Last weekend’s MLP Dallas event was the perfect way to kick off the festivities at Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch, Texas, for the USA Pickleball National Championships! With over 3,500 participants, this is by far the biggest pro pickleball event of the year.
The best part of this event is that we get to see the best players of both the APP and PPA Tours come together and face off against one another. So, we’ve decided to break down each event and pick a few teams/players from each tour that we think will stand out in Texas!
Men’s Singles
Top 3 Players To Watch:
- Ben Johns
- Hunter/Yates Johnson
- Connor Garnett
Of course, we have Ben Johns at the top of our list in men’s singles. He’s the number 1-ranked player on the PPA Tour for a reason, and with the number 2-ranked player, Federico Staksrud, out of the competition in Dallas, we think Johns will be the top-performing athlete from the PPA.
From the APP Tour, we will be watching to see how the Johnson brothers fair in a deeper and more competitive draw. The two have been at the top of their game in the APP, but do they have what it takes to stand against some of the top PPA pros?
Of the other PPA Tour pros, we also would like to see Connor Garnett make another gold medal run! Garnett most recently took home a gold at the Beer City Open and also led the Chicago Slice to an MLP Championship victory in Season One. He’s been highly successful in pickleball this year, taking his game to new heights – we expect big things from him this week!
Women’s Singles
Top 3 Players to Watch:
- Anna Leigh Waters
- Salome Devidze
- Catherine Parenteau
Similar to men’s singles, we have to point to Anna Leigh Waters as our favorite from the PPA Tour. She’s the number 1-ranked pro for good reason, having medaled more than any other female pro this year in singles!
Beyond Waters, we also like Catherine Parenteau, who has been right behind ALW in points all year long. The Canadian pickleball superstar is always exciting to watch, as she brings unparalleled energy to the court every time she plays. We wouldn’t be surprised to see an ALW vs. Parenteau matchup in the finals!
From the APP Tour, the answer is pretty cut and dry: Salome Devidze will be their top-performing athlete. With Parris Todd seemingly stepping down from singles and Megan Fudge also retiring until rules are changed, Devidze will only really have to worry about facing off against PPA Tour athletes.
Mixed Doubles
Our Top 3 Teams to Watch:
- Anna Leigh Waters & Ben Johns
- Andrei Daescu & Susannah Barr
- Parris Todd & Riley Newman
Once again, we see ALW and Ben Johns take our top spot as favorites. Together, they’ve won every single tournament they’ve played in together – good luck to everyone else taking them down! The only time they’ve lost was to JW and Jorja Johnson, who will be another of our favorite PPA Tour teams.
From the APP, we of course have to give it to Andrei Daescu and Susannah Barr. Following their incredible performance at the recent APP Houston, Daescu and Barr now have seven gold medals together, leading any other team on the APP Tour.
Our third pick is an interesting mashup of APP and PPA players: Parris Todd and Riley Newman. This new partnership is pretty interesting, as most people would expect Todd to partner up with her usual partner, Hunter Johnson, who will instead be partnering with PPA pro Jessie Irvine. Both Newman and Todd are top-tier doubles players in their own right, so we’re excited to see how well they perform together in the championships.
Women’s Doubles
Our Top 3 Teams to Watch:
- Anna Leigh Waters & Catherine Parenteau
- Megan Fudge & Susannah Barr
- Anna Bright & Jade Kawamoto
The ALW and CP combo is difficult to beat – impossible so far this year, in fact, as the two are undefeated when playing together in 2023! We expect to see them in the finals, though the deep 24-team main draw will undoubtedly prove to be a challenge for the two on their way to the championship match.
From the APP, we’ve got our money on team Fudge-Barr. They are currently the top-ranked APP Tour women’s doubles team in the event, as Simone Jardim and Parris Todd will not be playing together, unfortunately. Instead, Todd will be partnering up with Jessie Irvine for the first time, another exciting pairing to watch out for.
Our personal favorite team going into this event will be that of Anna Bright and Jade Kawamoto. Both played lights-out in MLP Dallas and even faced off against one another in the Premier Level finals! This is the team we’re most eager to watch, and we expect them to, at the very least, make it to the semi-finals.
Men’s Doubles
Our Top 3 Teams to Watch:
- Ben Johns & Collin Johns
- Hunter Johnson & Yates Johnson
- Riley Newman & Christian Alshon
- BONUS: Andrei Daescu & Tyson McGuffin
- DOUBLE BONUS: Tyler Loong & James Ignatowich
Yeah, we might’ve picked a couple extra for men’s dubs, but with 32 teams registered, it was too hard to narrow it down!
Right off the top, we’ve got the Johns brothers, arguably the best men’s doubles team of all time in pro pickleball. The two remain dominant in the PPA, and we can’t imagine a finals match without them in the picture.
From the APP Tour, we’ve got the Johnson brothers, who have been consistent this year, but overshadowed by Rob Nunnery and Andrei Daescu, who have completely taken over. However, Nunnery will not be playing in this tournament, leading to a new partnership between Daescu and Tyson McGuffin – the partnership we didn’t realize we needed.
We also get to see McGuffin’s podcast rival, Tyler Loong, partnering with one of McGuffin’s favorite PPA Tour doubles partners, James Ignatowich. This is a duo we also didn’t expect to see, but it will likely be a powerful combination nonetheless.
Finally, we have to shout out Riley Newman and Christian Alshon, who played out of their minds in MLP Dallas, leading their team to a gold-medal finish. We 100% want to see them continue building their partnership in order for it to further develop in the MLP – D.C. Pickleball Team has the potential to win the Super Finals Championship if they can keep it up!
