The PPA CIBC Texas Open Tournament Recap

The Courts of McKinney hosted the PPA Tour for the first time in history, and the event will be one to remember for a while!

We had upsets galore in singles, women’s doubles got turned on its head, Gabe and Ben won gold for the first time, and Alshon won gold in back to back singles tournaments!

Let’s get into the action!

Top storylines - other than the winners

The top two women’s doubles teams did not make the finals for the first time in forever

Prior to the Texas Open, the teams of Anna Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau and Rachel Rohrabacher/Anna Bright had made the previous 10 finals in tournaments where they both played. 10 in a row.

The wind of McKinney, Texas, became too much for BOTH teams, as they were both taken out before the finals.

Wind gusts in the area were up to 40mph on Saturday, the day of gender doubles. Now, with all of that being said, every team had to deal with the elements. 

In the quarterfinals, Anna Leigh and Catherine played (5) Callie Smith and Etta Tuionetoa. They lost 11-4, 8-11, 8-11. At one point in the third game, Anna Leigh asked for Don Stanley, PPA Head Referee, to come out and stop play. He did come to the court, but didn’t allow for play to stop. 

This was probably Callie and Etta’s biggest win in women’s doubles ever in their careers. For them to be able to do it together as a first time partnership was very cool to watch.

On the other side of the bracket, Rachel Rohrabacher and Anna Bright - aka "The Girlies" had a scare in the quarterfinals, winning in three games over (8) Kate Fahey and Tina Pisnik. The scoreline was 10-12, 11-4, 11-7.

In the semifinals, AB and Rachel were just outplayed by Parris and Tyra, which I talk about later on this article.

Women’s doubles had started to feel a little stale to start 2025. The Girlies and Anna Leigh made the finals in everything except Australia, which they didn’t play. The question was, who was going to push either team in 2025? 

Two teams did so in Texas. Now can they keep it up?

The wind was a huge factor in McKinney

As already detailed, the wind wreaked havoc on play both Friday and Saturday. 

They say everything is bigger in Texas, and they were right about the wind. Friday had sustained winds into the 20s, with gusts up to 30mph. Saturday saw sustained winds of 26-27mph, with gusts up to 40mph.

The PPA got rid of the rule saying any sustained winds above 17mph would cause play to be stopped and now have a rule saying it up to the tournament director. When wind is involved, there are really only three options:

1. Continue play outside, and make the players deal with the excessive winds
2. Move play indoors, with either no streaming, or very bad streams
3. Cancel events

Obviously, the PPA Tour does not want to do option three. They could have done option two in McKinney, but the fans on site and the fans at home would have suffered. So, they went with option one.

An example of the wind being crazy on gender doubles Saturday:

Of the options, I think the PPA did the right thing. Moving play indoors at this smaller facility would have meant no streaming, and very few fans would have been able to be on site for play.

The PPA Tour introduced their new video replay system on Sunday, and it was a success

SpotON replay, as it is named, was introduced on Championship Sunday. It shows the replay, and a visual representation of where the ball landed compared to the line. 

The system also hosts a red dot/green dot system. A dot is placed in the middle of the ball, that represents where the actual surface of the ball touched the ground. If any part of that dot is on the line, it is marked green, and the ball is called in. 

If the dot is outside the line, it is red, and the ball is called out.

A screenshot from the PPA Tour livestream, showing a replay involving Christian Alshon. The red dot indicates the ball was out.

This is a BIG step in the right direction for the PPA Tour. Ever since not renewing the Close Call Replay contract at the end of last year, fans have been waiting for this system. As the PPA continues to make advancements in this area, the better it is for the sport.

One example of this system NOT being in place occurred on Thursday night, in women’s singles. I made a post on X (formerly Twitter) detailing the saga:

Ben Johns mocked two different players for screaming “Yeah!” too much and/or too loud

On Thursday, he mocked Zane Ford for his "Yeah!" celebrations, by doing a version of them himself, in game two. He did this twice in the game. Ford went on to win the singles match in three games.

On Friday in mixed doubles, toward the end of the game against Kate Fahey and Noe Khlif, Johns again mocked Fahey's "Yeah!" screams (I assume he was mocking her, but could have been mocking Noe, as well). He did it on the last two points of the match, with ALW and Ben winning the match.

I posted on X about this as well, and added a poll:

The poll was pretty conclusive. 56% of the people who answered were on Ben’s side, and basically said other players need to tone down their screaming. 34% said they liked the screaming by other players. 10% said “other” with a wide variety of answers.

Winning Storylines

Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio earn their first gold medal together

The wait is over! In their second tournament playing together, Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio win gold. 

From my perspective, this was the most positively emotive I have seen Ben Johns in well over a year. When they won, he let a few huge screams, and the joy on his face to have won with Gabe was easy to see.

The road was NOT easy for the two seeds.

The first big test they faced was in the Round of 16, with (13) Ryan Fu and Zane Navratil giving them fits. They eked that one out, 11-5, 4-11, 12-10. 

In the quarterfinals, they again went three games with (8) Tyson McGuffin and Quang Duong. Ben and Gabe won 4-11, 11-2, 11-1.

Lastly, in the semifinals against (3) Dylan Frazier and Andrei Daescu, they were AGAIN pushed to three games. They won 11-3, 12-14, 12-10. 

In the finals, game one made it seem like it was going to be a runaway win for Tardio and Johns. They won 11-1, and nearly pickled (1) Christian Alshon and Federico Staksrud.

Games two and three were a complete turnaround, with Alshon and Staksrud regaining momentum. They won 12-10, 11-7. 

