About a month ago, we provided a first look into the 2025 PPA Points Race. With a big break on the PPA Tour, we figured this would be a good time to provide an update.
There have now been 11 events on the PPA Tour that count toward the 2025 PPA Race Points standings.
- Daytona Beach Open - this was played in late December, after the 2024 Finals, so the points earned in this event actually count toward 2025 PPA Points
- The Masters (Slam)
- Proton PPA Australia Open
- Proton PPA Tucson Open
- Carvana PPA Mesa Cup
- VEOLIA Cape Coral Open
- CIBC Texas Open
- Black Desert Resort Red Rock Open
- VEOLIA North Carolina Open
According to the PPA Tour calendar of events, there are nine remaining tournaments on the docket for 2025. This would mean the season is halfway over in terms of number of events. However, I have heard that the PPA may be adding a tournament or two later in the year, through multiple sources.
- VEOLIA Atlanta Pickleball Championships (Slam)
- Select Medical Orange County Cup
- VEOLIA Bristol Open
- VEOLIA Cincinnati Cup
- CIBC Toronto Open
- Fasenra Virginia Beach Cup
- VOELIA Lakeland Open
- Rate Vegas Open
- Pickleball World Championships (Slam)
12,500 points are on the line for the winners in these nine events, so there is plenty of pickleball to be played.
Making it in all three events
If the season ended today, there are x players who would qualify for The Finals in all three events:
- Anna Leigh Waters
- Catherine Parenteau
- Federico Staksrud
- Christian Alshon
- Gabe Tardio
That's right. There are five players who would make it to the finals in all three events, and Ben Johns isn't one of them.
Let’s get into the action.
Women’s Singles
The only change in the order of the top eight players in the last month has been Parris Todd and Lea Jansen flip-flopping the 4 and 5 spot. With the amount of points they have already earned, I would venture to say ALW and Kaitlyn Christian have both locked up spots in the finals.
Salome Devidze is an interesting one here. She qualified for The Finals last year, but opted not to play. When she plays, she usually does well, but she doesn’t play nearly as many events as most of the women on this list.
Prediction on which players earn a spot in The Finals
Anna Leigh Waters, Kate Fahey, Kaitlyn Christian, Lea Jansen, Brooke Buckner, Parris Todd, Helena Jansen, and Catherine Parenteau.
Men’s Singles
Hunter Johnson and Jaume Martinez Vich have jumped Christian Alshon in the last month. Tyson has slipped from 5th down to 8th in the matter of two events and I suspect will continue to slide, unless he can get healthier in the second half of 2025. Roscoe Bellamy made the list at 12th, when he wasn’t on the list of top 16 last month.
Both Jack Sock and Gabe Tardio are surging after Sock earned silver at the Red Rock Open and Tardio won the most recent event in North Carolina.
It is shocking to see Ben Johns outside the top 8 and not qualified for The Race. If I was a betting man, I would bet he plays singles in all the Cups and Slams and ends up qualifying for The Finals.
Prediction on which players earn a spot in The Finals
Federico Staksrud, Christian Alshon, Ben Johns, Hunter Johnson, Jaume Martinez Vich, Connor Garnett, Jack Sock, and Zane Ford.
Women’s Doubles
With the announcement of the breakup between Catherine Parenteau and Anna Leigh Waters, women’s doubles is in major flux. I think the biggest winner of the double break up may be Parris Todd. Sources have told me that both Rachel and Catherine have called Parris. It might be a round-robin situation for a lot of these top women.
The top 20 in women’s doubles has not changed in the last month. The order has fluctuated a little bit, but for the most part, there hasn’t been much movement.
Viv Glozman is going to continue to drop in the rankings if she doesn’t figure out the contractual issue with playing PPAs. If Pisnik and Fahey continue playing together, they will rise in the rankings.
Prediction on which players earn a spot in The Finals
Anna Leigh Waters, Catherine Parenteau, Anna Bright, Rachel Rohrabacher, Hurricane Tyra Black, Parris Todd, Jorja Johnson, Etta Tuionetoa, Lea Jansen, Meghan Dizon, Tina Pisnik, Lacy Schneemann, Lucy Kovalova, Kate Fahey, Jackie Kawamoto, and Jessie Irvine.
Men’s Doubles
The top six seeds seem to be locked in, barring a catastrophic injury. The interesting player to me in this race is Collin Johns. He has dropped to 8th in men’s doubles. Is he going to be able to make The Finals and stay Top 16 by the end of the year?
Matt Wright is qualified for The Finals in the last spot. He’s got names like Jaume Martinez Vich, Noe Khlif, Tyler Loong, Zane Navratil, Eric Oncins, and Riley Newman trying to chase him down.
Prediction on which players earn a spot in The Finals
Andrei Daescu, Ben Johns, Gabe Tardio, Christian Alshon, Federico Staksrud, Hayden Patriquin, JW Johnson, CJ Klinger, Quang Duong, Pablo Tellez, Dylan Frazier, Dekel Bar, Tyson McGuffin, Riley Newman, Jaume Martinez Vich, and Eric Oncins.
|
Women’s Mixed Doubles
The top five have nearly a 1,500 point difference over Jessie Irvine in sixth. It feels like the top five are locks to make it, and the rest of the women are fighting for the last three spots in The Finals.
Parris Todd is the most interesting storyline in this one. A month ago, Parris wasn’t even in the top 25 - she was tied for 29th with Etta Tuionetoa. She jumped all the way to 10th with that win in Red Rock with Dekel, and could continue to rise if she continues getting top men partners.
Prediction on which players earn a spot in The Finals
Anna Leigh Waters, Anna Bright, Jorja Johnson, Hurricane Tyra Black, Catherine Parenteau, Tina Pisnik, Kate Fahey, and Parris Todd.
Men’s Mixed Doubles
There has not been much movement in the men’s mixed doubles category in the last month. The biggest question mark on this list is James Ignatowich. Is he able to put together a couple of deep runs in mixed over the next few events to put himself inside the top eight?
This category feels like the top six are locked up and everyone else is fighting for those last two spots. I think the player outside the top 10 that has the best chance of making the top eight is Riley Newman - if he can find some good partners in the second half of the season.
Prediction on which players earn a spot in The Finals
Ben Johns, JW Johnson, Christian Alshon, Federico Staksrud, Dekel Bar, Hayden Patriquin, Andrei Daescu, and Gabe Tardio - no changes at the end of the year.
