The PPA Masters 2026 Tournament Preview

The PPA Tour is back in action from the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. The Carvana Masters Powered by Invited is the first PPA Tour tournament in the 2026 year.

Known as both a fan and player favorite, the Masters kicks the 2026-year off in a big way, since it is a Slam level event. That’s right, 2,000 PPA Tour Points are on the line for the winners of each event.

There is something special about the Masters - the venue is amazing and the players wearing all white seems to elevate the event's status as one of the most elite on tour.

How to Watch the Masters

Tuesday, January 13 - Rd of 128 & Rd of 64

1pm - 9pm ET - Championship Court - pickleballtv
1pm - 9pm ET - Grandstand Court - pickleballtv

Wednesday, January 14 - Rd of 32

1pm - 9pm ET - Championship Court - pickleballtv
1pm - 9pm ET - Grandstand Court - pickleballtv

Thursday, January 15 - Rd of 16

1pm - 9pm ET - Championship Court - pickleballtv
1pm - 9pm ET - Grandstand Court - pickleballtv
7pm - 9pm ET - Championship Court - FS2

Friday, January 16 - Quarterfinals

1pm - 9pm ET - Championship Court - pickleballtv
1pm - 9pm ET - Grandstand Court - pickleballtv
7pm - 9pm ET - Championship Court - FS2

Saturday, January 17 - Semifinals

1pm - 9pm ET - Championship Court - pickleballtv
1pm - 9pm ET - Grandstand Court - pickleballtv
6:30pm - 8:30pm ET - Championship Court - FS1

Sunday, January 18 - Championships

Noon - 2pm ET - Championship Court - CBS
2pm - 6pm ET - Championship Court - FS2
Noon - 4pm ET - Grandstand Court (Bronze matches) - pickleballtv
7pm - 9pm ET - Championships Replay - FS1

Weather Outlook for the Masters

Lows in the upper 50s and highs in the low 80s - can you think of any better pickleball weather? This is one of the many reasons the Masters has become a staple this time of year on the PPA Tour.

There are plenty of storylines headed into the event, so let’s get into them.

Can Anna Leigh Waters make it five in a row?

Anna Leigh Waters has triple crowned the last four times she played in all three events - can she make it five in a row?

The pace of Anna Leigh Waters’ winning is just absurd. In 2025 she lost a total of six matches. Six matches. Two times with Ben Johns in mixed doubles and four times in women’s doubles. Waters hasn’t lost in well over 100 days. Can she start 2026 as dominant as she ended 2025?

Players are going to be playing with some different paddles

We know Anna Leigh Waters has gone from Paddletek to Franklin. Over the weekend, it was announced that Chris Haworth left Babolat for Luzz. Rachel Rohrabacher has left Selkirk for Friday paddles. Check out all the paddle drama at Alex E. Weaver’s article for The Dink:

Questions that still need answers: Is Anna Leigh going to announce an apparel sponsor for the Masters? Will any other big names sign with Luzz?

Will Howells is making his PPA Tour debut (kind of)

Technically, Howells has played six PPA Tour events, spanning from late 2023 through mid 2024. However, This tournament marks the first time Howells plays on the PPA Tour as an exclusively signed player.

While Howells is best known for his play in MLP with the 5s, He is starting the 2026 year off with a big disadvantage: he has zero PPA Tour Points. That hasn’t stopped him from partnering with some top-notch talent, as he is playing with Rachel Rohrabacher and Noe Khlif (his 5s teammate) for the foreseeable future.

There is a big partner swap in men’s doubles

In 2025, there became what many of us in the industry called “the big four” partnerships in men’s doubles. It was rare when one of the below partnerships failed to make the semis or quarterfinals:

Gabe Tardio & Ben Johns
Christian Alshon & Andrei Daescu
Federico Staksrud & Hayden Patriquin
CJ Klinger & JW Johnson

However, for the Masters (and at least the first half of 2026), Alshon and Staksrud are swapping places. Alshon is going to be playing alongside Hayden Patriquin, while Staksrud is going to be playing with Daescu.

To be honest, I am not sure how much a different this change is going to make for any player involved. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the partnerships switch back to the 2025 versions after the 2026 MLP season in the summer.

