The Jenius Bank Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) World Championships brought the highest level pickleball from Farmers Branch Texas this past weekend. The Brookhaven Country Club in the northern suburb of Dallas hosted an incredible event that seemed to go on forever.
The first ever MLP Cup got the two-week pickleball extravaganza off to a great start, with the St. Louis Shock winning the standalone tournament. Just two days later, the PPA World Championships got underway with the Round of 64.
With 2025 being the third year in a row for PPA Worlds, this one was the biggest and best yet. The play was intense and the battle for medals fiercer than ever.
Let’s get into the action.
Top Storylines
Anna Leigh Waters Becomes the Winningest Player of All-Time on the PPA Tour
Anna Leigh Waters has become the winning player in PPA Tour history. The 18 year old phenom has now won 168 gold medals on the PPA Tour, with Ben Johns amassing 167. It is possible the two go back and forth in terms of which player earns more titles, but for now, Anna Leigh has it.
Earning her third triple crown in a row (previous two were Rate Vegas Cup and the Virginia Beach Cup), Waters is playing on a different level right now.
In mixed doubles, Anna Leigh and Ben won their eighth title in a row. The win came over Jorja and JW Johnson, who was the last partnership to beat Waters and Johns. Waters and Johns made quick work of the young siblings, 11-7, 11-4, 11-7. This marks the 12th title for Waters and Johns in 2025, with the 3,000 points separating them even more from the rest of the field.
In women’s doubles, Anna Bright and Anna Leigh Waters continued their winning ways, only dropping one game in their five matches together. The lone loss came against (9) Tina Pisnik and Kate Fahey in the quarters. Otherwise “The Annas” did not lose a game.
The finals was even faster in women’s doubles than mixed doubles, with Bright and Waters beating Parenteau and Todd, 11-2, 11-2, 11-5.
Ever since their two back-to-back losses to Jorja/Tyra and then the Kawamotos, Bright and Waters have won three titles in a row, going 15-0 in matches. They don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
In singles, Anna Leigh beat Kate Fahey, 11-4, 12-10. The semifinals were also tough on Waters, as she lost 9-11 in game one to Kaitlyn Christian. Waters bounced back though, winning 11-2, 11-6 in the last two games.
Anna Leigh Waters has now only lost a TOTAL of three games in singles in 2025. One to Christian in this tournament, one to Fahey in Atlanta in May, and one to Buckner, in Mesa in February. It has now officially been 529 days since Anna Leigh lost a singles match.
My prediction is that Anna Leigh continues widening the medal count gap between her and Ben Johns over the next year. A bold prediction of mine is that Anna Leigh will win her 200th PPA Tour title next year at the same event - Worlds 2026. She needs 32 to do so.
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Hayden Patriquin and Federico Staksrud Win Their First Gold of 2025 at the Biggest Stage
This is not the first gold ever for Fed and Hayden. In fact, Hayden and Fed won three tournaments together in 2024.
However, this one felt different. Fed has moved to the right for Hayden to take the left in the last few tournaments. All year, there have been a “big four” of men’s doubles partnerships:
- Gabe Tardio and Ben Johns
- Christian Alshon and Andrei Daescu
- Hayden Patriquin and Federico Staksrud
- CJ Klinger and JW Johnson
The other three pairings all had at least one title this year, except for Hayden and Fed. Worlds was probably the best place to earn the win, as they both earned 3,000 PPA Points.
The win came while beating two of those other three top opponents. Hayden and Fed didn’t drop a game until the finals, and actually had their toughest win in the quarters against Jaume Martinez Vich and Jonathan Truong, beating them 12–10, 12-10.
In the semis, matches got delayed a bit throughout the day, so Fed and Hayden played Ben and Gabe later than originally scheduled. However, they won in two, 11-8, 11-5, and Federico got emotional after the win.
They didn’t let the emotional roller coaster affect their play in the finals, and they beat Klinger and Johnson, 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-8, after a bit of a slow start.
Federico Staksrud Wins his Third Gold in Four Events - Taking the #1 Spot
Speaking of Federico, three months after losing the #1 seed to Hunter Johnson, I believe he has regained that title with a signature win at Worlds.
The math is fairly difficult, so I will leave it up to PPA Tour statistician Jim Ramsey, but I believe Federico Staksrud has taken over the #1 seed in men’s singles. He won the PPA Vintage Open in Sacramento, then won the Rate Vegas Cup, and followed it up by winning Worlds.
Staksrud lost a game to Zane Ford in the Round of 16 and to Jaume Martinez Vich in the Quarterfinals. Other than that, he didn’t drop another game. In the semis, he made quick work of Connor Garnett, 11-4, 11-1.
In the finals, Staksrud beat a red hot Chris Haworth, 11-9, 11-1. The fight atop the men’s singles event as a whole is fierce, with Fed winning it ever so slightly right now. Hunter Johnson and Chris Haworth are on his heels and this is one of the best competitions heading into the 2026 year.
Medalists
Women’s Singles
🥇Anna Leigh Waters
🥈Kate Fahey
🥉Brooke Buckner
Men’s Singles
🥇Federico Staksrud
🥈Chris Haworth
🥉Hunter Johnson
Mixed Doubles
🥇Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns
🥈Jorja & JW Johnson
🥉Anna Bright/Hayden Patriquin
Women’s Doubles
🥇Anna Bright/Anna Leigh Waters
🥈Catherine Parenteau/Parris Todd
🥉Jorja Johnson/Hurricane Tyra Black
Men’s Doubles
🥇Federico Staksrud/Hayden Patriquin
🥈CJ Klinger/JW Johnson
🥉Christian Alshon/Andrei Daescu
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