Boiling Point: Pro Pickleball's Line Call Problem Needs to be Addressed

Etienne Blaszkewycz and Travis Rettenmaier got into a heated exchange on Wednesday in a Round of 32 men’s doubles match at the PPA Select Medical Orange County Cup. The dispute was over, you guessed it - line calls.

This is not a new issue for pro pickleball. In fact, Zane Navratil, Thomas Shields, and Federico Staksrud talked about it on the PicklePod podcast in early March.

The crux of the problem? There are no video challenges on side courts. I am a huge fan of the side courts being streamed, which is what the PPA Tour has done this year. Pickleballtv and the Pickleballtv app have been streaming Championship Court, Grandstand Court, Showcase 1, Showcase 2, Showcase 3, and Showcase 4. 

In addition, the PPA Tour has created another YouTube channel, PPA Streamed Courts, that streams several courts throughout the event.

The Incident

First and foremost, this article is not meant as a character defamation of any player mentioned here. This is an issue that continues to come up and this event is just the most recent one to occur.

On Wednesday, in the Round of 32, (11) Travis Rettenmaier and Connor Garnett squared off against qualifiers, (44) Callan Dawson and Etienne Blaszkewycz. 

At 2-5-2 in the first game, with Blaszkewycz serving to Rettenmaier, a long rally ended with a overhead put away from Rettenmaier, or so he thought.

Blaszkewycz called it out, and immediately both Garnett and Rettenmaier were very animated that it was in. The referee said he didn’t see enough to overturn the call. A lot of back and forth happened, with the out call eventually standing, so Etienne and Callan won the point.

The link above directs you to the exact moment this first call was made. A slowed down still frame of the call:

The ball appears to be on the way up, in this still frame, directly after the Rettenmaier overhead. However, we were unable to find a still frame where the ball directly hit the ground.

Rettenmaier and Garnett would go on to win the first game, 11-3. In game two, Rettenmaier was still upset about the call that Blaszkewycz made. At 2-0-2, with Rettenmaier serving, Blaszkewycz put away an overhead through the middle. 

A still frame of the ball that Rettenmaier called out:

Again, the referee said he didn’t see the ball well enough to overrule, so the out call stood. 

Rettenmaier and Garnett would go on to win 11-5 in the second game, moving on to the Round of 16.

Afterward the match was over, Rettenmaier and Blaszkewycz exchanged some pleasantries, but nothing got super confrontational.

After the match, California Black Bears President and GM, and podcaster, Jimmy Miller posted the Rettenmaier out call on his Instagram stories joking with Rettenmaier about the call. 

There was an incident last year between the Black Bears and the Florida Smash in Major League Pickleball (MLP). Rettenmaier and Miller were part of that match, where the Black Bears made a bad line call in the MLP Mid-Season Tournament last year, and that was brought up.

After the match between Rettenmaier/Garnett and Blaszkewycz/Dawson, Miller posted the Rettenmaier call on his IG story, and Rettenmaier responded:

The problem

On all other courts other than Grandstand and Championship Court, there are no video replays or challenges. If a player calls a ball out and the referee doesn’t see the ball, there is no consequence for cheating, at the moment.

As the PPA Tour moves toward bringing sports betting into the game, these things need to get cleaned up. Sure, close calls happen in other sports all the time. Calls are scrutinized and reviewed. However, no such thing exists right now.

Additionally, with rumors swirling about the PPA Tour moving toward a model heavily focused on prize money in the next year or two, this issue will become more divisive.

Possible Solutions

There are a few possible solutions to this problem. The list below is in order from least likely and/or feasible to most likely and/or feasible.

• Line judges on every court other than Grandstand and Championship Court

This is just not feasible for several reasons. First, most players trust their own eyes versus line judges. Secondly, on side courts, many times room is at a premium, so there is likely not enough room to do this.

• Use the livestreamed cameras retroactively to fine/suspend players for blatant cheating

The problem with this option is that it is a deterrent, but doesn’t really have live play implications. In a Round of 64 match, does it really matter if someone lost on a bad call, but a week later, the team that won gets fined for a bad line call?

• Create a centralized video review system where one or two video referees monitor all courts other than Grandstand and Championship Court

With multiple cameras on every court, along with a centralized video review system, the calls may not all be perfect, but it would be a big step forward. Being able to challenge a call on every single court, in an efficient manner, seems to be the only way to fix the problem.

Ramifications

This subject seems to come up every few months, with an egregious line call. The Sorry Not Sorry podcast consistently publicly shames players who make bad line calls on a weekly, but it doesn’t seem to be enough. Players are still making very bad line calls. 

Hopefully pro pickleball can figure out a solution to the problem, otherwise these cases of cheating on line calls are going to persist.