This is The Dink’s first update of the 2025 season PPA Points Race.
What is The Race? Glad you asked.
The PPA Tour has a season long points race to see which players qualify for the PPA Finals, usually held in early December (location, date, and title sponsor yet to be announced for 2025).
Qualification and Finals play
The top eight players/teams throughout the year qualify for The Finals. Here is an exact list of top players who are eligible to play in the finals:
- Top 8 women’s singles players
- Top 8 men’s singles players
- Top 16 women’s doubles players
- Top 16 men’s doubles players
- Top 8 women in mixed doubles
- Top 8 men in mixed doubles
You may be asking yourself, “why 16 in gender doubles and then eight in mixed doubles”? The point is to have eight total teams play in The Finals, and this format allows for that.
Once the tour figures out who the eligible players are, essentially a “draft" happens. The top seeded player gets to choose their partner, and then the next best seed gets to choose, and so on. The only small caveat to that rule is that in mixed doubles it still goes from best to worst seed, but the women get to pick their male counterpart.
The finals are then played round-robin style and then a playoff ensues, with winners named. For a full recap of the 2024 PPA CIBC Finals, held in San Clemente, California, check out our article.
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Erik Tice
Quick PPA Points Refresher
There are three different types of PPA Tour events - Slams, Cups, and Opens. The Slams are worth 2,000 PPA Points for the winners, Cups 1,500, and Opens are worth 1,000 PPA Points.
Here is a breakdown of points received for making it to that round.
Example: If I am playing in an Open tournament, and I make it to the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles event, but lose, my partner and I each earn 200 PPA Points.
Events thus far in 2025
There have been seven events thus far 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
According to the PPA Tour calendar of events, there are 11 more tournaments to be played this year:
- Red Rock Open
- North Carolina Open
- 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)
I do believe the PPA Tour is going to announce some additional second half of the year tournaments soon. If I had to guess, I assume two more stops (one more Slam) get added in the September/October timeframe.
Overall, we are approximately 35-40% of the way through the 2025 season in terms of number of events held, and since there is a week off in play, this is a great time to provide an update.
Let’s get into the action.
Women’s Singles
Up until last week’s win, Anna Leigh was in second place on this list, because Kaitlyn Christian started the year off very hot, winning two golds and two silvers. Kaitlyn won Daytona and Australia.
Other storylines
Jorja Johnson and Lacy Schneemann actually played in the event last year as substitutes for Brooke Buckner and Salome Devidze. Neither Jorja nor Lacy currently have enough points to be top 16.
Andie Dikosavljevic and Somer Dalla Bonna both had good runs in singles in Australia, but since they are Australian, I see them sliding down this list, not moving up it.
My WAY too early prediction
Anna Leigh Waters, Kate Fahey, Kaitlyn Christian, Lea Jansen, Brooke Buckner, Parris Todd, Helena Jansen, and Catherine Parenteau.
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Men’s Singles
Federico has been the class of men’s singles for 15 months. Alshon just got his first two singles wins on tour in back to back events. Ben Johns is only in seventh place, but hasn’t played many singles events in 2025. Newcomer, Zane Ford, has also made his way into the top eight already.
Other storylines
Tyson McGuffin is in 5th place due to a couple of good finishes and a silver medal in PPA Australia. McGuffin could be ripe for a regression in singles, especially if the lingering injuries keep nagging up.
The men’s singles field has crazy parity, so I don’t expect to see anyone pulling away. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see any one of the top 15 in The Finals, come fall.
Two names that aren’t even in the top 16, but I think have a chance at cracking the top eight by the end of the year are Noe Khlif (17th) and JW Johnson (20th).
My WAY too early prediction
Federico Staksrud, Christian Alshon, Ben Johns, Hunter Johnson, Jaume Martinez Vich, Connor Garnett, Zane Ford, and Quang Duong.
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Women’s Doubles
The top five are already locks in my book, barring an injury. These five aren’t losing their spots in the finals anytime soon. With only 200 points separating either making the finals or not, this is going to be a close race.
Other storylines
Of the players currently in, Vivian Glozman, Jackie Kawamoto, and Lea Jansen did not qualify last year. On the flip side, Mari Humberg, Callie Smith, and Lucy Kovalova qualified last year, and are currently outside the top 16.
Vivian Glozman seems to be having contract issues, and her status for the rest of the year on the PPA Tour is in jeopardy at the moment. DOn’t worry - she is full eligible to play MLP.
Fahey is on the outside looking in at the 17 spot, but she is playing great recently with Tina Pisnik and I really expect her to make a surge forward this year.
My WAY too early prediction
Anna Leigh Waters, Catherine Parenteau, Anna Bright, Rachel Rohrabacher, Hurricane Tyra Black, Parris Todd, Jorja Johnson, Etta Tuionetia, Lea Jansen, Meghan Dizon, Tina Pisnik, Lacy Schneemann, Lucy Kovalova, Kate Fahey, Callie Smith, and Jackie Kawamoto.
Men’s Doubles
The top six players feel like they are never missing semi-finals. I know some of them have, but they are the most consistent top men right now on tour. Men’s doubles has so much parity and partnership changes that I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone outside the top 20 currently make it to The Finals.
Other storylines
Collin Johns is a very interesting case study. He won 2,000 points with Ben at the PPA Masters, and since then, has won 950 points with multiple partners. I expect him to continue to slip down the leaderboard unless he can find a partner he consistently makes the quarters and beyond with.
A lot of the last couple spots comes down to partners for me. For example, Jaume Martinez Vich and Augie Ge are playing together a ton and I expect their level to raise a little bit. On the flip side, Matt Wright seems to be switching partners fairly often. Both strategies can work, so we shall see where everything shakes out.
As mentioned previously, I think someone outside the top 20 right now could easily crack the top 16. Here are the 20-24 players, in order, right now: Rafa Hewett, Connor Garnett, Riley Newman, Tyler Loong, and Zane Navratil.
My WAY too early prediction
Ben Johns, Andrei Daescu, 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 Augie Ge.
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Women’s Mixed Doubles
After the top five, there is a 1,000 point difference to the sixth spot. In my mind, with the partners they can get, the top five are safe. So the rest of the women’s mixed doubles field is fighting for three spots.
Other storylines
Vivienne David made The Finals last year, but opted not to play in the event, and she is 26th right now.
Two big names who are well outside the top eight are Parris Todd and Etta Tuionetoa, both tied for 29th. They are both very good mixed doubles players that will need to turn it on in the second half of the year to have a shot at The Finals.
My WAY too early prediction
Anna Leigh Waters, Anna Bright, Jorja Johnson, Hurricane Tyra Black, Catherine Parenteau, Tina Pisnik, Kate Fahey, and Etta Tuionetoa.
Men’s Mixed Doubles
In my opinion, this the toughest event of them all to make the finals. Eight men’s mixed doubles spots. As an example, Hayden Patriquin didn’t even make it to the Finals last year, which is preposterous to think about now.
Other storylines
Tardio is hanging on by a thread to that last spot, so him and Jessie have to get close to another couple of wins and/or get another win to cement their places.
Even though I said this is maybe the toughest event to make The Finals in, I don’t foresee much movement from the current situation. This is mostly because when good mixed partnerships form, they stay together for the year. And there are already some excellent ones.
My WAY too early prediction
Ben Johns, Christian Alshon, JW Johnson, Federico Staksrud, Hayden Patriquin, Dekel Bar, Andrei Daescu, and Gabe Tardio - No changes from here on out.
Check back with The Dink throughout the rest of the season. We will publish a few more of these Points Race articles along the way to keep you updated.
