Pickleball: Jardim, Yates close out U.S. Open with doubles titles in front of home crowd

If there was any doubt where the pickleball capital of the world is located, Naples might have firmly clinched the title on the final day of the Minto U.S. Open Pickleball Championships.

East Naples Community Park hosted the largest event in the history of the up-and-coming sport the past seven days. Now Southwest Florida also can boast it has the best players in the world.

Locals took center stage on the U.S. Open’s final night. Simone Jardim, who recently quit her job as a Division I college tennis coach to move to Naples and teach pickleball fulltime, won two national championships Saturday. Fort Myers native Kyle Yates won another.

U.S. Open helps Naples become 'Pickleball Capital of the World'

Jardim, 37, won the mixed doubles pro title with Oliver Strecker. The very next match she won gold in the women’s pro doubles with Corrine Carr Siebenschein.

For the second straight year Yates, 22, won the men’s doubles pro championship. He won gold with Dave Weinbach, his partner last year as well. They beat Rafael Siebenschein and Matt Wright in straight sets.

“I knew there’d be pressure,” Jardim said of playing in front of a home crowd, “but I play better under stress. I rise above. It was amazing. It made me feel so lucky and blessed for so many reasons.”

Jardim earned an extra $1,000 for winning the tournment’s new triple crown bonus. The payout goes to any player who wins pro titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

Jennifer Dawson also won the triple crown in the senior women’s divison.

Pickleball: Locals win pro titles on first day of U.S. Open

Yates expressed a sense of pride, not only for playing in front of many people he knows, but that his native Southwest Florida fully supports the sport he loves

“It was really special last year, winning the inaugural U.S. Open here near my hometown,” Yates said. “This year it was bigger and better and louder. I can’t thank (the crowd) enough for their support.”

With Estero’s Ben Johns winning the men’s pro singles on the tournament’s opening day, a Southwest Florida player won gold in all five professional events – men’s and women’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles. The U.S. Open included 1,300 players from 42 states and 14 countries.

The three pro doubles finals were played in front of 1,000 spectators under the brand new $700,000 cover over the Zing Zang Championship Court. Saturday night’s championship celebrate as tournament organizers called it was the crowning show of the seven-day U.S. Open, which brought in 1,300 athletes and millions of dollars in economic impact.

“It thrills me to my core to see what’s going on,” Collier County commissioner Donna Fiala told the sold-out crowd. “And this is only the second year. Wait until next year! Wait until next year!”

Playing into the idea that Naples is pickleball’s international capital, Championship Saturday included a Olympics-stay flag ceremony. Players from each of the 14 countries represented carried their nation’s flag through center court in a display of international unity before the men’s doubles final.

The women’s doubles final was Jardim’s sixth match of the day. She played the entire mixed doubles tournament before immediately turning around and playing in the women’s championship.

Pickleball: Yates siblings share mixed doubles 19-plus gold

After winning her last match, Jardim had enough energy to hoist partner Carr Siebenschein into the air by her waist. Playing pickleball all day isn’t a problem for Jardim – it’s her job.

Jardim resigned as Michigan State’s women’s tennis coach last year to move to Naples and become the first instructor of the new U.S. Open Pickleball Academy. Jardim make her living off pickleball, and she does it on the same East Naples courts, in the same Florida heat, where she won three gold medals this week.

“I only played singles last year and I was dying,” from the heat, Jardim said. “Now I’m used to it. If I still lived in Michigan, I don’t know if I would have survived (Saturday).”

For Jardim and Strecker, the mixed doubles title represented a measure of revenge. The pair lost to Lucy Kovalova and Matt Wright in the mixed doubles 25-and-over age group finals before beating them in Saturday’s mixed finals. It was the only loss for Jardim at this year’s U.S. Open.

Strecker, 27, said it was privilege to play with Jardim, who he called the best women’s player in the world at the moment.

The Germany native said that during the mixed doubles pro final he feed off the crowd, which was decidedly behind his hometown partner.

“They were cheering for Simone, but I think more than anything they wanted to see good pickleball points. “Simone is so competitive. You saw that out there. She’s amazing.”

U.S. Open Pickleball Championships

At East Naples Community Park

Saturday’s gold medal winners

Doubles

Men’s pro – Dave Weinbach, Kyle Yates

Women’s pro – Corrine Carr Siebenschein, Simone Jardim

Junior boys – Josh Elliot, Noah Waddell

Mixed doubles skill groups

Pro – Simone Jardim, Oliver Strecker

19-49, 3.0 – Kristine Lewis-Hicks, Robert Hicks

19-49, 3.5 – Gen Yong, Michael Rocheleau

50-and-older, 2.5 – Lyndee Lindsey, Sid Boughton

50-and-older, 3.0 – Sue Carman, Bert Peacher

50-59, 3.5 – Nancy Ferguson, Mark Menges

60-and-older, 3.5 – Deb Perreault, Denny Perreault