After a 2-week hiatus, the APP Tour heads down to Atlanta, Georgia, this weekend for its twelfth tournament stop of 2023. The 2023 APP Sunmed Atlanta Metro Open, hosted at the Spalding County Pickleball Complex in Griffin, GA, just south of downtown Atlanta, will see about 700 amateur and pro players across the country come together and compete in this Golden Ticket event.
Following last weekend’s MLP Atlanta tournament, which was won by APP star Andrei Daescu and his teammates on the Orlando Squeeze, we return to the traditional APP Tour double elimination bracket format for your usual doubles and singles events. Let’s take a look at who we think will stand out this weekend!
Men’s Singles
It appears that Hunter Johnson is only focused on doubles this weekend, and the APP New Jersey Open silver medalist, Eduardo Irizarry, is taking this event off, so we have a feeling that this week will be Yates Johnson’s time to shine. Yates’ most recent gold medal finish was back in Philadelphia, where he defeated Jack Foster in his first finals appearance.
Speaking of Foster, he also has a good chance of making another finals run at this tournament due to the thinner main draw. It’s been exciting watching him grow this season, and he’s clearly driven to keep pushing for that gold medal. We’d love to see him secure his first APP gold medal this weekend!
Women’s Singles
With 27 players registered, the main draw for women’s singles runs deep, and it looks like there will be many star contenders in the mix. Of course, all eyes will be on Salome Devidze, who has taken control over women’s singles this year. She earned her fifth gold medal of the season in New Jersey and will be looking to take home her sixth this weekend.
Among our other favorites are Megan Fudge, Judit Castillo, and Shelby Bates. Bates in particular will be fun to watch out for this week, as she had a huge weekend with the New Jersey 5s at MLP Atlanta.
It felt like with each game, Bates grew increasingly into her element for the MLP Season Two opener, clutching some big moments for her team in both doubles and Dreambreakers. If she can take the momentum she gained in MLP last weekend into APP Atlanta, she could have a shot at winning her first gold in singles this season!
Mixed Doubles
Hunter Johnson, Paris Todd, and the Atlanta Bouncers, aka Team APP (+ Pablo Tellez), didn’t have the greatest showing in MLP Atlanta, losing all three of their matches at the group stage. Every single one of their games was close, giving us hope that they’ll bounce back in the next event, MLP Los Angeles.
However, it’s likely that Johnson and Todd will bounce back even quicker this weekend in Atlanta. After getting injured in New Jersey, Todd appeared to be in full form for MLP Atlanta. This leads us to believe we will be seeing her and Johnson together again on Championship Sunday.
Andrei Daescu and Susannah Barr, the defending champs from the New Jersey Open, will likely be back on top of their game as well. Together, they’ve won three gold medals in the last four tournaments. We predict that we’ll see a Barr/Daescu vs. Todd/Johnson matchup in the finals, and it will be one of the best matches of the whole tournament.
Women’s Doubles
Speaking of the Atlanta Bouncers, Simone Jardim and Parris Todd will be coming for their crown again this weekend. They have eight titles together this year, making them the winningest duo on the Tour.
Alix Truong and Vivian Glozman had the run of a lifetime in New Jersey, fighting their way out of the consolation bracket to earn a silver medal. They also earned a gold medal together back in Chicago, also fighting their way out of the back draw. You can never count them out in the APP format, and we think this could be their chance for gold medal: round two!
Men’s Doubles
To no one’s surprise, the Johnson Brothers and Andrei Daescu/Rob Nunnery will once again be the top-projected teams to win in Atlanta. There hasn’t really been another team in men’s doubles that’s held their own against these two teams, and we expect that pattern to continue this weekend.
However, why not shout out some underdog teams that could make waves for the first time in ATL? Carlos Di Laura/Wyatt Stone and Jack Munro/John Cincola are two teams we’ll be keeping our eyes on in this tournament. It feels like you could see any combination of these four players in doubles, and they’d immediately be a top-contending team – they’re all tapped into the same pro pickleball circles.
Di Laura and Stone are both solid Texas-based players, and Stone in particular has been putting in the work alongside rising-star Jaume Martinez Vich. Munro and Cincola have both been crushing it in the APP lately, with Cincola also coming off a big weekend in the MLP with the New Jersey 5s.
