The Jenius Bank Pickleball World Championships are set to get underway on Monday, November 3rd. The event is taking place at the Brookhaven Country Club, a beautiful venue in Farmers Branch, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.
To kick things off for the World Championships, Major League Pickleball (MLP) hosted its first ever MLP Cup this past weekend, as a standalone tournament.
It needs to be said that the World Championships is unlike any other pickleball event. This is the biggest and best event in pickleball, and it seems to get better and better every year.
What differentiates the World Championships?
Here are just a few things that differentiate Worlds from other tournaments:
Pickleball Boulevard – Vendors, food, entertainment, clinics and more, all happen on Pickleball Boulevard
Concerts for Days – Literally every day of the event there is a concert
- Monday, November 3 – 3:30pm-5pm – Spjork Band
- Tuesday, November 4 - 3:30pm-5pm – Echo Canyon Dallas
- Wednesday, November 5 – 1pm-5pm – Royal Dukes
- Thursday, November 6 – 2:30pm-4:30pm – Le Freak
- Friday, November 7 – 5pm-6pm – Jacob Stelly
- Friday, November 7 – 6:30pm-8pm – Mat Kearney
- Saturday, November 8 – 1pm-4pm – BB Kings All Star Band
- Sunday, November 9 – Noon-1:15pm – BB Kings All Star Band
Celebrity Pickleball Showdown – Dallas Mavericks superstar and member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Dirk Nowitski will be playing in the event. In addition to Nowitski, Fortnite streamer Tfue, Pro Football Hall of Famer, Terrell Owens, and 6x MLB All-Star, JD Martinez.
Weather Outlook for the PPA World Championships
The weather could not be looking better in Farmers Branch, Texas, for the PPA World Championships. With very minimal chances of rain, temps with highs in the low 80s, and humidity levels in the 50%-60% range, these are ideal conditions for pickleball. The Lifetime LT Pro 48 Performance Pickleball should be flying on the quick side of things, making for action packed rallies.
How to Watch the PPA World Championships
Tuesday, November 4 – Round of 128 and Round of 64
- 11am – 7pm ET – Championship Court – pickleballtv
- 11am – 7pm ET – Grandstand Court - pickleballtv
Wednesday, November 5 – Round of 32
- 11am – 7pm ET – Championship Court – pickleballtv
- 11am – 7pm ET – Grandstand Court - pickleballtv
- 8pm – 10pm ET – Celebrity Pro-Am – Tennis Channel
Thursday, November 6 – Round of 16
- 11am – 7pm ET – Championship Court – pickleballtv
- 11am – 7pm ET – Grandstand Court - pickleballtv
Friday, November 7 – Quarterfinals
- 11am – 7pm ET – Championship Court – pickleballtv
- 11am – 7pm ET – Grandstand Court - pickleballtv
Saturday, November 8 – Semifinals
- 11am – 7pm ET – Championship Court – pickleballtv
- 1:30 – 5:30pm ET – Championship Court – Tennis Channel
- 11am – 7pm ET – Grandstand Court - pickleballtv
Sunday, November 9 – Championship Sunday
- 11am – 5pm ET – Championship Court – Gold Medal Matches – pickleballtv
- 10am – 3pm ET – Grandstand Court – Bronze Medal Matches – pickleballtv
- 6pm – 8pm ET – Championship Court – Tape Delay – ESPN2
About the PPA World Championships
Worlds is a Progressive Draw, as outlined above, which means one round of each event is played per day. There are five pro events being played at the tournament, with the Finals being played on Sunday. The five events are:
- Women’s Singles
- Men’s Singles
- Mixed Doubles
- Women’s Doubles
- Men’s Doubles
The PPA World Championships is the most prestigious event in pickleball, and that is why it is worth 3,000 PPA Points. Slams are worth 2,000, Cups are worth 1,500, and Opens are worth 1,000. The 3,000 Points on the line marks the most in PPA Tour history for one event.
Let’s get into the action.
Women’s Singles
Top 4 Seeds
- Anna Leigh Waters
- Kate Fahey
- Kaitlyn Christian
- Parris Todd
Top Storylines
It’s been well over 500 days since Anna Leigh Waters has lost a match - the last time she lost was to Salome Devidze in May 2024, and Devidze earned a bronze medal at this event last year.
Lea Jansen recently won the LifeTime Open and is the #5 seed – Jansen has a tough draw in possibly playing Devidze in the Round of 16 and following it up with Kaitlyn Christian in the Quarterfinals
(9) Genie Bouchard has been playing great recently, earning Silver medals in back to back PPA tournaments – she has a difficult road at Worlds:
- Round of 32 – (24) Samantha Parker
- Round of 16 – (6) Brooke Buckner
- Quarterfinals – (4) Parris Todd
Upset Alerts – Players with higher seeds I have my eye on
(24) Samantha Parker – I previously mentioned her facing off against Bouchard in the Round of 32 – Parker is in her home city where she always plays well and don’t forget Parker won Silver in Houston last year – she could upset both Bouchard and Buckner
(17) Hannah Blatt – The Canadian former pro squash player has really stepped up her game in the last six months – with a slightly favorable draw, I wouldn’t be surprised to see her make it to the Semifinals against Anna Leigh Waters
Predictions
- Semifinalists: (1) Anna Leigh Waters, (3) Kaitlyn Christian, (2) Kate Fahey, and (4) Parris Todd
- Finals: Waters beats Fahey in three games
Men’s Singles
Top 4 Seeds
- Hunter Johnson
- Federico Staksrud
- Christian Alshon
- Connor Garnett
Top Storylines
Two months ago in late August, Hunter Johnson took over the #1 seed from Federico Staksrud, who had held it for well over a year – right now Fed is 350 points behind Hunter, with 3,000 points on the line – who will leave World’s ranked as the #1 overall singles player?
