Interview with Connor Garnett: #3 Ranked Pickleball Athlete in the World
Connor Garnett, after winning Gold in Men’s Singles at the Kansas City Open (August 2024)
Honolulu/CA/Zoom—It's not every day that you have the opportunity to spend an hour picking the brain of a pro PB player. So when the opportunity presents itself to hop on a Zoom call with Connor Garnett, you jump at it!
Connor is the #3 ranked pickleball athlete in the world and the originator of the now-famous “Twoey” backhand. Two weeks ago, he solidified his position at the top of the class by defeating Tyson McGuffin to win Gold in Men's Singles at the Selkirk Kansas City Open.
Connor has graciously agreed to provide the PB808 community with an occasional “Tip From a Pro”, but we thought we should introduce him first. (Stay tuned for his “Tip From a Pro” column—coming soon).
Read on and you’ll see that he’s down-to-earth and just an all-around likeable guy.
Without further ado, please meet Connor Garnett!
J: How did you discover pickleball and when did you start playing?
CG: My aunt had a beach house when I was really young and there was a pickleball court. I don't really think we called it pickleball or I don't think we really followed the rules. It was just whoever hit a winner. Behind the court, there was this huge hill. Whenever you hit a ball out there, you had to run down this hill before it went all the way to the beach. That was my first experience with what we’ll call pickleball.
Definitely didn't know what the kitchen was. Definitely didn't really know any of the rules. We’re probably serving overhand at that point.
And then I was a hitting partner at the US Open and there was a girl who was there. She played pickleball and reached out to me when I was back in Orange County. We played at a local park and that was kind of my first exposure to pickleball, which was about two years ago.
J: Were you hooked immediately when you played with her?
CG: I wasn't.
I was kind of overconfident. There was a guy outside the park and he was like, “oh, are you a pro pickleball player”? And I was thinking, on day one, people think I'm a pro–I must be so good. Objectively, at that point, I was probably a 3.5. So I was kind of thinking…this is easy.
Little did I know how much room I had to go before I was actually halfway decent.
From there, I played my first tournament and that was probably two months after (in 4.0) and got bronze. But the last two matches we lost and they were teams that in my mind, I thought, there's no way this team should even be able to be on the same court as me.
And they beat us pretty handily.
So that's what got me hooked–these guys that don't belong on the court, they kicked my butt.
So I thought, all right, maybe there's something more to this.
And, from then, I was thoroughly hooked.
J: You played tennis in college. How did that influence your approach to pickleball?
CG: I played at Santa Clara for undergrad. Then I did a year master's in England, played over there, played some futures, which are very, very low level pro tennis tournaments over there.
I would say singles pickleball is probably the most one-to-one with tennis, where the strokes are smaller, but it's still focused on passing shots, ground strokes, bigger swings than the soft game of pickleball.
So that's kind of where I felt the most comfortable. From there, I started adding some of the off-the-bounce speedups…a little bit more natural coming from tennis.
The dinking was kind of that final piece to pickleball that I was learning about.
J: Most people are like, what is this dinking crap? Is that how you felt?
CG: 100%.
I would say part of why I'm probably decent at pickleball now is because I was too stubborn to where I said, no…I'm going to speed up everything.
And so my off-the-bounce speedup has been good because I didn't listen to all these people that said you should dink every shot.
Now I understand and appreciate the dinking side of things, but I think there's a huge part of being true to what you want to do while also appreciating the game.
Dinking is such an integral part of the game, but I think if I didn't start with making a lot of mistakes on the speeding up, that I wouldn't understand what a good speedup is and when to do it.
So now nobody would say, you're speeding up too soon–but it's because I sped up too soon so many times that I learned how to be smart with that shot.
J: That's really insightful. Instead of it being a hard and fast rule, like you said, being true to you. Doing what makes sense for your game.
CG: Especially like for me, I love my two-handed backhand, the “two-ey”. That was the shot I was speeding up a lot. Now I speed it up less, but because I did that, I figured out what worked in the moment and what didn't.
