PPA Tour Doubles Shakeups: Can Anyone Beat Ben and Gabe?

Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio went undefeated in men's doubles pickleball, winning all nine tournaments they entered together. Here's a breakdown of every major partner switch and whether any new team has the firepower to stop them.

Three of the four best teams in the first half of the season are splitting up, and the entire professional landscape is reshuffling around one uncomfortable truth: nobody has figured out how to beat Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio.

When a duo goes 9 for 9 in tournaments, second place stops feeling acceptable. Players aren't making these moves because they're bored.

They're making them because finishing silver over and over gets old fast.

This breakdown comes from Zane Navratil Pickleball on YouTube, where Zane cuts through the noise and rates every notable partnership switch heading into the PPA Tour's second half.

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The Problem Nobody Wants to Say Out Loud

Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio didn't just win a lot.

They won every single tournament they played together in the first half of the season, going a perfect 9 for 9.

The top four men's doubles pickleball teams this year accounted for 24 of the 27 available medals. That's a closed system at the top of the sport.

The issue isn't that the field is weak. The issue is that no team has cracked the code on Ben and Gabe specifically.

So when you evaluate all these partner switches, there's really only one question that matters.

Did anyone actually build something in men's doubles pickleball that can beat them on Championship Sunday?

Shakeup 1: Hayden and Fed Are Back Together

Hayden Patriquin and Federico Staksrud are reuniting, and on paper, this makes sense.

Hayden plays extremely well on the left with a traditional right side setup player, and Fed fits that role cleanly.

This pairing made five finals together in 2025. They were clearly the second best team in the game during that stretch.

The problem is that reverting to what worked before doesn't answer the question of how you actually beat the best team in the world.

It just makes you comfortable again.

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Shakeup 2: Christian and Andrei Are Reuniting Too

Andrei Daescu plays best with an aggressive right side player who can drive the pace of a point. That's not a theory.

When Andrei partnered with Gabe Tardio earlier in his PPA career, the combination was aggressive enough to force Ben Johns and Collin Johns to split up.

Andrei on the left with a weapon on the right is a legitimate formula. The question is whether Christian Alshon can bring that same right side aggression consistently.

Christian and Andrei were strong together before and should be a legitimate podium threat.

But "legitimate podium threat" and "team that can actually beat Ben and Gabe" are two different things right now.

Why Didn't Hayden and Andrei Partner Up?

This is the move that didn't happen, and it's the one that should bother you most if you want competition at the top of men's doubles pickleball.

Yes, both Hayden and Andrei are natural left side players. But that's not a permanent barrier, because Hayden played the right side with Fed before.

He can make the adjustment.

Andrei was an absolute force on the right side when he and Ben Johns played one tournament together in March 2025 and won the whole thing.

Consider what this pairing would bring:

Two of the three best men's doubles pickleball players outside of Ben and Gabe on the same team
Andrei's aggression as a right side weapon, which has worked before at the highest level
Hayden's ability to keep a partner locked in mentally throughout a full tournament
A combination with the raw firepower to actually challenge Ben and Gabe in a final

Neither player has a style that makes this impossible. It just requires one of them to adapt.

That's not a dealbreaker. That's pickleball.

If you want to understand how Ben Johns controls points from the transition zone, it becomes even clearer why you need two weapons capable of disrupting his rhythm.

One isn't enough.

Shakeup 3: JW and Tama — Does the Style Fit?

JW Johnson is taking a shot on Tama Shimabukuro, and the idea is interesting. Tama is young, athletic, and clearly has a ceiling nobody has found yet.

The problem is fit. Tama is at his best when he is dictating play from the left side, and JW Johnson doesn't play the right side.

That means one of them is playing somewhere they're not fully comfortable, and

Tama's numbers on the right during MLP with the Black Diamonds were notably weaker.

It's not that Tama is bad on the right. He just becomes more passive there, which removes the exact thing that makes him dangerous.

Understanding right side offense mechanics makes it clear why a passive right side player is a structural problem against elite men's doubles pickleball teams.

You need someone who can punish from that side to keep opponents honest.

Is CJ and Will Howells the Sleeper Pick?

Yes, and here's why. CJ Klinger is coming out of a brief slump, and Will Howells is still in his first full PPA season.

