The Major League Pickleball (MLP) was not short of drama this weekend. American pickleball star Kate Fahey allegedly hurled abuse at Federico Staksrud, calling him a a “f**king b**ch" after Saturday's Major League Pickleball (MLP) Columbus clash between St. Louis Shock and Orlando Squeeze in Ohio.

The controversy erupted after the mixed doubles match in the tie. Video footage showed Fahey hurling the abuse at Staksrud following an intense rally that Fahey and Gabe Tardio won over Staksrud and Lacy Schneemann, 11-9.

At 10-9-1, it appeared that St. Louis had won the point that would close the match. However, just before Tardio hit the winning smash, a cheer came from the St. Louis bench. The referees intervened, made a distraction ruling, and awarded the rally to Orlando, much to the annoyance of St. Louis.

This changed the score to 10-9-2 in Orlando's favour, but Fahey and Tardio closed out the match on the very next point, putting St. Louis ahead 3-0. They eventually won the tie 4-0 and retained their unbeaten streak.

Fahey addressed the incident after the match and played it down. "All love. Fed and I talked after - it is all good. I got heated," said Fahey. "Everybody knows I get heated, and it is really hard when it is 9-9 and it gets kind of in the heat of the moment. I am working on it - I think our team is working on it - but everybody wants it just as badly as everybody else, and they are extremely great competitors. Win or lose that match, I think we learned a lot from it.”

This is the second week in a row where a player has called another a “f**king b**ch". Last week, St. Louis Shock player Hayden Patriquin used the same language towards Anna Leigh Waters of New Jersey 5s, leading to a major controversy. Major League Pickleball ended up releasing a statement on the Patriquin-Waters incident, though it is not known if they will do something similar about Fahey-Staksrud incident.

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