Todd Boss writes about Pickleball, the fastest growing sport in USA
This past weekend was the next in a month-long line of back-to-back events for the Professional Pickleball Association’s tour players. This week, they traveled to Las Vegas to play at the brand new Fontainebleu casino on the northern edge of the strip for the 2024 Las Vegas Pickleball Cup. As the event name suggests, this was a “cup” level event for the tour, meaning 50% more points than a normal tour stop (i.e., 1500 points for winning versus a regular 1000-open level event), which meant larger/deeper draws and, more importantly for the players, a Progression draw of one round per day all week.
Let’s Recap the action.
Last week’s semi-finalist Hunter Johnson fell victim to the seeding gods once again, playing right into #1 Federico Staksrud in the round of 32 as the #26 seed. Johnson gave it a run, winning game one, but the tour’s top singles player took over and advanced. It was also a bad weekend for the other losing semi-finalist from last week’s Salt Lake City event: #16 Rafa Hewett ran into the under-rated #49 Spartak Rahachou in the 64s and was one-and-done a week after making it to Sunday. Rahachou only has a few PPA events in his history but has made some noise in the past, and he ousted the dangerous #22 Cason Campbell before falling to Staksrud in the 16s.
Otherwise, the top half of the draw looked very chalky by Friday, with its top four seeds (#1 Fed, #3 McGuffin, #7 Sock, and #8 Vich) all advancing to compete in a solid set of quarter finals. Since making the final in Red Rock, Jack Sock has struggled on tour, with a number of early losses to lower seeds (losses to Gabe Joseph, Aanick Lohani, and two losses to Grayson Goldin), but he held firm this week to play to his seed. Sock pushed Fed to a third game but fell in one quarter. #8 Jaume Martinez Vich topped his frequent doubles partner McGuffin, but then fell to Staksrud in the semis to ensure Federico’s 15th gold medal spot in 17 PPA events this year (a staggering stat given the depth in Men’s singles).
The bottom half of the draw was already weakened by the absence of #2 ranked Ben Johns, who skipped singles here. That’s no surprise, given that the tournament was indoors with conference room lighting. The bottom half featured a massive upset early: #33 Noe Khlif, who has more than a few notable wins on his resume already (Frazier & Devilliers at Red Rock, Ignatowich in Bristol), took out last week’s silver medalist #2 Connor Garnett in the 32s. Khlif continued his run with a great win over Tardio in the 16s but fell to Frazier in the quarters. Meanwhile, #20 Eric Roddy ground his way through several opponents to get just his second quarter final of the year. There, he ran into #5 Quang Duong, who had to retire early in the first with an ankle injury. In a career-best semifinal, he gave #6 Dylan Frazier a run, but fell to the bronze medal..
In the final, Staksrud absolutely obliterated Frazier 1,3 to claim his seventh singles title this season, and his 11th overall, and to solidify his lead atop the rankings.
Women’s Pro Singles Recap
The cream of the PPA was in Vegas to compete in a full strength ladies singles draw, and the stars came out to play for sure, at least in the top half of the draw. #1 Anna Leigh Waters set down an early challenge from #13 Jorja Johnson to cruise into the semis. Dual PPA singles gold winners #4 Brooke Buckner and #6 Salome Devidze met in the quarters as well, with Devidze surprising the 3-time 2024 gold medalist with a dominant 6,4 win to set up a semis match versus Waters. In the upper-half semi, Salome’s baselining tactics scored points, but Waters persevered and advanced to the gold medal match with a 5,7 win.
The bottom half of the draw featured major seed disruption, primarily at the hands of two of the tour’s newer players who have been making significant noise lately. #15 Chao Yi Wang, known as “Zoey” in the pickleball circles, has won the last two bronze medals running and handled #2 Catherine Parenteau 2,9 in the round of 16. Zoey fell in the next round to #12 Lacy Schneemann, who ousted the two-time defending silver medalist #7 Kaitlyn Christian at the same round of 16 juncture.
However, the big story was last week’s surprise gold medalist #17 Kate Fahey, who arrived in Vegas determined to prove her Salt Lake win was no fluke. She blasted her way through three top seeds (all three 2024 singles gold medal winners on tour) in #9 Castillo, #5 Brascia, and #3 Jansen to advance into the semis without dropping a game. There, she topped Schneemann 6,9 to set up a gold medal encounter with Waters.
In the final, Waters set the tone early against Fahey with an 11-0 pickling in the first game, then cruised to an 0,6 win. This win is ALW’s 8th singles title of the season, and her 40th PPA singles title for her career.
