After their third gold medal performance since February at the Seattle Open, Dylan Frazier and J.W. Johnson are putting serious heat on Ben and Collin Johns as the best men’s pairing around at the moment.
“We Can Beat Anyone”
Frazier was coy when it came to saying it out loud but he seemed pretty confident:
“I guess it depends on who you ask. But I like to think we can beat anyone on any given day. I guess that’s my answer.”
After Johnson and Frazier won gold again at the Seattle Open and the brothers Johns made a second-round exit, it would they are closer than ever to taking the mantle of the best men’s double act in pickleball.
Dylan also said, “We came out and played like we know we’re capable of playing. There have been tournaments where we haven’t executed and haven’t played with a lot of confidence, but today we were firing on all cylinders. It worked out.”
Impressive, If A Little Heavy On The Dinks
Their performance in the final was pretty impressive, if a little dink-based and grinding. They ground down the #5 seeds Federico Staksrud and Pablo Tellez, winning in four: 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, and 11-3.
There was little doubt they were the best duo in the competition with the dropped game in the final the only one they lost.
Their total of five medals, three gold and two silver are the second best this season behind the Johns brothers.
Although the Johns had won the previous four competitions, this time they were surprisingly outclassed in three games by the #9 seeds Patrick Smith and Darren Young.
As an interesting aside, Frazier went head-to-head with Ben Young in a mixed doubles quarter-final and the match-up produced this incredible rally:
Epic Hands Battle! Ben Johns and Dylan Frazier go head to head in this firefight at the Mixed QF in Seattle #pickleball #pickleballislife #pickleballhighlights #propickleball #pickleballaddict #pickleballrocks @BenJohns_pb pic.twitter.com/5wgTG9skTp
— Pickleballerz (@pickleballerz) August 1, 2023
The Johns Brothers Don’t Lose Very Often
The pickleball seas seem to be parting for Frazier and Johnson at the moment, with the Johns brothers being knocked out in the quarter-finals and the team of Riley Newman and Matt Wright deciding to end their partnership.
When asked about the Johns brother losing, Frazier said, “We were surprised.” First of all, because it doesn’t happen very frequently. You want to be that team that takes them out, but at the same time it opens up the draw a little bit and gives you a better chance.”
“Room For Improvement”
Talking about their performance in the final, Frazier added, “That was the most dinking I’ve ever done. It was probably boring to watch. I’m happy to come out with that one.”
“We haven’t talked about playing together in the long term,” Frazier said. “But at least in the short term we’re going to keep playing together. We both feel confident. There’s things we talk about and there’s room for improvement but for the most part we played pretty well.”
Read our review of the Seattle Open here!