However, Johns and Tardio were able to swing the momentum again back to their side, and for good. They won games four and five, 11-7, 11-4.

I write a lot about how dominant a team was throughout a tournament (especially with anything related to Anna Leigh Waters). However, this team was anything BUT that. In fact, here are the combined stats for Ben and Gabe this weekend:

• Total games played: 16
• Total games won: 11
• Average margin of victory: 6.9 points
• Total points for vs. against: 160-106
• Average overall scoreline: 10-6.625

What this data tells me: Ben and Gabe learned to win together by scrapping and staying mentally tough. Was it always pretty? Absolutely not. 

But these are the types of events and wins they can both look back on when the going gets tough and they can lean on these wins. More to come from these superstars.

Christian Alshon earns his second gold in a row in singles

Is Christian Alshon the best pickleball player in the world right now? One could definitely make the argument.

Alshon has now won back to back singles titles after never having won one before.

In this week’s event, Alshon made quick work of his Rd of 32 and Rd of 16 opponents, winning by a combined score of 44-14, and not losing a game. 

He then beat new up and comer, Zane Ford, in the quarterfinals, 3-11, 11-8, 11-5.

In the semis, he beat Jaume Martinez Vich, who he beat in the finals in Cape Coral last week, to win gold. On Thursday, he beat Jaume 11-5, 2-11, 11-4, in a late night thriller.

In the finals, Christian looked unstoppable. He played some of the best singles I’ve ever seen him play, beating Federico Staksrud 11-4, 11-7. Thankfully, this match was after their men’s doubles match, so they were able to play together before playing against each other.

In the last four PPA Tour events he played, Alshon has two gold medals and a silver in singles. 

Ben and Anna Leigh dominate another mixed doubles draw again

Anna Leigh and Ben Johns DO NOT like losing in mixed doubles. It has only happened twice in the last year, with the most recent being three weeks ago in Mesa, against Dekel Bar and Anna Bright.

That loss seems to have motivated the number one team in the world in mixed doubles. 

They got pushed by Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquin in the semis, beating them 9-11, 11-6, 11-8. 

In the finals, they cruised past Jorja and JW Johnson in games one and two, 11-4, 11-3. In game three, the Johnsons hit back with a fury, but came up just short, with Ben and AL winning 14-12.

So far, it seems like the only real recipe for sucess in terms of beating Anna Leigh and Ben in mixed doubles is having Anna Bright on your team. 

I think Ben and Anna Leigh will win the vast majority of tournaments together in the remainder of 2025 - losing just one more time, or none at all.

Hurricane Tyra Black and Parris Todd earn their first gold in women’s doubles together

The (3) seed Hurricane Tyra Black and Parris Todd, played great all day on Saturday, which was the windiest of days. In fact, Black and Todd never lost a game on their way to gold.

Here are the results for the duo on the weekend:

• Rd of 32 - W - (30) Jalina Ingram/Cailyn Campbell, 11-3, 11-1
• Rd of 16 - W - (23) Rachel Summers/Camila Zilveti, 11-3, 11-0
• Quarterfinal - W - (7) Jade Kawamoto/Lacy Schneeman, 11-4, 11-6
• Semifinal - W - (2) Rachel Rohrabacher/Anna Bright, 11-7, 11-8
• Finals - W - (5) Callie Smith/Etta Tuionetoa, 11-5, 11-5, 11-4

For those of you mathing at home, that is a combined score of 121-46. Their opponents averaged 4.2 points per match against them, including “The Girlies”.

Black and Todd had their toughest test in the semis against The Girlies, but just outplayed them. It was one of the latest matches on Saturday night, and the wind had definitely died down. It was still there, but nothing close to the wind during the quarterfinals.

Parris and Tyra are playing great recently and really have come together as a formidable duo. Time will tell whether they can consistently push those top two teams.

Anna Leigh Waters is basically untouchable in singles

Waters beat her five opponents this weekend by a combined score of 114-45. She didn’t lose a game in her five matches on her way to gold. In fact, she pickled two of her opponents on the way to the finals.

Anna Leigh was pushed by Kate Fahey in the finals, especially in game two. She won fairly easily in game one, 11-4. Game two looked to be more of the same, with Waters going up 10-4. However, Kate made a comeback and made it all the way to 11-10, with a game point. The battle continued back and forth, with Anna Leigh winning the game and match, 15-13 in game two.

The last time Anna Leigh lost a game was two events ago in the finals of the Carvana Mesa Cup, to Brooke Buckner. She went on to win games two and three in that one, for the title. 

In the last two tournaments, Anna Leigh has won 20 straight games, with her opponents averaging 4.1 points per match.

Fahey, who many (including myself) consider to be one of the top three women on tour right now, threw her best stuff at ALW. Yet, Fahey has never won a game off of Anna Leigh. 

Is anyone going to beat Anna Leigh anytime soon? It sure doesn’t feel like it.

Full Results

Women’s Singles

🥇 Anna Leigh Waters

🥈 Kate Fahey

🥉 Lea Jansen

Men’s Singles

🥇 Federico Staksrud

🥈 Christian Alshon

🥉 Jaume Martinez Vich

Mixed Doubles

🥇 Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns

🥈 Jorja/JW Johnson

🥉 Anna Bright/Hayden Patriquin

Women’s Doubles

🥇 Parris Todd/Hurricane Tyra Black

🥈 Callie Smith/Etta Tuionetoa

🥉 Rachel Rohrabacher/Anna Bright

Men’s Doubles

🥇 Gabe Tardio/Ben Johns

🥈 Christian Alshon/Federico Staksrud

🥉 Pablo Tellez/Hayden Patriquin