The Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) Tour 2026-2027 season started exactly… one day after the Major League Pickleball (MLP) Finals.
The Veolia National Championships took place in Cary, North Carolina at the Carey Tennis Center this past week. The temperatures were HOT and really affected play.
This was the first Slam of the 2026-2027 season, and it was worth 2,000 PPA points to the winners.
There were four big developments for this tournament moving forward for the PPA Tour:
- Automated line calls on eight (8) side courts, thanks to Owl AI
- Side switch at six (6) points every game
- No more bronze matches
- Implementation of the World Pickleball Rankings
Let’s get into the action.
Anna Bright and Anna Leigh Waters both won double gold
Bright and Waters won women’s doubles in dominating fashion together. Bright also won gold in mixed, while Waters won women’s singles.
In women’s doubles, Bright and Waters quickly moved past their heated rivalry in MLP from Sunday, and were back to their winning ways together on Wednesday. They won by a combined scoreline of 121-28, or an average of 11-2.55.
In the quarters, they beat Sleeth and Truong 0 & 1. In the semis, they beat Rachel and Catherine 3 & 4. In the finals, they beat Jorja and Tyra 11-5, 11-6, 11-3. Six points was the most any opponent got against the #1 team in the world.
This win secures at least a full calendar year unbeaten streak for Anna Bright and Anna Leigh. They last lost to the Kawamoto twins in the semis at the PPA Cincinnati Cup on September 13th of 2025.
Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson ruined Anna Leigh’s chances at winning a triple crown because they beat AL and Ben Johns in mixed in the semis on Saturday. That marked the first loss by the #1 duo in over a year.
However, Hayden and Anna Bright took home gold, beating the Johnsons, 11-9, 11-3, 11-7 in the finals. This was the first major for Bright and Patriquin and really helps them solidify the #2 seed moving forward because they were able to beat the Johnsons (who are the #3 seed).
In singles, Anna Leigh dominated the competition again, winning her second gold of the tournament against Kate Fahey in the finals. The combined score on the week for Waters was 110-18, or an average of 110-1.8. She pickled her opponent in FOUR games this weekend.
Fahey put up a valiant effort in game two, losing 9-11 to Waters. The nine points doubled all of Waters’ previous opponents scores combined, including Fahey’s first game.
It’s been 830 days since Waters lost in singles and it doesn’t look to be happening anytime soon.
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Gabe Tardio and Ben Johns win gold in doubles to stay undefeated in 2026
The last loss they took was in the bronze medal match at World’s in November, 2025. It has now been over 300 days of Ben and Gabe not losing together.
The task was not easy for Ben and Gabe. In the quarters, they lost a game to #5 CJ Klinger & Will Howells, before winning 11-3, 9-11, 11-5. In the semis, they faced Hayden Patriquin and Federico Staksrud, winning 13-11, and 11-5 in a match that bled over to Sunday morning because the Saturday slate took so long.
In the finals, they faced Christian Alshon and Andrei Daescu, beating them 11-8, 11-8, 5-11, 11-5. While they lost a game, Johns and Tardio looked to be in control the entire time.
Hunter Johnson won singles in the first event of the new season
Johnson had a tough road to the victory in men’s singles. He lost his first game to Bret Berryman, a qualifier in the Round of 64, 6-11. He ended up beating Berryman, 11-4, 11-0. After the early game loss, Johnson went on a roll.
He beat #17 Grayson Goldin 1 & 8. He then beat #24 Mo Alhouni 0 & 5. #12 Noe Khlif was Hunter’s next victim, with Hunter beating him 1 & 0 in the quarters.
In the semis Hunter faced #1 overall seed Chris Haworth, and beat him 11-9, 11-1. In the finals, he beat #2, Federico Staksrud, with a scoreline of 7-11, 11-3, 11-0.
Johnson is back in the winner’s circle to start the season. Men’s singles is definitely the most chaotic and least predictable event on the PPA Tour, but it just feels like one of the top three seeds is going to win each time.
Other Storylines
Alshon chirped Hayden after his mixed semifinal loss
Christian Alshon got into it at the end of his mixed doubles semifinal matchup against Hayden Patriquin and Anna Bright.
Words exchanged after AB/H match v Rachel/Christian
— Erik Tice (@azetice) September 6, 2026
Hayden and Anna won 11-5, 11-2
At the handshake, everyone did shake hands, but then Christian Alshon said something that offended both Hayden and Anna
After the commercial break, @DaveFlemingPB shared that Alshon said “Must… pic.twitter.com/ygagCaSl3l
Sofia Sewing made her PPA Tour debut - and she showed out
Sewing made a quarterfinal run in singles, losing to eventual runner up, Kate Fahey, 3-11, 7-11. She beat Marcela Ampon, Liz Truluck, and #8 Kiora Kunimoto to make it to the quarters. She was the 45 seed out of qualifiers, but the 400 points she received for making it to the quarters will help get her into a better seed soon.
In women’s she partnered with Catherine Parenteau, and they also made a good quarterfinal run, losing to Rachel Rohrabacher and Parris Todd, 10-12, 5-11. In mixed, her and Casey Diamond made it out of qualies but ran into Riley Newman and Catherine Parenteau, and lost 10-12 in the third. Mixed is going to be the most difficult to break through because the field is so stacked, but Sofia had a very positive start to her PPA Tour career.
Jansen and Fahey were the only non-top four seed to make the semis
Kate Fahey and Lea Jansen were the only team to make the semis that were not a top four seed. They were the #6 seed, and had to upset Pisnik and Schneemann to make the semis. Other than that, the semifinals were chalk the entire weekend. Literally seeds #1 - #4 were all semifinalists, except Jansen and Fahey.
We will see if that continues to be a trend.
Next up on the PPA Tour is the Arizona Open next week, but many players are flying to Asia for the PPA Tour Asia Malaysia Cup, worth 1,000 points, this week.
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