Chris Haworth, despite winning the Virginia Beach Cup is still the #13 seed at Worlds, but potentially faces a tough task to make a deep run:
- Round of 16 – (3) Christian Alshon – could easily be a final
- Quarterfinals – (8) John Lucia Goins – has two wins on tour this year
- Semifinals – Hunter Johnson or Jack Sock
(9) Michael Loyd had an epic run at Worlds last year, earning a silver medal – he will likely have to go through Devilliers, Ben Johns, and Connor Garnett to even make the semis this year
Upset Alerts – Players with higher seeds I have my eye on
(26) Grayson Goldin hasn’t had the performances he would have hoped for since signing with the PPA Tour earlier in the year, but in speaking with him while I was at MLP Cup, Goldin is playing confidently and feeling good
Qualifier – Hong Kit “Jack” Wong – If he makes it out of qualies, he is going to cause a top seed some problems – he lost to Alshon in the finals of the Malaysia Cup 9-11, 5-11
Predictions
- Semifinalists: (6) Jack Sock, (3) Christian Alshon, (2) Federico Staksrud, and (7) Ben Johns
- Finals: Staksrud beats Alshon in an epic three game finals
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Mixed Doubles
Top 4 Seeds
- Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns
- Jorja & JW Johnson
- Anna Bright/Hayden Patriquin
- Hurricane Tyra Black/Christian Alshon
Top Storylines
The last time Ben and Anna Leigh lost was over six months ago in the North Carolina Open, to Jorja and JW Johnson - can anyone knock them off?
(3) Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquin played Ben and Anna Leigh super close in the PPA Vegas Cup, taking a game off of them - they are riding some momentum, having just won the MLP Cup days earlier.
Another team that did very well in Vegas was (6) Rachel Rohrabacher and Andrei Daescu - can they make another deep run at Worlds?
Upset Alerts – Players with higher seeds I have my eye on
(78) Braden Jacobson and Elsie Hendershot - the Juniors are VERY good and could upset Cincola and Khan. Can they beat Khlif and Schneemann? Doubtful, but anything is possible.
(11) Kate Fahey and Dylan Frazier - I really like this team - they earned bronze in Tucson earlier in the year and whenever they play together they have a very good on court chemistry. I could see them upsetting Gabe and Jessie and making it to a Quarterfinal to play Jorja and JW.
Predictions
- Semifinalists: (1) Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns, (3) Anna Bright/Hayden Patriquin, (2) Jorja & JW Johnson, and (4) Hurricane Tyra Black/Christian Alshon
- Finals: Ben and Anna Leigh beat Tyra and Christian in four games
Women’s Doubles
Top 4 Seeds
- Anna Bright/Anna Leigh Waters
- Catherine Parenteau/Parris Todd
- Jorja Johnson/Hurricane Tyra Black
- Jade Kawamoto/Rachel Rohrabacher
Top Storylines
Since "The Annas" have gotten together as partners, they lost twice - once to Jorja and Tyra, and once to the Kawamotos. However, "The Annas" are back to winning ways, having won back to back titles - can they make it a three-peat?
The duo of Parenteau and Todd have teamed up twice this year, earning a silver and a fourth place finish.
As mentioned, (3) Tyra and Jorja have beat Anna Bright and Anna Leigh Waters recently. In my opinion, they have a much better chance at the upset than the other top seeds, because they would face the top team in the semis, so they only need to win 2/3, not 3/5 in the finals.
Upset Alerts – Players with higher seeds I have my eye on
Honestly, there are rarely any major upsets in women's doubles, and I don't see any unfolding here at Worlds.
Predictions
- Semifinalists: (1) Anna Bright/Anna Leigh Waters, (3) Jorja Johnson/Hurricane Tyra Black, (2) Catherine Parenteau/Parris Todd, and (4) Jade Kawamoto/Rachel Rohrabacher
- Finals: Bright and Waters beat Catherine and Parris in three
Men’s Doubles
Top 4 Seeds
- Gabe Tardio/Ben Johns
- Christian Alshon/Andrei Daescu
- Federico Staksrud/Hayden Patriquin
- CJ Klinger/JW Johnson
Top Storylines
Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio are now going for their 7th straight title. Man was I wrong when I said no team would win more than five, earlier in the year.
Both the #2 seed and #3 seed pushed Gabe and Ben in Las Vegas recently, can they actually beat them? Hayden and Fed are going to have to get through (5) Eric Oncins and Matt Wright if they want a shot at the top dogs.
Upset Alerts – Players with higher seeds I have my eye on
(17) Blaine Hovenier and Jack Sock could make some noise. Jack is playing the best I have ever seen him play.
Predictions
- Semifinalists: (1) Gabe Tardio/Ben Johns, (3) Federico Staksrud/Hayden Patriquin, (2) Christian Alshon/Andrei Daescu, and CJ Klinger/JW Johnson
- Finals: Ben and Gabe beat Alshon and Daescu in four
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