The PPA’s Vizzy Atlanta Open followed MLP Atlanta, and players will now get some well-deserved rest before we pick up again, with the CIBC Texas Open from the Oasis Tennis Club outside Dallas on May 29.

PPA Atlanta had its share of upsets, weather, controversies, and amazing play.

Let’s look at the major stories from the Vizzy Atlanta Open.

 

 

Ben Johns entered the singles event and wound up in an unusual position; as a #2 seed. Federico Staksrud has been on a singles tear, making some 10 straight finals. Staksrud’s performance had lifted him to the singles lead in points and thus the #1 seed. But, one thing missing from Staksrud’s 2024 resume was a win over Johns. Would it be Atlanta? In Atlanta, the draw proceeded in what has become normal fashion. Staksrud had little trouble defeating players with a strong tennis background. On his way to the finals, for example, Staksrud beat Aanik Lohani 11-4, 11-4. He had more trouble with experienced pickleball players, needing 3 games to defeat Pablo Tellez. Meanwhile, on the other side of the draw, Johns struggled with the tennis-oriented players. Against Quong Duong, Johns had to survive two match points, before coming back from 10-6 down in the third game, to win 12-10. After relatively comfortable wins in the semis, Staksrud and Johns faced each other in the finals. The talk on social media (from some, not me) that maybe Staksrud had caught and indeed passed Johns in singles was now to be tested. There have been questions about Johns’ overall focus in some recent matches, but that was not the case in this final. Johns won 11-3, 11-7, and cemented his place atop the singles world once again. Johns is undefeated against Staksrud in 2024. Johns may continue to struggle more against the tennis-oriented singles players than does Staksrud, but so long as Johns wins every head-to-head matchup, there can be no doubt as to who is the real #1.

 

 

 

The women’s side of the event was characterized by some controversy on calls and player reactions to what they perceived as bad calls. In one women’s doubles semifinal, Lea Jansen and Callie Smith strongly objected to a couple of late line calls by Jade Kawamoto and Andrea Koop. The disputes included a call on match point that ended the match. Jansen in particular reacted emotionally to the calls, and some in the crowd were unhappy with her antics. Indeed, the ending of the match was the subject of much discussion afterwords online. What was ironic about the whole thing was that online replays showed Lea had made an incorrect call in her quarterfinal match with Jorja Johnson and Mari Humberg. On an important point in game two, Jansen called a Johnson smash out that was shown online to have been good by at least four inches. Because the match was not on center court, no video challenges were available. No one believes any of the calls mentioned were made in bad faith, but it does show that anyone can make a mistake; and what goes around, comes around. Jansen also ran into issues in her bronze medal match with Salome Devidze. Line judges were needed and there were at least five disputed calls in the first part of game one. In any event, Devidze prevailed in three games to take the bronze.

 

 

 

Anna Leigh Waters had to be exhausted after playing quite a few matches at MLP Atlanta and then following it up by making three finals at PPA Atlanta. But, as long as she had to play three gold medal matches, she figured she may as well win them. In singles, she defeated Parris Todd in a very close three game match. Todd shrugged off a rough MLP by winning twice in three games along the way and then very nearly knocking off the champ in the final. In women’s doubles, ALW and Catherine Parenteau did not lose a single game on their way to an expected gold medal. Finally, in mixed, ALW and Ben Johns had a few close matches, and ended up winning a four-game final over Anna Bright and James Ignatowich. The final did include an 11-0 win by Bright/Ignatowich in game three. If that was a result of some fatigue on ALW’s part, no one could blame her.

 

 

 

The men’s doubles draw featured some new partnerships, which met with mixed success. The most successful new partnership was obviously Federico Staksrud and Matt Wright. Seeded #3, they made it all the way to the final, losing in four games to JW Johnson and Dylan Frazier. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Staksrud/Wright partnership though was that in the round of 32, CJ Klinger and Will Howells, whose combined age is about 10 years less than Wright’s age, almost eliminated the veterans early. Staksrud and Wright barely escaped with a 10-12, 12-10, 11-7 win. Had that close match gone differently, would everyone say the new partnership was a failure? In any event, the veteran duo settled down after that. Wright focused on doing what he can still do at a high level and that is to play simple and solid right side defense, allowing his partner to take 65% of the court and control the match. Their semifinal win over the Johns brothers was surprisingly easy. I have seen Staksrud play about 100 times, and that was easily the best I have ever seen him play. He was super active, employed a strong backhand speedup flick, and incorporated more twoey power than normal. It was a big and excellent win. Another new partnership was James Ignatowich and Pablo Tellez. Seeded #4, they cruised into the quarterfinals, but lost to the strong duo of #5 Tyson McGuffin and Dekel Bar. Finally, another new one to mention is #14 seed Tyler Loong and Patrick Kawka, who defeated Jack Sock and Collin Shick before losing to gold medal winners JW/Dylan. We can expect to see a number of different partner combinations in the next few tournaments. What will be interesting to see is if any can stand the test of time, and have both success and longevity.

 

 

 

Atlanta unfortunately experienced some intermittent rain. Play had to be stopped for short periods just about each day. Fortunately, the facility has indoor courts and PPA was able to transition fairly easily to indoor courts and keep the pro draws moving along nicely. This tournament showed the benefit of playing at an indoor/outdoor facility, at least in an area where rain is a not infrequent occurrence.

 

 

It is always interesting to talk about new partnerships, or new players emerging in singles. However, as pickleball history continues to show, experience and long-term partnerships usually get the gold medals. Of the five events, all were won by either the #1 or #2 seed. Each of the three doubles events were won by partnerships that have been together for well more than a year. Playing a lot with the same partner has big advantages, in terms of partner communication. Will any of these new partnerships blossom long-term or will the players continue to play musical chairs? Time will tell.

 

See you on the courts!

 

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