s fuller response, and to seeing them in Bolton next year.
