PPA Atlanta Pickleball Championships - Tama Town!

The last tournament of the season before the Finals took place this past weekend in Atlanta. The Life Time Peachtree Corners hosted the Atlanta Pickleball Championships and it really cemented itself as one of the premier venues on tour. 

In the past, the large tennis court stadium area housed both Championship and Grandstand Courts, but this year it was just Championship Court, with more seating and visibility for spectators. It looked to be sold out the entire weekend. Additionally, the two mixed doubles semifinals were live on CBS for a two hour window on Saturday.

Perhaps the biggest pickleball news that happened this weekend didn’t occur on the court, but in the boardroom:

With nearly a quarter billion dollar investment in UPA, the Apollo Sports Capital infusion was huge news.

Let’s get into the action on the court.

Tama Shimabukuro earned his first medal on the PPA Tour

That’s right - I am leading the headlines with someone who didn’t even win gold. That’s how big of a weekend Tama had. He won the hearts of the Atlanta crowd, going deep in both singles and men’s doubles this weekend.

Tama had a crazy run in singles, making it all the way to Championship Sunday. This was his road to the finals, as the #22 seed:

• Rd 64 - #48 Syed Uzair Sufi - W - 11-2, 11-9
• Rd 32 - #13 Jaume Martinez Vich - W - 11-5, 11-9
• Rd 16 - #2 Federico Staksrud - W - 6-11, 11-8, 11-9
• Quarterfinals - #11 Noe Khlif - W - 11-8, 11-4
• Semifinals - #3 Hunter Johnson - W 11-7, 8-11, 11-1

In the Finals, #1 Chris Haworth brought too much power, and he ended up taking the entire tournament, with a 11-5, 11-1 win over Tama. Looking at that run though, Tama took out the #2 and #3 overall seeds in one tournament. His extremely unique singles play style seems to be clicking for him.

In doubles, Tama and Yuta Funemizu teamed up and pulled off what I consider the upset of the tournament, beating #2 seed, Christian Alshon and Hayden Patriquin, in the Round of 16, 4-11, 11-5, 11-8. They ended up losing their semifinal against Roscoe Bellamy and Connor Garnett, despite pickling them in game two. In the bronze, they lost 4 & 4 To Fed and Andrei. 

After their big win over Christian and Hayden, Tama and Yuta were at the desk being interviewed, and on the last question, Yuta had a quote that will be remembered for a long time: 

Congrats to Roscoe and Connor are in order, as they both earned their first silver medal in men’s doubles in their careers.

Anna Leigh Waters earned her 44th Triple Crown

The GOAT continues to do GOAT things. Anna Leigh only dropped one game all week long, and that was to Kiora Kunimoto in singles in the semifinals. That’s right - in 16 matches with a total of 35 games, Waters lost one game. 

Waters got pushed by Kate Fahey in the finals of singles, but managed to come back in both games to secure the triple crown, despite being down early. If Waters can go undefeated in singles in the Finals, she will officially go undefeated in singles for over two straight years. 

In mixed, Anna Leigh and Ben continue to dominate. The team that is closest is Hayden and Anna Bright, but they didn’t have their best stuff on Sunday, so Ben and Anna Leigh won 11-4, 11-5, 11-4.

In women’s, Anna Bright and Anna Leigh continue to dominate. The last team to beat them was the Kawamoto twins in September. They beat the Kawamotos 3 & 2 in the quarters in Atlanta. In the finals, the Annas dominated from start to finish over Jorja and Tyra, winning 11-3, 11-4, 11-0. 

Anna Leigh continues to set the standard on the women’s side and whenever she takes a loss in any division it is a shock.

Gabe Tardio and Ben Johns continue their winning ways

Gabe and Ben are 100-4 in their matches in their career. This was the eighth straight win in 2026 for them in the states (they also won the PPA Asia Hanoi Cup).

They had a stumble in their opening round matchup against Chris Crouch and Connor Mogle, losing game two 6-11, but won game three, 11-5. They also lost a game to Fed and Andrei in the semis. The finals was smooth sailing for the duo, as they faced off against first time partners, Roscoe Bellamy and Connor Garnett, winning 11-5, 11-7, 11-2.

There doesn’t seem to be a team that is consistently pushing the top seed, so they will continue to dominate after the MLP season.

Medals by MLP Team

St. Louis Shock - 🥇🥇🥈🥈🥈 (Anna, Gabe, Kate, & Hayden)

New Jersey 5s - 🥇🥇🥇🥈 (ALW & Jorja)

LA Mad Drops - 🥇🥇🥉 (Ben & Catherine)

Brooklyn Pickleball Team - 🥇🥉🥉🥉 (Chris, Christian, & Rachel)

Utah Black Diamonds - 🥈🥈🥉 (Connor & Tama)

Dallas Flash - 🥈 (Tyra)

Las Vegas Night Owls - 🥈 (Roscoe)Columbus Sliders - 🥉 (Andrei)

Orlando Squeeze - 🥉 (Fed)

Atlanta Bouncers - 🥉 (Kaitlyn)

All Medalists

Women’s Singles

🥇 Anna Leigh Waters

🥈 Kate Fahey

🥉 Kaitlyn Christian

Men’s Singles

🥇 Chris Haworth

🥈 Tama Shimabukuro

🥉 Connor Garnett

Mixed Doubles

🥇 Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns

🥈 Anna Bright/Hayden Patriquin

🥉 Rachel Rohrabacher/Christian Alshon

Women’s Doubles

🥇 Anna Bright/Anna Leigh Waters

🥈 Jorja Johnson/Tyra Black

🥉 Rachel Rohrabacher/Catherine Parenteau

Men’s Doubles

🥇 Gabe Tardio/Ben Johns 

🥈 Roscoe Bellamy/Connor Garnett

🥉 Federico Staksrud/Andrei Daescu