STORYLINES FOR THE VEOLIA BRISTOL OPEN (AUGUST 6-10, 2025)

OVERALL TOP 5: 

• WELCOME BACK: First PPA tournament since San Clemente in June after an MLP-heavy summer schedule.
• WELCOME BACK 2.0: Players who don’t play MLP return to the court (Mary and Maggie Brascia, Matt Wright, Lucy Kovalova, Julian Arnold, and Lauren Stratman). 
• SINGLES MINDED: Anna Bright adding singles while Anna Leigh Waters is not playing singles but is in both doubles.
• ELEMENTAL: After 3 straight indoor MLP events, back to roof-free pickleball in Tennessee. 
• HAVE A BALL: The Life Time ball will be used in Bristol. 

VENUE/TOURNEY/TV:

• Tourney #12 on the campaign and year two in Bristol. 
• Semi-final Saturday format: singles Wednesday through the quarters, mixed Thursday, women’s and men’s doubles Friday, all the semis Saturday and then Champions crowned on Sunday. 
• Over 1,000 players participating in the event. 
• PickleballTV (and the app) will have the coverage, starting each day at 11am Eastern time until Championship Sunday that starts at 10am Eastern. 

WOMEN’S SINGLES:

• Defending Medalists: Brooke Buckner, Kaitlyn Christian, Zoey Wang
• Top 2 ranked players are not in the draw: Waters and Kate Fahey. 
• Kaitlyn Christian carries the one seed and could face Salome Devidze (7) in the quarters.
• Anna Bright (40) enters singles to get ready for potential MLP Playoff Dreambreakers. 
• Watch out for: Brooke Buckner (3) – will the defending champion grab gold again in TN?

MEN’S SINGLES:

• Watch out for: Hunter Johnson (2) – won in San Clemente over Staksrud (1) – can his climb continue all the way to the number one ranking in the coming months?
• Defending Medalists: Ben Johns, Federico Staksrud, Tyson McGuffin
• New talent floods into men’s singles: Grayson Goldin (21), Alex Crum (36), and John Lucian Goins (19)
• First round must-see matchup: Chicago Slice teammates Big Poppa Jimmy Ignatowich (32) vs. Max Freeman (34) 
• Potential round of 16 matchup: doubles partners Ben Johns (5) vs. Gabe Tardio (11)

MIXED DOUBLES:

• Defending medalists: Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns, Anna Bright/Christian Alshon, Jackie Kawamoto/Jaume Martinez Vich
• Waters will play both doubles events and holds the mixed top seed with Ben Johns. 
• Fun partners alert: Rachel Rohrabacher and Noe Khlif are the 12 seed in their 1^st tourney together. 
• Talented potential round of 32 matchup: Tina Pisnik/Eric Oncins (11) vs. CJ Klinger/Mari Humberg (21)
• Watch out for: Bright/Daescu (PPA Champions together in 2024) – two MLP captains gearing up for the playoffs on their respective teams and a dangerous 4 seed in TN.  

WOMEN’S DOUBLES:

• Defending medalists: Waters/Parenteau, Rohrabacher/Bright, Johnson/Glozman
• Bright and Waters (1) look to maintain their unblemished record.  
• Catherine Parenteau/Jackie Kawamoto (3) – look out for this 1^st time partnership. 
• Meghan Dizon/Lucy Kovalova (8) hope to make a deep run in their first event together. 
• Watch out for: Rachel Rohrabacher and Jorja Johnson – this talented team looks to make it all the way to Sunday as the 2 seed.  

MEN’S DOUBLES:

• Defending medalists: Alshon/Duong, Johns/Johns, Devilliers/Tellez
• Gabe Tardio sits at his highest individual men’s doubles ranking (3) and pairs with Ben Johns as the number one seed in Bristol. 
• Daescu/JW Johnson (3) play together for the first time on the Carvana PPA Tour, seeking more gold for their trophy cases.  
• Talented first-time partners: Sock/Ge (14), McGuffin/Freeman (11), and Newman/Devilliers (7).
• Watch out for: Staksrud/Patriquin – the 2 seed looks to win again for the first time since December (Patriquin finished the MLP regular season as the top ranked male player).