And we’re back! It’s been a whole 15 days since the last PPA Tour event (PPA Daytona Open).
One of the premier events of the year also kicks off the 2025 calendar year - the Masters. The easiest way to identify the cherished event is because players are required to wear all white. Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, is hosting the Masters again this year.
The Masters is one of four PPA Tour event Slams on the year - the Masters (Jan), Atlanta (May), Vegas (Aug), & the World Championships (Nov).
With the Slam title, this means two things: more points and a progressive draw. A Slam is worth 2,000 PPA points to the winners of each event, whereas an Open tournament (much more common) is worth 1,000 PPA points.
The progressive draw is advantageous for fans because matchups are announced the day before and fans can more easily follow and watch their favorite players. From the players’ perspective, the maximum matches a player can play in one day is three (singles, gender doubles, mixed doubles). This gives players a lighter load on any given day, depending on their skill sets.
Luke Burton
How to Watch the PPA Masters
Tuesday, January 7th - Round of 64
- 1 - 9pm EST - Championship Court - PickleballTV
- 1 - 9pm EST - Grandstand Court - PickleballTV
Wednesday, January 8th - Round of 32
- 1 - 9pm EST - Championship Court - PickleballTV
- 1 - 9pm EST - Grandstand Court - PickleballTV
Thursday, January 9th - Round of 16
- 1 - 9pm EST - Championship Court - PickleballTV
- 1 - 9pm EST - Grandstand Court - PickleballTV
Friday, January 10th - Quarterfinals
- 1 - 9pm EST - Championship Court - PickleballTV
- 7 - 9pm EST - Championship Court - FS1 & PickleballTV
- 1 - 9pm EST - Grandstand Court - PickleballTV
Saturday, January 11th - Semifinals
- 1 - 9pm EST - Championship Court - PickleballTV
- 7 - 9pm EST - Championship Court - Tennis Channel & PickleballTV
- 1 - 9pm EST - Grandstand Court - PickleballTV
- 9 - 11pm EST - Championship Court - TBD Replay from Semis - FS2
Sunday, January 12th - Championship Sunday
- 1 - 7pm EST - Championship Court - PickleballTV
- 12 - 5pm EST - Grandstand Court (Bronze) - PickleballTV
- 8 - 10pm EST - Championship Court - TBD Replay from Finals - FS1
Weather Outlook
The weather looks great in SoCal! It will be quite chilly in the mornings, so the ball is going to fly quicker for the singles matches. The only issue in terms of weather, may be on Tuesday in the Round of 64. I did see forecasts predicting wind of up to 20mph.
Top Storylines
There are two “big picture” storylines headed into the Masters.
First, The PPA Tour has issued “gold cards” to their UPA contracted players, guaranteeing them main draw entries. This forces players who are not contracted to play in pro qualifiers, even if they have a ranking that would allow them to play in the main draw. There are a ton of other stipulations with this, but I don't want to go too deep into this topic.
We are seeing this play out in the first event of 2025. Because Viv Glozman isn’t signed, she has to play qualifiers in gender doubles with Jackie Kawamoto and mixed doubles with Riley Newman. Yes, Riley Newman is playing qualifiers - I definitely DID NOT have that on my bingo card to start the year.
The other big storyline is Selkirk and the UPA-A. I don’t want to get into all the details of this either (I will in a separate article), but I do want to mention the paddles. Rumor has it that Selkirk only sent in the new 008 paddle for testing and certification by the UPA-A. All Selkirk sponsored players will only be able to play with this paddle - again, this is my sources telling me this. Not confirmed yet.
Let’s get into the action!
Women’s Singles
Top Storylines
- Even though she is the youngest player in the field, Anna Leigh Waters is the #1 seed and by far the best player in the world. She will be looking to start 2025 off with a bang.
- Catherine Parenteau has dropped from the #2 seed to the #4 seed and didn’t win in 2024 - will 2025 be different? She earned a silver medal in this event in 2024.
- Judit Castillo must not be a contracted player, so even though she finished 2024 as the 10th ranked women’s singles player, she is forced to play qualifiers - she will play either ALW, Lea, Parris, Brooke, or Catherine. A nightmare first round matchup for any of these ladies.
- There are 23 qualifiers for the final five spots in the main draw
Exciting Potential Matchups
- (1) Anna Leigh Waters could face off against (6) Kate Fahey in the quarterfinals - two of the hottest singles players in the last few months.
- (3) Lea Jansen could see (7) Parris Todd in the quarterfinals and will be another great matchup
Tice’s Takes
- (20) Newly signed Milan Rane faces off against (9) Zoey Wang in the Round of 32. Rane doesn’t have the PPA Points necessary to be ranked higher, but she is not a true 20 seed. Rane beats Zoey in three.
- (16) Layne Sleeth could face off against Catherine Parenteau. The former Oklahoma Sooner takes down her fellow Canadian in three.
Predictions
- Semifinalists: (1) Anna Leigh Waters, (7) Parris Todd, (5) Kaitlyn Christian, and Qualifier, Judit Castillo
- Finals: Anna Leigh beats Kaitlyn Christian in the finals for her first gold of 2025.
Men’s Singles
Top Storylines
- Federico Staksrud was by far the most consistent men’s singles player in 2024, and he definitely deserves the #1 seed he is in The Masters.
- (8) Christian Alshon had to take much of the last three months off of singles due to a nagging knee injury. Hopefully he is 100% ready to go.
- (5) Dylan Frazier won the event last year, but has a very tough road this year. He could end up facing Jack Sock and Connor Garnett on his way.
- This is (17) Collin Shick’s last PPA Tour event before going back to med school full-time. Can he find a way to make a deep run?
- Ben Johns IS playing in The Masters, but just not playing singles.
