Frylinck partnered up with his fellow South African expat Rupert Robinson, with the pair having been brought together by pickleball, despite both hailing from the rainbow nation and living close together.
Robinson, who lives in Farnham, Surrey, and Frylinck were beaten 11-9 11-8 in the final by defending champions David Youngs and Richard Love.
“I think we played really well,” Frylinck said. “We achieved what we set out to do.
“They are tough customers but I don’t think we gave it to them, they didn’t get it for free, they had to work for it. It was a good game.”
The presitigious tournament is in its fifth year and has reached record-breaking levels, with over 1,300 taking part at Bolton Arena.
Thursday and Friday saw the over 50s in action in the mixed, men’s and women’s doubles, before the open age categories took centre stage at the Bolton Arena on Saturday and Sunday.
Pickleball developed as a backyard game in Washington, and is named after the pickle boat in rowing, which sees spare rowers from different teams form a crew.
The name reflects the sport, which has borrowed from other racket sports, as it is played on a badminton doubles-sized court and features playing styles seen in tennis and table tennis.
The game is played with a solid paddle and a perforated plastic ball, while players can only score points on their serve.
Frylinck is like many players who have come from another racket sport, with the 53-year-old actually playing two before taking up pickleball.
He said: “I played tennis for 10 years, moved to the UK played squash for 10 years and then they closed the squash court, I got fat and lazy and then found pickleball on YouTube.
“I went to the local leisure centre and thought I recognise that sound, I went to look and there it was pickleball. I joined and that is three years ago.”
Robinson, 58, credits Frylinck with helping him to succeed in the sport as he made his English Nationals debut.
He said: “It is my first nationals, with doubles and mixed and I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome, especially with Christo.
“We were more than happy going through the rounds, winning the semi and then in the final, playing with David and Richard.
“They are the defending champions, and it is David Youngs last-ever competitive pickleball match so that is even more special. It couldn’t have been better.”
Pickleball England had a record number of players at the 2025 Knotty’s English Nationals. The tournament took place from 30 October to 2 November at Bolton Arena. For more information: https://www.pickleballengland.org/