In a recent episode of Pickleballers, pro player Federico Staksrud walked us through the decision earlier this year to reunite with his former men’s doubles partner, Hayden Patriquin, for the PPA Tour events this fall.

Staksrud played several events in the spring with Andrei Daescu, while Patriquin played with Christian Alshon. But neither duo was able to knock off the top dogs — Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio — in the first half of the year.

“Ben and Gabe, they have been unbelievably dominant,” Staksrud said. “And you know, silver is not going to satisfy Hayden or me or Andrei or Christian. So we ended up making a decision of coming back together. The goal is to beat Ben and Gabe — that’s what we all want.”

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So far the decision has paid off in a big way for all four players. Alshon/Daescu took down Johns/Tardio at the Las Vegas Open earlier this month, then this week at the PPA Tour Asia Hong Kong Slam, Patriquin/Staksrud beat the No. 1 seeds 11-6, 11-8 in the final.

“What we thought about it is that Hayden with me is a better team than Hayden with Christian, and Christian with Andrei is a better team than Andrei with me,” Staksrud said. “So we were like, ‘OK, let’s go back to (2025 partnerships) and see if we can beat them.'”

Staksrud discusses what he learned through the partnership shuffling and how he and Patriquin have become a closer team because of it.

Check out the full clip here or watch above.