New Delhi: Hyderabad Royals’ rise in the Indian Pickleball League 2025 has been remarkable. Three wins in four ties have pushed them to second place on the standings with 15 points – behind only the dominant Chennai Super Warriors, the only team in the tournament to remain unbeaten.
And the catalyst behind Hyderabad Royals’ phenomenal rise is their American star Megan Fudge.
Megan, who has won the Player of the Tie thrice, has been at the forefront of the Royals’ consistent showing. Against Mumbai Smashers on Thursday, they trailed 0-2, but then Megan, under immense pressure, stepped up to pull her team back, winning both the women’s singles and doubles matches. Her wins helped Hyderabad level the tie before Megan guided them to victory in the Grand Rally – IPBL’s most experimental and exciting mixed doubles match.
The Grand Rally format, with rapid substitutions and constant tactical shifts, has tested every team. But Hyderabad are seemingly adapting faster than most.
Megan, in her interview with Pickleball Now, breaks it down: “I feel like we’ve done a phenomenal job – just taking our time when we’re stepping on the court. We know we only have five points out there, so we’ve got to make every point count. It’s also about adapting to the tactics of going from mixed doubles to doubles with different partners. And in the women’s, in our position, I actually go from the right side to the left side. So just consciously making calm decisions – I think that’s the key thing in the Grand Rally.”
Calming effect
If the Grand Rally demands split-second adaptability, doubles chemistry demands emotional balance. The Royals struggled early in the week, losing to Chennai Super Warriors – their only defeat in the tournament – after a winning start against Capital Warriors, but Megan said calming themselves down after a nervy beginning helped them settle down.
“In doubles, or even in the Grand Rally, when there’s swapping of players, it’s really quick. It’s very, very fast and very chaotic. I think the key thing I’ve been trying to do in the last two days is just be more calm out there because it’s a team environment and we want to give it our all and get fired up,” she explained.
“But then I felt like with being fired up came us being more tense, and exhausting ourselves with all this cheering. So I felt like the last two days we did a better job of just being calm – like, we’ve got this, we’re in control, we’ve got this. We have the confidence to stick to our spots, stick to our tactics, and we’ve just got to execute. If we execute what we have planned to do, then we have full confidence that we can win,” she said.
That shift in approach – quiet confidence over anxious energy – has shaped Hyderabad’s consistency. Megan, who has now won three women’s singles matches, believes the Royals’ rise stems not only from tactical improvements but from a deeper cultural shift within the camp.
“We settle in and lay back and just enjoy the ride. We want more. We set the bar very high,” said the APP and Major Legaue Pickleball star.
“We expect to win, but we expect to work for the win and put the work in. Not just on the practice court, but it comes to studying tape, it comes to watching matches, it comes to communicating as a team, spending time together as a team. We’ve been having lunch together every day and just checking in with each other,” Megan revealed.
Recalling the early struggles in the league, Megan said, “I feel like the first two days, we didn’t know each other as teammates. So, it was hard to gel and to help each other. Now, we’re getting on the same page and they’re starting to understand me a little bit more, how I can help them as a captain. But also, everybody’s stepping up.”
‘Time for us to come back at Chennai’
But looming ahead is the league’s most formidable challenge: Chennai Super Warriors. Unbeaten so far and powered by the imperious Roos Van Reek, they remain the side to beat. Hyderabad lost to them already -something Megan has not forgotten. With Hyderabad on the cusp of securing their spot in the playoffs after Chennai became the first team to qualify, Megan has a point to prove in a possible face-off.
“The way that I see us going into the match against Chennai on Saturday. They’ve beaten us,” she said before vowing, “Now, it’s time for us to come back at them. We’re going to come in with some different tactics. We’re going to maybe come in with some different players. We’re definitely going to try and keep them on their toes. To beat us twice, that’s a big task.”
Breaking retirement from women’s singles
Asked how she would counter Roos Van Reek, the tournament’s unbeaten women’s singles player, Megan – who faced her for the first time this week – has already analysed Roos’ style of play and said she will return better prepared.
“This was the first time that I played her. Now, we’ve got some tape that I can actually watch and see her spots, her attack spots, her volley spots. Get a better idea of what I need to do against her. I’ve never played her before,” stated Megan, who broke out of retirement from singles at the IPBL.
“I haven’t been playing singles for the last six months after winning the US Open National Championships. It was just because I focused on my mind and my body and my physicality on playing the two events that I enjoyed the most. So, I’m now back in singles mode a little bit and striking the ball better than I was at the beginning of the week,” said Megan.
Praising Roos’ game, she said, “I can definitely give myself a better shot playing her this time. She’s a phenomenal player. She’s moving really well. The conditions of the court favour her game a lot. So, I definitely have to step up my game and find a solution.”
With renewed intent, improved team bonding, and Megan’s revived composure and passion for women’s singles, Hyderabad Royals have steadily become genuine contenders for the title. Whether they can topple the unbeaten Chennai Super Warriors remains to be seen – but if their trajectory continues upward, the Royals may be peaking at precisely the right time.