Gold: Anna Leigh Waters. Silver: Kate Fahey. Bronze: Salome Devidze
————————
Mixed Pro Doubles Recap
There weren’t too many surprises in the early rounds of the Mixed draw. #1 Johns & Waters were pressed to a third game by #13 Daescu & Dizon, but otherwise seven of the top eight seeds advanced as expected into the quarter final round.
From the top-half, the #1 seeds cruised into the final by topping #8 Jansen & Patriquin 8,3 in the quarters and then beating the #3 seeded Johnson siblings in the semis 4,5. From the bottom-half, the breakup of Anna Bright & James Ignatowich as a partnership seems complete; Bright teamed with Christian Alshon to form the #2 seeds and they cruised into the semis. There though, they met the rejuvenated Riley Newman, paired with Catherine Parenteau for the first time all year. They got a well-earned 11-8 third game win over Bright & Alshon to earn a Sunday gold medal match.
In the final, Johns & Waters dominated for stretches, including an 11-0 game two donut, to win 6,0,4 and claim their 37th career Mixed title playing together.
Gold: Waters & Johns. Silver: Parenteau & Newman. Bronze: Johnson & Johnson
Men’s Doubles continues to prove itself to be an area of transition for the tour, or perhaps the most evident example of the changing of the game. For most of the PPA’s existence, the division has been dominated by three teams: the Johns Brothers, JW & Dylan, and the old Matt Wright/Riley Newman partnership. Those three teams account for 49 of the 74 PPA men’s doubles titles awarded since the tour’s inception. However, four of the last five events have featured winning teams outside of these three, and Vegas made it five out of six. Both the #2 Johns brothers and the #1 Johnson/Frazier teams suffered upsets in the star-studded quarter finals, where all four lower seeds won.
In the upper-half, last week’s gold medalists #9 Andrei Daescu & Gabriel Tardio started off the upset train by topping the #1 seeds in three games. Daescu seems fully “back” after his 2 month equipment suspension, while Tardio is quickly making the case that he’s the best right-sided doubles player in the world. In the other top-half quarter, new-look Tyler Loong, who has made the quarters in four straight events played with Connor Garnett, made it one round better with a well-earned 11-9 third game win over #3 Staksrud & Wright. They fell to Daescu & Tardio in another 3-game thriller in the semis, but have a shot at a medal on Sunday.
The bottom half quarters featured a grudge match between the Johns brothers and their long-time rival in Riley Newman, teamed up here with Alshon. It couldn’t be closer, with Newman & Alshon winning 12-10 in the third. There’s no love lost between these players on the court, and I’m sure the chirping on the court was entertaining for those close enough to hear it. The final quarter final featured a relatively new team of #7 Zane Navratil & Dekel Bar facing off against #4 Patriquin & Tellez, silver medalists together earlier this year in San Clemente. Bar has been bouncing around partners all year, and this was a first of the season with Navratil. It paid immediate dividends, as they topped Patriquin & Tellez in the quarters, then Newman & Alshon in the semis to earn a gold medal chance together.
In the final, Daescu & Tardio made it two in a row, topping Bar & Navratil in four.
Gold: Daescu/Tardio. Silver: Bar/Navratil. Bronze: Newman/Alshon
————————
Women’s Pro Doubles Recap
The early rounds of the Women’s pro doubles draw featured one minor and one major upset. The minor upset was the #10 seeded Brascia sisters upending #8 Glozman & Schneemann in the upper half, to earn the chance to get waxed 1,2 by the #1 seeds Waters & Parenteau in the quarters. The major upset was #17 Genie Erokhina & Allison Phillips taking out #3 Meghan Dizon & Etta Wright in the round of 16. This advancing to the quarters was a season-best for both players, even if they could do little in the next round (they lost 0,3).
#7 Parris Todd & Hurricane Tyra Black took full advantage of the early round upsets of #3 seeds in the lower half to advance easily to the semis. There, they met #2 Anna Bright (not playing with her regular partner Rohrabacher due to last minute scheduling), playing with another dominant left-side player in Tina Pisnik. Todd & Black ground out an 11-7 win to earn the Sunday final from the bottom half. Rachel Rohrabacher teamed up this week with Jorja Johnson to form the #4 seed; they played to expectations and lost in the semis to the #1 team to fall to the bronze medal match.
In the final, Waters handed out her third pickle in as many finals in game one, then the pair held on for an 0,3,6 dominant win over the #7 seeds. The duo continues to be the most dominant force in the pro sport, and have just one loss together in the history of their partnership.
With the win, Waters secures her 30th professional Triple Crown, 28 of which have been on the PPA (she also won the triple crown at 2022 USAP Nationals in Indian Wells and 2023 USAP Nationals in Dallas)
Gold: Waters & Parenteau. Silver: Todd & Black. Bronze: Johnson & Rohrabacher