So I think there's a strong argument that you have to make a lot of mistakes early to learn. And if you take every mistake and be like, why didn't that work and really unpack it, then that can really help you grow as a player.
J: I love that because sometimes, I’ll try something, it doesn't work, and then I'm like a blank slate. Instead of thinking about what I did that didn't work, I just do the same thing.
CG: Yeah.
What's the expression for mind time?
It's like doing the same thing over and over again is the definition of insanity.
I definitely do the same thing over and over again, every now and again as well. But the more you can change it, like when I miss a shot in the net, I think…next shot I'm going to miss long.
Changing the way you miss versus being focused on the result is something that I find so huge, whether it's tennis or whether it's pickleball, it's kind of being there for the journey, not really focusing on, okay, did I make that specific shot?
How can I be different in a way that's not out of my control?
J: That’s gold. Next time I hit it into the net, I’ll think about how I can miss long on the next shot.
CG: Yeah, for me, like on the second serve in tennis in college. I would argue that I was one of the more successful second servers in tennis on big points, and I had probably one of the worst serves in tennis growing up. I had a tendency to miss in the net.
So I would do an aggressive serve and I would say I can live with myself if I miss long. And I would call an aggressive play, and in doubles on deuce points, for our team when I was serving, we were probably at a 80% win rate.
And so it's just little things like that that can help that I've tried to bring into pickleball.
So many people tell themselves, just make the next ball. But that in and of itself adds so much undue stress to your game than doing something where the result isn't as important.
J: Talk to us about the “two-ey”.
CG: That came from baseball.
My dad taught me to bat left-handed. And so I've always felt comfortable on that side of my body. I've never really had any technique on my backhand whereas my forehand–I had to completely reconstruct for tennis.
I didn't feel comfortable at all with my forehand in tennis. So, I can teach anything with the forehand because I've made every mistake in the book, where the backhand is a little bit more natural to me.
So that's why from tennis to pickleball, any shot on that side, I just feel very comfortable with. And so naturally transitioned from tennis to pickleball, and then just shortened the swing a little bit, and been getting a little bit more sidespin on it as well.
But the “two-ey”, I absolutely love on any part of the court, and have been even making a little bit of merch on the “two-ey” side just to promote it as well, which has been fun.
Now it's such a universal term, I've kind of leaned into it.
J: At your level, players have more control. So they have to avoid your backhand, which is opposite from most people, right?
CG: Correct, yeah.
You'll see in doubles, a lot of the strategy is to dink to the middle on me and get to my forehand, whereas a lot of other people will kind of focus on pulling them wide. And so it's just, yeah, every person kind of has a different tactic on how to play them.
See Connor’s video on the basics of the two-handed backhand.
J: What does a typical training day look like for you?
CG: An optimal training day is probably five hours, two hours of drilling, two hours of playing, and an hour in the gym. But realistically, I've only started doing that the last couple of weeks, just because of the evolution of the game and you have to build that base of all the other things.
And so whether that is the YouTube channel, whether that is camps, all those other things to kind of grow yourself as a brand and set yourself up for the long term I think is important as well.
So it's kind of finding that happy medium while, I mean, winning solves all, but having those other things helps out quite a bit as well.
J: Do you do anything differently when you're prepping for a tournament? Any special routines?
CG: I think the mental side is huge. You want to go into a tournament feeling confident and especially with how many more players are coming into the game.
There are those people that come in that are just born with an insane amount of confidence that regardless of what happens, they’re like, oh yeah, I'm going to win.
But I think the majority of people, it does take that kind of focused attention to your mental side to come out there and be brave and attack the game. And so I think that's super important when you are preparing for a tournament.
It's easy to practice the drilling, but the mental side is just as important.
J: You mentioned affirmations. Anything else on the mental side that you do?
CG: I'll throw in some meditation here and there. And visualization as well. Those are the three things– I won't necessarily do all the time, but I would say at least one of those three I'll do every day ahead of a tournament for sure.
