STORYLINES FOR THE SELECT MEDICAL ORANGE COUNTY CUP

JUNE 17-22, 2025

OVERALL TOP 5: 

• NO FAVORITE?: Men’s doubles features multiple teams that can win, with 4 different winning duos in the last 5 events.
• NO WAY: Anna Leigh Waters has not lost a singles match in over 12 months. 
• NO JERSEYS: Which players will thrive without the unique pressures of the MLP season?
• NO Q: Quang Duong is serving his suspension and will not play in this event.  
• NO PROBLEM: Mint weather conditions expected for this Cup worth 1,500 points. 

VENUE/TOURNEY/TV:

• Tourney #11 on the campaign at the beautiful Life Time athletic country club in San Clemente. 
• Progressive draw: all brackets every day, starting with the round of 64 on Tuesday. 
• Over 1,400 players participating in the event. 
• PickleballTV (and the app) will have the coverage, starting each day at 10am Pacific time. 

WOMEN’S SINGLES:

• Defending Medalists: Anna Leigh Waters, Catherine Parenteau, Judit Castillo
• Kate Fahey (2) keeps getting closer vs. Waters – won her first game against her in the Atlanta Slam final before losing in 3. 
• Jansen vs. Jansen (Fink) as Lea, the 6 seed, could battle Helena, the 12 seed, in the round of 16.
• Jorja Johnson (15) looking to make deeper runs in singles but would face a potential round of 16 matchup with Fahey.
• Watch out for: Brooke Buckner (5) – will she find her best form and hit the podium?

MEN’S SINGLES:

• Defending Medalists: Chris Haworth, Federico Staksrud, Ben Johns
• Staksrud (1) has just one win in 2025 at The Masters – the first event of the year. 
• Top half potential quarterfinals: Staksrud (1) vs. Frazier (7) & Johns (4) vs. Alshon (8)
• Bottom half potential quarterfinals: H. Johnson (2) vs. Martinez Vich (5) and Garnett (3) vs. McGuffin (6)
• Watch out for: Grayson Goldin (17) – strong singles player who is now signed with the Tour – will he make a statement in Cali?

MIXED DOUBLES:

• Defending medalists: Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns, Catherine Parenteau/Christian Alshon,        JW & Jorja Johnson
• Top 3 seeds: Waters/Johns (1), Johnsons (2), Tuionetoa/Alshon (3) – 5 of the 6 same players from the podium in 2024. 
• First time partners Todd/Daescu are a talented 10 seed. 
• Double digit dangerous seeds: L Jansen/Oncins (13) and Fahey/Khlif (17)
• OG round of 32 potential matchup: Kovalova/Wright (22) vs. Smith/Devilliers (15)
• Watch out for: the SHOCKing 5 seed – Bright and Patriquin could make a deep run. 

WOMEN’S DOUBLES:

• Defending medalists: Waters/Parenteau, Pisnik/Irvine, Black/Todd
• Will the final be Breakup Showdown Round 2, with Waters/Bright (1) vs. Parenteau/Rohrabacher (2)?
• Second tournament together for Jorja Johnson/Lacy Schneemann (4) – they beat Waters/Parenteau at the Finals in December ’24. 
• Pisnik/Fahey (7) improve every week as partners and will be in the mix for a deep run. 
• Watch out for: First time partners Etta Tuionetoa and Jackie Kawamoto (6) – can they find chemistry to pull off an upset or several?

MEN’S DOUBLES:

• Defending medalists: Frazier/Johnson, Patriquin/Tellez, Bar/McGuffin
• How close is men’s doubles? The top two seeds Ben Johns/Tardio and Staksrud/Patriquin have the exact same amount of ranking points, so the 1 seed goes to Johns/Tardio because Johns has the most individual points of the four. 
• Riley Newman out with injury so Roscoe Bellamy returns from injury to play with Matt Wright as the 9 seed. 
• Potential Johns vs. Johns quarterfinal: Ben with Tardio (1), Collin with Ignatowich (6). 
• Watch out for: Ice & Ice – JW Johnson and CJ Klinger (4) were magnificent in winning the Atlanta Slam over Johns/Tardio.