This past weekend, the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) returned to North Carolina for the fourth time, visiting the Cary Tennis Center in the Raleigh-Durham area for the 2025 Veolia North Carolina Open. More than 1200 players entered the massive event, which drew from healthy communities all up and down the mid-Atlantic.
Click here for the Pickleballtournaments.com home page for the event, where you can get tournament details, draw sheets, and results.
News and Noteworthy
In the week leading up to the event, we got word that No. 1 Anna Leigh Waters and a slew of players planned on skipping the singles component. This apparently is in reaction to the PPA’s plans to use a roll-out surface laid over top of the hardcourts at the tennis center. Waters was crystal clear on twitter, reminding us that she sprained an ankle on a similar surface in Las Vegas last year. The Women’s singles draw was especially gutted, missing three top seeds in Waters, Christian, and Parenteau.
What’s odd is, normally the PPA sends an advance team to do painting of courts at the facilities it uses, and then paints them right back to tennis the moment the tournament ends. I suppose (not knowing otherwise) the town of Cary must have scuttled those plans on their recently refinished courts.
This withdrawal robbed Waters of one of her three chances this weekend to surpass 150 career gold medals. She currently sits at 148 and trails Ben Johns by just three career golds. She was certainly favored in the other two divisions, but lost in the finals of both, sending her home from an event without a gold medal for the first time in more than a year.
For the second week in a row, The NC Open will feature the PPA’s new “Saturday Semis” schedule, made for TV broadcasting purposes. This pushes up the schedules a bit; Singles is now on Wednesday up to the quarters, Mixed Thursday, then Gender doubles Friday.
Lastly, yours truly was onsite for Friday doubles action, pressing the flesh and getting quick little interviews in where I could. I thought the Cary Tennis Center was a fabulous venue for the event, with a ton of walkable and free parking at the local high school and a well laid out facility to watch. There were some courts set inside, but most of the play was held outdoors on a series of tennis courts that were covered with a rolled-on temporary court surface, as mentioned above. I saw a few players express some frustration with the courts (getting dead bounces here and there) but otherwise the surfaces seemed to play just fine.
From a spectator perspective, the Humana championship court was great (albeit sunny and hot as temperatures in North Carolina hit 90). The alternate pro courts needed more seating and it was impossible to watch some of the pro matches set on the furthest pro courts. The pros had a nice little private setup that gave them a respite from the crowds and sun, and there was a ton of pro player interaction with fans throughout the day. The food trucks were solid, the bathroom facilities plentiful, and the inclusion of a water stand was a great idea so we didn’t have to buy $7 bottles of water all day.
Most of the early part of Saturday was filled with the top seeds competing (and crushing) on the main court; this is a common and recurring issue with the tour. On the one hand, they want to showcase their best players on their streaming court, which means round of 16 0,0 blow-outs like we saw here. On the other hand, pickleball aficionados know that there’s better and more compelling pickleball to be had. It’s a similar issue with Tennis coverage in the US: do you show the Americans, or do you show the best matches that may be between two players typical US fan bases have never heard of?
All in all, a very solid experience. The PPA improves its player and fan experience every event.
Let’s recap the action.
Men’s Pro Singles Recap
The singles qualifying draw saw a ton of players with ties to my home club in Richmond competing and qualifying into the main draw. Congrats to PPBRVA’s Jhonnatan Medina Alvarez (the #1 seed in qualifying) and DUPR collegiate 2024 finalist and UVA alum David Bieger for getting through to the main draw, and bravo to three others for playing tough: Rosen Naydenov, who fell in two close games to fellow VA native Jonathan Truong, along with teenagers Arnav Khanna and Hridhay Pothunoori, who took advantage of being on Spring Break to head down to play mid-week.
Both Alvarez and Bieger made some noise in the main draw; Alvarez took out Hewett in the opener before running out of gas against fellow lefty Donald Young in the 32s. Meanwhile, Bieger got a walkover against Tellez, then got a very solid win over Oncins in the 32s before falling to No. 5 Vich 2,5 in the round of 16.
Top North Carolina-based pros Sock and Roddy both crashed out of their home-state event early; Sock fell to rising star Max Freeman in two, while Roddy fell to No. 10 Roscoe Bellamy in three. Bellamy continued his run, shocking No. 2 Hunter Johnson in the quarters to make semis Saturday. No. 17 Zane Ford, another singles player with helium, took advantage of a thinned draw at the bottom to cruise into the semis as well. Gabriel Tardio, not necessarily known for his singles exploits, got several solid wins over singles specialists to earn a Saturday semi against the top seed Staksrud to complete the semi-finals field.
In the semis, Tardio shocked No. 1 Staksrud to earn his first career “Tier 1” singles final (he won the gold in Australia earlier this year in a limited field). No. 10 Bellamy took out the bespectacled Ford in the other semi to secure his first ever PPA gold medal match and to make for a final of two double-digit seeds.
In the final, Tardio won 9,5. He’s now the fourth different player to take Singles gold on the Men’s side since January, which was the last time the No. 1 ranked player Staksrud took gold, further illustration of the depth of singles on tour.
Gold: Gabriel Tardio. Silver: Roscoe Bellamy. Bronze: Federico Staksrud.
Women’s Pro Singles Recap
After a significantly smaller singles draw in Utah, qualifiers were back for this event. Nearly 20 mostly east-coast based players completed for eight initial spots, then a couple of “lucky losers” got into the draw to replace the aforementioned withdrawn top seeds. Congrats to Natalie Kim from the Richmond area for getting two qualifying wins to get into the main draw.
