Imani Phillips now feels “like I am in the game” after having her deepest run in a professional pickleball tournament.

Phillips narrowly missed out on a medal at the Next Generation St Louis APP event on Sunday, when losing 15-13 to Brooke Revuelta in the play-off for third place at an event for the 80 top under-23 players in the United States.

The experience finally confirmed to Phillips that she can compete at this elite level and has removed any lingering doubts that she belongs.

“This shows me that I am in the game,” Phillips said. “I am an equal competitor in the space that I am in when I play professional singles.

“I finished fourth and it’s the biggest run I’ve ever had in a pro tournament. The goal is always to win a pro event and that’s the next big step, but now that is what I see in my future.”

Phillips’s appearance in the bronze-medal match was the culmination of a remarkable comeback after she failed to win any of her games on the opening two days of the three-day event.

Having held high hopes of performing well in the mixed doubles with Puerto Rican Carlos Rodriguez, she admits doubts were creeping in after early elimination from that event and the women’s doubles.

“Going into the event, the mixed doubles was probably what I thought I'd go deepest in,” Phillips said.

“Even though singles is my best event, Carlos and I had played together before and he is a strong player, so I was expecting to do a lot better.

“When we lost early, you go through all these thoughts that I am sure a lot of athletes do like ‘what am I doing here?’ I’ve spent all this money with the expectation of winning and now I’ve lost’.

“So many doubts and so many fears come up but I just knew that I had to play looser. I was thinking of way too many things and putting too much pressure on the whole situation when I should just be playing pickleball. When I just play, magical things happen.”

Despite another early elimination in the women’s doubles 24 hours later, Phillips took comfort in the way she played.

“The next day I let loose a bit more, brought some high energy and I just accepted that day was going to be a fun day as we had never played together before.

“I got partnered with a girl called Bella Houghton. She was one of the youngest girls in the tournament and definitely has a big future. She’s going to do big things as she gets better and more confident in the sport.

“But this was the first time we’d played together and it’s like a Tinder date, you never quite know how it’s going to end up.”

The singles was played in a double elimination format with players going into the back draw after losing a match. The winner of the back draw then got a chance to play in the third-place game and Phillips came through a string of tough matches on the final day to achieve her best professional result.

“I took the pressure off myself completely,” Phillips said.

“I won my first match, it was an amazing feeling and I was just hitting all the right shots.

“Singles day comes around, I get a win and I’m thinking this is the one. I come in with more expectation and I got let down in the second round when losing to the No 1 seed.

“From there I had nothing to lose and I now know when I play like I have nothing to lose, that is when I play the best pickleball of my life. Every tournament has a lesson and playing like I have nothing to lose is definitely what I’ve taken from this one.

“There was something in the air on singles day. I beat players that are on the US national team. My court coverage, my understanding of the game and strategy was on point. I kept saying to myself every time I went down a couple of points to stick to the plan and I executed it perfectly.

“I have the footage and some of the gets I made were amazing. Sometimes you play your best point on some random backside courts but it’s cool to have those moments on a big court on camera.”

Phillips does not have long to wait to test her new-found confidence with her next tournament less than a couple of weeks away.

“I am in Fort Lauderdale now for a week training with the Next Gen Academy,” Phillips said.

“Then I am going to play in the Newport Beach APP open, which is my next tournament and that starts on July 2.”