Parris Todd is suspended for this event

It was widely documented that Parris Todd was suspended from one PPA Tour event, one MLP event, and fined $50,000 for her part in an overseas trip with other players in Japan. Todd is ranked 10th in women’s mixed doubles, sixth in women’s doubles, and fifth in singles. This suspension will most assuredly drop her out of the top 10 in women’s mixed doubles.

Because of the suspension, both Meghan Dizon (picked up Alix Truong) and Dekel Bar (picked up Jackie Kawamoto) had to find new partners for the Masters.

Let’s get into the draws.

Women’s Singles

Top Storylines

Anna Leigh hasn’t lost in singles in 592 days - if she wins the Masters, she will have made it over 600 days without losing a match in singles
Fahey, Christian, Buckner, and Jansen are all looking for a win over Waters to get them off to a hot start in 2026
(19) Jamie Wei is a lower seeded player I could see making a run at the Masters, but she is likely going to have to go through Judit Castillo and Genie Bouchard to do so

Predictions

Semifinalists: (1) Anna Leigh Waters, (3) Kaitlyn Christian, (2) Kate Fahey, and (4) Brooke Buckner
Finals: Anna Leigh beats Fahey in three

Men’s Singles

Top Storylines

Men’s singles proved to be the toughest event to win in 2025, as there were eight different winners on tour in the last 20 events
Despite being the #1 seed, Hunter Johnson hasn’t won in over six months
(6) Chris Haworth has moved up 51 spots in seeding over the last six months and is aiming to gain the #1 overall seed in 2026
Ben Johns is NOT playing singles at the Masters

Predictions

Semifinalists: (8) Gabe Joseph, (6) Chris Haworth, (7) Jack Sock, and (9) Roscoe Bellamy
Finals: Chris Haworth beats Roscoe Bellamy in two close games

Mixed Doubles

Top Storylines

(1) Anna Leigh and Ben haven’t lost since April 2025, and if they win this tournament they will go over 300 straight days without a loss
While I didn’t pick any of the top four seeds to move on to the semis in men’s singles, these top four seeds are going to be heavily favored to do so
(8) Fed and Kate Fahey are paired up for the Masters and the early part of 2026
Anna Bright is going to mainly split her time playing in the US with Hayden Patriquin and Andrei Daescu
In his debut, (18) Will Howells and Rachel Rohrabacher could face off against his 5s teammate, Meghan Dizon, in the Round of 32.

Predictions

Semifinalists: (1) Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns, (4) Hurricane Tyra Black/Christian Alshon, (7) Jorja and JW Johnson, and (3) Anna Bright/Hayden Patriquin
Finals: Waters and Johns beat Bright and Patriquin in four games

Women’s Doubles

Top Storylines

(2) Rachel Rohrabacher and Catherine Parenteau are paired up for 2026 and could definitely make some noise - the question is: do they have enough fire power to beat AL and AB?
There is a philosophy out there (I believe it) that it is probably easier to beat the top seed in best two out of three, rather than in the finals - Hurricane Tyra Black and Jorja Johnson will likely have that opportunity in the semis
The Kawamoto twins (Jackie and Jade) won their first ever gold medals together in 2025 - can they make the finals in this one?

Predictions

Semifinalists: (1) Anna Bright/Anna Leigh Waters, (3) Jorja Johnson/Hurricane Tyra Black, (2) Catherine Parenteau/Rachel Rohrabacher, and (4) Jade & Jackie Kawamoto
Finals: Waters and Bright beat the Kawamotos in three

Men’s Doubles

Top Storylines

(1) Gabe Tardio and Ben Johns had a phenomenal 2025 - Ben is the reining champion in this event, as he won it last year with his brother Collin - the last time they played together on the PPA Tour
As I already mentioned, Hayden and Christian are playing together and Andrei and Fed are playing together
Newly signed youngster, Will Mackinnon is thrown right into the fire, playing with Riley Newman as the 11 seed
One of the matchups I am looking forward to most is the potential Round of 16 match between (6) Matt Wright/Jaume Martinez Vich and (12) Pablo Tellez/Jack Sock - this one could get spicy

Predictions

Semifinalists: (1) Gabe Tardio/Ben Johns, (15) Will Howells/Noe Khlif, (2) Federico Staksrud/Andrei Daescu, and (3) Christian Alshon/Hayden Patriquin
Finals: Tardio and Johns beat Fed and Andrei in three games