With three favorites missing, opportunities abounded for the next tier of singles pros, and we ended up with four very solid singles players in the semis. No. 5 Lea Jansen topped Mary Brascia and Genie Bouchard (who has now risen to No. 15 on tour) to earn a semifinals slot against No. 6 Parris Todd from the upper half. The lower semi will be a barn burner between No. 2 Kate Fahey and the dangerous No. 8 Salome Devidze (who topped Buckner in the quarters).
In the semis, Todd came from a game down to beat Jansen, while Fahey cruised past Devidze. In the final. Fahey returned to the winner’s circle for the first time since November with a three game win over Todd.
Gold: Kate Fahey. Silver: Parris Todd. Bronze: Lea Jansen.
Mixed Pro Doubles Recap
The big story from North Carolina was the shock loss of the No. 1 Mixed team Ben Johns & Anna Leigh Waters in the final to the No. 2 seeds JW Johnson & sister Jorja Johnson. Normally in a pro event, the 2nd seed topping a 1st seed isn’t that big of a news item, but this is no ordinary top seed. Johns & Waters at one point last year won 76 matches in a row and together hold 48 mixed titles.
However, on Sunday, the Florida based brother-sister team had other plans. The Johnsons got up on ALW and Johns two games to one and then weathered the comeback storm that the sports’ two top players are well known for. The Johnsons end up winning the fifth 11-8 and secured their third mixed title together and to solidify their hold on the No. 2 seed in Mixed.
Other Notable results: The 10th seeds Daescu & Dizon made it to the semis before falling, not a terrible surprise given Daescu’s dominance in Men’s Doubles lately. The highest seeds into the 16s were No. 31 Mari Humberg & CJ Klinger, a lefty-righty pair that illustrates the challenges that left-handed Men have in Mixed (namely, finding a left-sided female who can hang). In the history of the PPA, there have been just three medals won by a lefty player; Tyler Loong won a bronze with Parenteau in Dec 2022, and then a Silver with Anna Bright in Sept 2021, and Jade Kawamoto teamed with Rettenmaier to take a Bronze in Aug 2023.
Gold: Johnson & Johnson. Silver: Waters & Johns. Bronze: Bright & Staksrud
Men’s Pro Doubles Recap
The future is now, apparently, as the final featured the two teams that most pundits believe are the next dominant top team in the sport.
The sport’s long-time No. 1 Doubles player Ben Johns and his hand-selected new partner Tardio faced little resistance on their way into the final in their third tournament playing together. It’s only fitting that they faced off against the current No. 1 ranked team of Staksrud & Patriquin there, who struggled a bit in the semis but who pushed through to force the star-studded final.
In the gold medal match, Johns & Tardio won a close four-game set to secure their second gold medal together in as many tries and to send Staksrud to the silver for the fourth successive event. It also secured Tardio a rare double gold, something we generally only see from the likes of Johns or Staksrud amongst the men.
Other Notable results: Loong & Garnett (despite being the No. 11 seed) advanced to the quarters once again, and seem well on their way to securing a spot in the top 16 come Tour Finals time. Collin Johns teamed with Noe Khlif as the No 6 seeds to advance to the quarters. The surprise semifinalists on the day were No 8 Frazier & Oncins, who surprisingly ousted the No. 3 team of Daescu & Alshon, winners of three gold medals in the last two months.
Gold: Johns & Tardio. Silver: Staksrud & Patriquin. Bronze: Oncins & Frazier
Women’s Pro Doubles Recap
The NC crowds were robbed of yet another 1v2 final in Women’s Doubles when the 2nd seeds Bright & Rohrabacher were sent packing on a stifling Friday afternoon by the Kawamoto twins Jackie & Jade. This quarter-final loss opened up the bottom side of the draw, and the No. 3 seeds Jorja Johnson & Hurricane Tyra Black took full advantage, griding their way through one tough opponent after another to earn the Sunday final.
Everything looked normal to the top seeds Anna Leigh Waters & Catherine Parenteau, who cruised past all comers enroute to the final as well. Things even looked like it would be another coronation for the top-ranked pair, winning the first game in the gold medal match 11-1. But Jorja & Hurricane had different plans, running off three straight games for the huge upset and the gold medal. Its Black’s third career gold (and her second in two months), while the win secured Jorja the double on the weekend.
Parenteau posted an ominous sounding “wishing you nothing but success” message the next day on social media, which read to this observer as if the duo are splitting up. That would be massive news on tour, something we’ll see unfold in the coming days.
Gold: Johnson & Black. Silver: Waters & Parenteau. Bronze: Kawamoto & Kawamoto
Senior Open Competition Quick Recap
- Men’s Senior Open Singles: Josh Cooperman continued his dominance of the PPA Senior Singles event, winning his 4th title of 2025 and his 13th overall.
- Men’s Senior Open Doubles: The Senior doubles featured several players with whom I have a personal connection. The gold medalists were Brad Anderson & Dave Meagher: Dave and I used to compete in age-group racquetball tournaments frequently when we were both in the Baltimore-Washington area. The silver medalists were Bob Vinson & Derek Whitcomb, both Virginia area players and infrequent open play competitors (in the case of Derek Anyway). Bravo to both.
The Pro Pickleball Medal Tracker has now been updated with these results; check out this link online for a complete pro medal history for all tours and all pro events dating to the beginnings of all the major pro tours, plus pro events that predated 2020.
Next up on the Pickleball Calendar? According to my Master Pickleball Schedule, the big event next weekend is the CPT Collegiate National championships, to be held at the fantastic Life Time facility in Peachtree Corners, Georgia.
Next up for the PPA? The tour takes a slight pause starting now to let the MLP season get started, then returns for action for the 2nd Grand Slam of the season in Atlanta mid-May.
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