The Report
Dennehy’s last final, Giang’s old partner and the paddle wear question
Good morning, pickleballers.
Sahra Dennehy went into Saturday with three paths to Kuala Lumpur gold. She has one left, and it depends on winning alongside the player who helped end another. Sunday’s finals will also give Noe Khlif two chances at a title in his first PPA Tour Asia event.
At D-Joy, Trinh Linh Giang and Max Manthou have beaten the pair who defeated Giang in June’s final. The former partner from that loss is waiting in this one. We also examine a question every paddle buyer should ask: what happens when its playing surface wears out?
Dennehy has one final left. Four others have two.
Dennehy’s triple-crown bid ended in Saturday’s semi-finals. Kaitlyn Christian beat her in singles, while Danni-Elle Townsend and Joey Wild stopped Dennehy and Len Yang in mixed doubles. Dennehy and Townsend still reached the women’s doubles final together.
Noe Khlif can win men’s singles and men’s doubles on his first Asian tour appearance. Gabriel Tardio, Jessie Irvine and Townsend also have two title matches each. Irvine and Townsend will oppose one another in both women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Our Kuala Lumpur report traces how those overlapping partnerships shaped the last day, with all five titles still to be decided.
Read the Kuala Lumpur reportGiang beats his June conquerors. His old partner waits.
Trinh Linh Giang lost June’s D-Joy men’s doubles final beside Richard Livornese Jr to Quang Duong and Harsh Mehta. On Saturday, Giang and Max Manthou beat Duong and Mehta, the defending champions, to reach another final.
This time Livornese stands across the net alongside Jack Munro. They arrive as World Cup champions. Giang also has a mixed doubles final with Domenika Turkovic, giving Vietnam two opportunities for gold through the same player.
The history makes the match compelling. It cannot tell us who wins it. We will cover Sunday’s finals after they are played.
Read Giang and Manthou’s storyWhen the paddle surface wears out, who gets to decide what happens next?
Gearbox has engineered a fixed paddle surface intended to hold its performance. Reload would let a player replace a worn face while keeping the paddle body. Both approaches meet a problem that is rarely measured for buyers: how a paddle changes after sustained use.
Our new feature checks Reload’s published wear test against what it actually measured, examines Gearbox’s design claims and explains why USA Pickleball and UPA-A rules treat replaceable faces differently.
Neither company has supplied the independent, long-term comparison that could settle which design holds up better for players.
Read the equipment investigationThree reads for a quieter Sunday
Can pickleball build stars? The cover story asks why a sport with millions of players still struggles to turn elite competitors into figures people recognise beyond the court.
The Court That Held a World. Return to Da Nang through the people and atmosphere of the Pickleball World Cup, where an international gathering became more than a list of results.
The Referee’s Room. Tara Creasey takes us into the part of a match most spectators only notice when a difficult call has to be made.
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Download the free September PDFOpen the September issue page and select “Download Magazine”.
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