Year seven at Darling Tennis Center brings 1,000 points, best-of-three finals in every draw, and Anna Leigh Waters two doubles titles away from career title No. 200.
Why It Matters
The season's second open is worth 1,000 points, every final is best two out of three, and Anna Leigh Waters — skipping singles — can reach 200 career titles by winning both of her doubles draws.
Overall Top 5
200: Anna Leigh Waters (who is not playing singles) can claim title #200 if she wins both of her doubles draws.
Blackjack: Hayden Patriquin just turned 21 and returns, as do Shock teammates Anna Bright and Gabe Tardio.
Royal flush: will Sofia Sewing and Tina Pisnik find the same magic in the PPA as they did in MLP with the Palm Beach Royals?
Pocket aces: which lower seed will have an ace up their sleeve and make a run like Jalina Ingram (singles), Elliott Schupp / Kiora Kunimoto (mixed) and Nico Acevedo / Yuta Funemizu (men's) did in AZ?
Open 24/7: 1,000 points to the winners (and remember all finals are best 2 out of 3).
Venue, Tourney & TV
Year 7 of the PPA's annual return to Darling Tennis Center, expecting over 1,400 players. A list of past champions is at the bottom of this article.
A progressive draw on the pro side, one round per bracket per day and no bronze matches.
Coverage on PickleballTV begins at 2 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. on Sunday (all Vegas local times), with coverage on Tennis Channel on Sunday.
Women's Singles
Defending champion and finalist: Anna Leigh Waters and Genie Bouchard.
Top four seeds: 1) Kate Fahey, 2) Kaitlyn Christian, 3) Lea Jansen, 4) Zoey Wang.
With Waters out of this draw, it presents a big opportunity for the field.
Bouchard (7) returns to the court — she beat Fahey on her run to the final last year.
Potential battle in the round of 16: Kaitlyn Christian (2) vs. Sofia Sewing (23).
Watch out for Kate Fahey (1) — won her second career title here in 2024 and is poised to hoist the trophy again.
Men's Singles
Defending champion and finalist: Federico Staksrud and Roscoe Bellamy.
Top four seeds: 1) Chris Haworth, 2) Federico Staksrud, 3) Hunter Johnson, 4) Christian Alshon.
Ben Johns is the 19 seed and is advanced into the round of 16 based on his World Pickleball Ranking, where he could face Dylan Frazier (11).
Round-of-64 thriller: Yates Johnson (23) vs. Cam Chaffin (29).
Watch out for Roscoe Bellamy (5) — made the final in 2025, can lady luck be on his side again in Sin City?
Mixed Doubles
Defending champions and finalists: Anna Leigh Waters / Ben Johns and Jessie Irvine / Gabe Tardio.
Top four seeds: 1) Anna Leigh Waters / Ben Johns, 2) Anna Bright / Hayden Patriquin, 3) Tina Pisnik / Christian Alshon, 4) Hurricane Tyra Black / Gabe Tardio.
Fun partner alert: Tina Pisnik and Christian Alshon (3) are playing for only the second time together. They played together in Daytona in November of 2023, losing to Irvine / R. Newman.
Fun partner alert 2: Catherine Parenteau and Eric Oncins (6) lost in the quarters here last year to Bright / Patriquin.
First-time partners Andrei Daescu and Jessie Irvine are the 5 seed.
Round-of-64 barnburner: Jack Sock / Lea Jansen (15) vs. Sofia Sewing / Casey Diamond (44).
Watch out for Waters and Johns (1) — they have dominated at Darling Tennis Center, winning 4 years in a row.
Women's Doubles
Defending champions and finalists: Anna Bright / Anna Leigh Waters and Hurricane Tyra Black / Parris Todd.
Top four seeds: 1) Anna Bright / Anna Leigh Waters, 2) Hurricane Tyra Black / Catherine Parenteau, 3) Lacy Schneemann / Kate Fahey, 4) Jamie Wei / Meghan Dizon.
Zero of the same top four seeds from AZ.
Not playing in this event: Jorja Johnson, Parris Todd, and the bride to be Rachel Rohrabacher (9/26 wedding day).
Potential quarterfinal matchup: Schneemann / Fahey (3) vs. Jansen / Irvine (6).
Watch out for Sofia Sewing and Tina Pisnik (9) — the Palm Beach Royals duo hoping for a royal flush of the draw in Vegas.
Men's Doubles
Defending champions and finalists: Ben Johns / Gabe Tardio and Christian Alshon / Andrei Daescu.
Top four seeds: 1) Johns / Tardio, 2) Alshon / Daescu, 3) Patriquin / Staksrud, 4) Oncins / Klinger.
Gabe Tardio is back next to Ben as they hope to keep their perfect 2026 intact.
Not playing in this event: JW Johnson, Tama Shimabukuro, and Yuta Funemizu.
Watch out for Alshon and Daescu — they won in AZ, saving 7 match points, and lost a heartbreaker in this event in 2025 (12-10 in the 5th to Johns / Tardio). It was the second-longest match in PPA history at 2 hours and 28 minutes. The longest match ever was just one minute more: the 2025 men's doubles final in Daytona, which JW Johnson and Augie Ge won 11-8 in the 5th over Riley Newman and Noe Khlif.
Past Champions at Darling Tennis Center
2025 — Men's singles: Federico Staksrud · Women's singles: Anna Leigh Waters · Men's doubles: Ben Johns & Gabe Tardio · Women's doubles: Anna Leigh Waters & Anna Bright · Mixed doubles: Anna Leigh Waters & Ben Johns.
2024 — Men's singles: Quang Duong · Women's singles: Kate Fahey · Men's doubles: Ben Johns & Collin Johns · Women's doubles: Anna Leigh Waters & Catherine Parenteau · Mixed doubles: Anna Leigh Waters & Ben Johns.
2023 — Men's singles: Ben Johns · Women's singles: Anna Leigh Waters · Men's doubles: Ben Johns & Collin Johns · Women's doubles: Anna Leigh Waters & Anna Bright · Mixed doubles: Anna Leigh Waters & Ben Johns.
2022 — Men's singles: Ben Johns · Women's singles: Anna Leigh Waters · Men's doubles: Riley Newman & Matt Wright · Women's doubles: Anna Leigh Waters & Leigh Waters · Mixed doubles: Anna Leigh Waters & Ben Johns.
2021 — Men's singles: Ben Johns · Women's singles: Catherine Parenteau · Men's doubles: Dekel Bar & Adam Stone · Women's doubles: Catherine Parenteau & Jessie Irvine · Mixed doubles: Jessie Irvine & Jay Devilliers.
2020 — Men's singles: Ben Johns · Women's singles: Simone Jardim · Men's doubles: Ben Johns & Matt Wright · Women's doubles: Simone Jardim & Lucy Kovalova · Mixed doubles: Ben Johns & Simone Jardim.