Both guys have upside that hasn't fully shown up in the results yet.

Will is a genuinely good fit for CJ's style. The concern is the same one that hurt CJ and JW Johson: the middle.

When neither player has a reliable speed up off the bounce from the middle, opponents can dink there all day without fear.

That's a comfortable place for any team to operate against you.

Here's what this team needs to develop to become a genuine threat:

A reliable middle speed up off the bounce from at least one player
Consistent pressure points that take away the comfortable dink zones
Aggressive transition game so opponents can't just reset through the middle safely

If either player adds that middle speed up as a real weapon, the entire dynamic of playing against this team changes.

Watching when to speed up off the bounce is the single biggest unlock for this pairing's ceiling.

What About Eric Oncins and Noe Khlif?

Eric Oncins is playing really well right now, and when he's hot, he can beat anyone on any given day.

That's not hype. That's just what you see when you watch him play.

But pairing with Noe Khlif in North Carolina creates an immediate style question. Noe primarily plays the left side, which means one of them has to shift.

With partnerships changing this fast in the second half, there's a real chance Eric ends up with a different partner before the year ends.

Someone like Federico Staksrud or Christian Alshon could become available if those other pairings start underperforming early.

Eric is too good to be stuck in a suboptimal fit for long. Learning from Eric Oncins' tournament preparation habits shows you just how dialed in his process is.

Women's Doubles: Still Anna Leigh and Anna Bright's World

Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright are on a 13 tournament winning streak, losing just six games across all of those events.

That's not a dynasty. That's a different category entirely.

The women's doubles shakeups are real, but they're essentially a competition for second place.

Sofia Sewing signing with Catherine Parenteau is the biggest surprise, especially given the tour controversy surrounding Sofia's contract situation.

Rachel Rohrabacher is moving to Parris Todd, and Kate Fahey is still mixing partners. None of these moves change who wins tournaments right now.

If you want to understand what makes the top women's team so hard to beat, the real reason Anna Leigh Waters is so hard to stop breaks it down specifically.

Breakout MLP players Jamie Wei, Dann-Elle Townsend, and Sahra Dennehy are the ones worth watching. Jamie is mixing with multiple partners and should find results.

Danny and Sara are heading to Asia and Australia, which is unfortunate for domestic fans.

Mixed Doubles: One New Pairing That Actually Makes Sense

Mixed doubles saw the least movement, but the most interesting new pairing is Gabe Tardio and Tyra Black.

Gabe is a genuinely strong mixed player, but he spent the first half with Catherine Parenteau and the results were mediocre.

Seven tournaments together without a single medal. That's a red flag regardless of individual talent.

Tyra Black is one of the top women in the game, and she brings real kitchen line control.

Pairing her with Gabe's aggressive style could produce medals quickly.

This is the one new mixed partnership that feels like a genuine upgrade rather than just a change for change's sake.

For context on how left side comfort shapes mixed outcomes, these left side offense moves show exactly why a woman who owns the left side changes everything for a mixed team.

CJ Klinger and Jamie Wei is another pairing worth watching. Jamie genuinely loves playing the left in mixed, and that's rarer than you think.

Most elite women prefer the right.

That comfort on the left gives CJ a real platform to attack from the right side consistently.

Understanding how pros make decisions every point helps explain why partner comfort on a specific side matters so much at the professional level.

It's not just style preference. It shapes every shot selection from the first dink to the finishing attack.

The Bottom Line on All These Moves

A lot of pieces moved. The hierarchy probably didn't.

Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio remain the team everyone is building against, and right now nobody has constructed the specific combination that threatens them on the biggest stage.

The most logical path to challenging them was Hayden Patriquin and Andrei Daescu together.

That didn't happen. Until it does, expect more musical chairs in the second half as teams figure out quickly whether their new partnerships work.

Players will pull the trigger faster on changes this time around. The PPA Tour second half is going to be chaotic in the best way possible.

Watch the PPA Tour return closely, because the standings are about to get interesting.

And if you want to sharpen your own doubles game while watching how the pros navigate these style fits, start with these five lessons from MLP championship weekend.

The patterns the pros exploit at the top level are the same ones showing up in your rec games every week.

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