What I found in tournaments is that I can notice when I'm starting to feel that slip away, so coming into that determined, while also having that mental side, is so huge.
J: Tell us about your experience playing as a pro.
CG: Yeah, I mean, I get to travel around hitting a wiffle ball. LOL!
J: What's a memorable moment you've had on the tour?
CG: I think winning a couple months ago in LA, that tournament was definitely special for me. Getting a gold and winning a tournament that all the top players were in was something pretty surreal for me, especially in Southern California, and having all my friends there was super surreal.
On some of the big points, I could hear everyone cheering and I could feel the vibrations on me. It was crazy.
It took so much out of me to stay locked in with just how much positive support was there for me. It was just an amazing experience and I was really fortunate to be there for it and have all my friends there.
J: Being able to feel it physically. Wow.
CG: Yeah, there was one point where I could feel the vibrations. It was the point, actually, that went on SportsCenter, and it was a big turning point because I was down in the match.
I lost the first game, and it was probably like five-all in the second game.
I forget the exact score, but I won that point, and the crowd just erupted. It was so cool. And everyone was just cheering and I could feel it…it was something special for sure. And so being there, that was a huge turning point in the match. And being able to get that in front of everyone and just be able to celebrate with them was awesome.
J: In your hometown, and on Sports Center!
CG: Yeah, it was the point where I ran up to the net, got the ball, ran all the way back to that corner and then finished with an ATP.
I think I hit four ATP's in that match but it was pretty crazy.
J: What are your long-term goals in pickleball?
CG: I think long-term goals are to be as good as I can be with the sport where it is. It's a cool opportunity to be able to continue to learn and grow my game and just be that best version of myself on the pickleball court is huge.
I think it's given me an opportunity to bring in my business side of things, but then also the competing side where in tennis, I felt like I was chasing what I once was. Now with pickleball, I can continuously grow and see what I can do with it.
J: What advice would you give to young players who would like to make a career in pickleball?
CG: With any sport, it's just committing and believing in yourself. I think that's so huge.
Pickleball is a great sport just because the barrier to entry is so low. Tennis, you have to develop your strokes before you can have a competitive match with some of the more senior players.
With pickleball, you can get out there and really experiment early on. And I would say finding something that you enjoy, whether it's pickleball or whatever sport, and then sticking to it.
Consistent action is huge.
And if you have that, plus that belief in yourself, I mean, the sport is only growing. So it's a huge opportunity to get into something early.
J: What do you do outside of pickleball?
CG: I love to travel. So, with pickleball, that's kind of worked out pretty well. I always go sightseeing wherever I am. Whether it's hiking, whether it's looking at monuments, all that stuff is fun. I grew up in Seattle, so skiing, hiking, just being in nature, I absolutely love.
J: What were some of the things you loved about Hawai’i?
CG: I started in Maui. I was in Kula for a little bit, and then we went and played pickleball, but seeing the North Shore was crazy. I went to the Florence event. Just being there, the sand, the surfing, I absolutely loved it, I spent the night there. Just hearing the waves crashing, being there right on the sand, all that was pretty surreal.
Even growing up, we went snorkeling at Black Rock, by Kaanapali, which was cool. The kind of different ecosystem of Hawaii has always been awesome to see and experience.
J: What paddle do you play with?
CG: I play with the pro XR paddle
J: Anything else on your mind?
CG: The big thing for me is the “two-ey” stuff. That's been something really cool to me, just building that brand and seeing the engagement.
I think it's a new shot that's starting to transcend the game. So that's what's been the excitement and why I'm passionate about it. You see even Ben Johns starting to have his backhand a little bit like that in play. He's starting to copy a little bit of my movement to the ball and how he hits the two-hander is similar to mine.
Imitation is the biggest form of flattery. So that's kind of why I've been leaning into this and doing this. I think it's cool to see that that's where the game is going.
Just having something like that has been awesome to help shape the game and be a part of it.
