STORYLINES FOR THE LAS VEGAS PICKLEBALL CUP

OVERALL TOP 5:

• VIVA LAS VEGAS: Waters, B. Johns, Parenteau, Alshon, and Buckner among the many players returning to the draw after sitting out Salt Lake City.
• INSIDE INFORMATION: Playing indoors at the beautiful Fontainebleau Hotel’s Royal Ballroom (100,000+ square feet transformed into a pickleball mecca).
• LET IT RIDE: Last of the August gauntlet – who will ride the wave of confidence gained in multiple tournaments?
• DOUBLE DOWN: Gabe Tardio rolls into Vegas after winning men’s and mixed doubles in SLC. 
• PROGRESSIVE JACKPOT: 1,500 points for the winners and all disciplines are played each day. 

VENUE/TOURNEY/TV:

• Event #17 of the year and first of two stops in Vegas. This one on the strip. 
• First Carvana PPA Tour event at Fontainebleau Hotel, so no defending champions. 
• Broadcast start times are 11am Pacific Wednesday through Sunday. 
• National coverage includes FS2 and Tennis Channel. 
• Full coverage on Pickleball TV (Prime Video, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, LG, and many more).

WOMEN’S SINGLES:

• AL Waters (1) is back in singles after sitting out singles in KC and TN and skipping the Utah event.  
• Kate Fahey (17) riding the high of a victory in SLC.  
• Kaitlyn Christian (7) reached her third final in Utah but came up just short.  
• WATCH OUT FOR: Brooke Buckner (4) – won back-to-back in KC and TN then took Utah off – red hot. 

MEN’S SINGLES:

• Staksrud (1) so good on Sundays against the field (except Ben). Won convincingly over Garnett in 2 straight in the SLC final.  
• Ben Johns is in the doubles draws, but not playing singles. 
• Quang Duong (5) – jets to Mumbai last week, wins pro singles, now jets to Vegas looking for gold. 
• Sherry (24) vs. Ge (42) will actually happen in Vegas – look out for the Sher Bear in sin city. 
• WATCH OUT FOR: Gabe Tardio (19) vs. Hayden Patriquin (15), potentially Shocking round of 32 match.

MIXED DOUBLES:

• Waters and Johns (1) are back and had won 6 events in a row before sitting out Utah. 
• Bright and Alshon (2) – made the final in their debut in TN, can they do it again?
• Wright and Kovalova (14) struggling in ’24 – do they have a Vegas run this week?
• New/old partnership: Newman and Parenteau (6) are back together – can they restore the old magic?
• WATCH OUT FOR: Ignatowich and Glozman (4) – team tall is very dangerous.

WOMEN’S DOUBLES:

• ALW and Parenteau (1) are the most dominant team in pickle: over 100 wins and 1 loss. 
• Girlies not playing together: Bright/Pisnik (2) and Rohrabacher/J.Johnson (4) – which of these teams catches fire? (Bright entered the tourney late, thus this partner situation). 
• Can Wright and Dizon (3) build on their bronze medal performance from their home state?
• WATCH OUT FOR: Black and Todd (7) – athletic, dangerous team looking to reach the podium.  

MEN’S DOUBLES:

• Johnson and Frazier in a mini drought, missing Sunday in two straight as the top seed. 
• Tardio and Daescu (9) finally pay off “giant-killing” upsets with a gold win in Utah and are brimming with confidence. 
• Ignatowich/Freeman (12) Who?: Max Freeman is Jimmy’s coach and fellow Vandy Commodore. 
• WATCH OUT FOR: Patriquin and Tellez (4) – had a match point to knock out Tardio and Daescu in a Salt Lake City semifinal thriller – watch out as these two seek to take the top spot in Vegas.