The last PPA Tour event of 2024 was the Daytona Beach Open presented by ROAR Organic. Although played in 2024, the points from this event count toward 2025 standings. The PPA tour will now take a break for the holidays, before resuming in 2025.

 

Let’s go over the highlights, as we say goodbye to 2024.

 

---

1. Mama is back. The lead story for Daytona was obviously the return to play of Leigh Waters. After a long layoff from injury, Leigh returned to play with her daughter, Anna Leigh Waters. They successfully drove through the draw to the gold medal. Yes, the draw was somewhat thin. Yes, their opponents did not play particularly well in the final. But, a win is a win. Perhaps most importantly, mother and daughter had a lot of fun on the way. Congratulations to Leigh on a successful return to play.

 

 

---

2. Andrei was a giant. The tournament was dominated by Andrei Daescu. He won gold in men’s doubles and silver in mixed doubles. In men’s doubles, Daescu teamed with first time partner CJ Klinger. In mixed, Daescu paired with first time partner Tina Pisnik. Winning a gold and a silver is hard enough, but doing it with two first time partners is even harder. The medals indicate Daescu’s qualities as a player; he is comfortable to play with, he is a good partner, and he obviously plays very well. Daescu will never lack for people wanting to play with him.

 

 

---

3. The other Zane. In men’s singles, the ever steady Federico Staskrud capped off a great 2024 with one more gold at Daytona. In the final, he defeated “the other Zane”, Zane Ford. Ford was a #21 seed, who made a great run to get to the final. He exhibited good power and excellent athleticism, but Staksrud’s experience was too much to overcome in the final. Let’s hope we see some more Zane in 2025.

 

 

---

4. Kaitlyn breaks through. Kaitlyn Christian has moved steadily up the women’s singles rankings throughout 2024. I had picked her to get her first gold in several 2024 events, but she was never quite able to win one. At Daytona, Christian finally got that elusive first singles gold. Christian took advantage of ALW sitting out, and she did not lose a single game on her way to the crown.

 

 

---

5. Jorja wins Florida. While that headline may sound like an SEC football game, in pickleball we all know we are talking about Jorja Johnson. Johnson, like Daescu on the men’s side, took home a gold (in mixed doubles) and a silver (in women’s doubles), despite playing with new partnerships. In mixed doubles, Johnson and Hayden Patriquin cruised to gold, not dropping a single game. In women’s doubles, Johnson teamed with Tyra Black for the silver. Johnson’s play improved all year and she made a strong end of year bid to be the second best player on the women’s side.

 

 

---

6. It was a tough tournament for predictions. As expected, Daytona was a difficult tournament to predict winners. With several top players sitting out and a lot of new partnerships, Daytona proved to be unpredictable. I did pick one winner correctly, and hit on a number of finalists, but overall my pre-tournament predictions were poor. Oh well, it’s a good thing pickleball gambling has not yet made it to Arizona.

 

 

---

Coming soon will be columns looking back on 2024, with end of season awards and rankings, and my own personal favorite, predictions/hot takes for 2025. Enjoy the holidays, play some pickleball, and make sure you visit pickleball.com on a daily basis.

 

Follow me on Twitter/X @pickleball_jim