- There are 65 qualifiers vying for 10 spots in the main draw (including Grayson Goldin)
Tice’s Takes
- (43) James Ignatowich doesn’t play much singles, but he is facing (18) Eric Roddy in the first round - Ignatowich takes it in three.
- (21) Donald Young has improved a ton over the past year, and I expect that trajectory to continue - he beats his qualifier and then upsets (13) Roscoe Bellamy, to face (2) Connor Garnett in the Round of 16. Young beats Garnett in two games, to make it to the quarters.
Predictions
- Semifinalists: (1) Federico Staksrud, (3) Hunter Johnson, (21) Donald Young, and (10) Michael Loyd
- Finals: Hunter Johnson starts off 2025 with a bang - beating his fellow Texan, Michael Loyd for his first gold on the year.
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Mixed Doubles
Top Storylines
- Ben and Anna Leigh are the #1 seed and still far and away the team to beat. Can anyone start regularly beating them or at least start pushing them in 2025?
- There are a ton of new partnerships (detailed in the next section) for 2025.
- There are 41 mixed doubles qualifiers teams vying for 10 main draw spots
- There are three VERY GOOD mixed doubles teams that are forced to play qualifiers because one of the partners is not a signed UPA player (unsigned player is italicized):
- Vivian Glozman and Riley Newman
- Collin Johns and Christa Gecheva
- Jill Braverman and CJ Klinger - Braverman caused quite the stir over the weekend:
Thomas Shields
New Partnerships for 2025 - Do they stay partners?
- (3) Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquin - partners on the St. Louis Shock in MLP
- (4) Catherine Parenteau and Federico Staksrud
- (5) Rachel Rohrabacher and James Ignatowich - partners on the D.C. Pickleball Team in MLP
- (7) Hurricane Tyra Black and Christian Alshon
- (9) Lea Jansen and Andrei Daescu
- (17) Parris Todd and Quang Duong
- (20) Genie Bouchard and Jack Sock - the two best tennis players who have converted to pickleball, thus far
- (24) Alix Truong and Roscoe Bellamy
Tice’s Takes
- (19) Pablo Tellez and Zoey Wang could face off against (12) Maggie Brascia and Dylan Frazier in the Round of 32 - I like the 19 seed in three games in that matchup.
- (9) Lea Jansen and Andrei Daescu are a scary duo. I think they upset (6) Tina and Dekel in the Round of 16, making it to the quarters.
- (17) Parris Todd and Quang Duong could be an epic team - I think they beat (5) James and Rachel in the Rd of 16 and then beat the (2) Johnson siblings, making it all the way to the semis.
Predictions
- Semifinalists: (1) ALW/Ben Johns, (7) Hurricane Tyra Black/Christian Alshon, (17) Parris Todd/Quang Duong, and (2) Catherine Parenteau/Federico Staksrud
- Finals: ALW and Ben Johns beat Fed and Catherine in three games in the final
Women’s Doubles
Top Storylines
- The best rivalry in pickleball going into 2025 is (2) Rachel Rohrabacher and Anna Bright vs. (1) Catherine Parenteau and Anna Leigh Waters - who will win more this year?
- Etta Wright is probably the biggest name skipping The Masters, due to a lingering lower body injury. Meghan Dizon is playing with Lacy Schneemann - this could be a partnership moving forward.
- (3) Jorja Johnson and Hurricane Tyra Black are Dallas Flash teammates and seem to be playing the beginning of 2025 together on the PPA Tour as well.
- There are 34 teams in qualifying, vying for eight spots in the main draw. Again, due to the new rules, there are some VERY good teams in qualies that no one will want to face in the first round:
- Vivian Glozman and Jackie Kawamoto
- Kaitlyn Christian and Christa Gecheva
- Judit Castillo and Layne Sleeth
- Emily Cederquist and Genie Erokhina
Tice’s Takes
- I am very excited to hopefully see (12) Milan Rane/Alix Truong vs. (5) Callie Smith/Parris Todd in the Round of 16. I think Rane/Truong win in three. In fact, I think they also beat (4) Schneemann/Dizon, to make it all the way to the semis.
Predictions
- Semifinalists: (1) Catherine Parenteau/ALW, (12) Milan Rane/Alix Truong, (2) Rachel Rohrabacher/Anna Bright, and (3) Jorja Johnson/HTB
- Finals: Rohrabacher and Bright beat the 1 seed in the first meeting of 2025.
Men’s Doubles
Top Storylines
- This is one of the last times (1) Collin and Ben Johns are playing together in 2025 - can they give it one more go before breaking up?
- (4) JW Johnson and Gabe Tardio could play Ben and Collin in the semis. This is significant because Ben and Gabe are going to play the majority of 2025 together, starting in February.
- (2) Hayden and Fed have been on fire together. Many people are predicting they will be the #1 men’s doubles team in 2025 - can they start the campaign off with a bang?
- This is the last time we will see (20) Collin Shick and Jack Sock playing together for a while, as Shick is set to go back to medical school in February.
- There are 51 men’s doubles qualifiers teams fighting for 17 spots. I like the following teams to make it through:
- Nick Black/Erik Pailet
- Jonathan Truong/Rio Newcombe
- Stephen Madonia/Grayson Goldin
Tice’s Takes
- (13) Julian Arnold and Hunter Johnson could cause some damage - I think they upset (3) Pablo Tellez and Dylan Frazier in the Round of 16 and make it all the way to the semis.
Predictions
- Semifinalists: (1) Collin and Ben Johns, (6) Christian Alshon/Andrei Daescu, (2) Hayden Patriquin/Federico Staksrud, and (13) Julian Arnold/Hunter Johnson
- Finals: Collin and Ben beat Hayden and Fed in one of their last tourneys together.
