Gabe Tardio (left) and Ben Johns (right) celebrating their men's doubles title at the Veolia Lakeland Open presented by Six Zero.
Gabe Tardio (left) and Ben Johns (right) celebrating their men's doubles title at the Veolia Lakeland Open presented by Six Zero. PPA Tour

Back on top: Johns, Tardio take men’s doubles gold over Alshon, Daescu

Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio saw their streak of six straight titles together come to an end earlier this month at Worlds, but they got right back to their winning ways this week in Central Florida.

The top seeds defeated No. 2 seeds Christian Alshon/Andrei Daescu 11-8, 11-8, 11-5 for their ninth title of the year.

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This partnership came together following Ben’s split from his brother, Collin Johns, back in January and has been a dominant force on the men’s doubles circuit ever since.

Ben spoke about the experience of building a new partnership this season.

“It’s been phenomenal. I think going into it, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I think we’ve exceeded my own expectations as a partnership,” he said.

This will go down as Johns’ final PPA Tour match of 2025, as he plans to take the next seven weeks off from competing and return at the PPA Masters in January 2026.

The 26-year-old gave some insight into what his plans are for the break.

“There’s always training going on, but just a couple weeks at home would feel great, so it’ll be that first,” he shared. “Then, we’ll see about some vacation time somewhere, but I’ll just be happy to be home for a while.”

There are certainly worse ways to close out the year.