Andrei Daescu prepares to hit a picklball serve.
Andrei Daescu has beaten Ben Johns in men's doubles at back-to-back tournaments. The two will join forces next week in south Florida. PPA Tour

Daescu, Johns to team up for first time at Veolia Cape Coral Open presented by Proton

Who Ben Johns shares the court with in 2025 continues to be front-page news in the picklesphere.

He began his partnership with Gabe Tardio last week at the Carvana Mesa Cup presented by Proton, coming away with a silver medal.

Those two are set to play several more tournaments together this year, but their next one won’t be until the CIBC Texas Open in mid-March.

Before that, Johns will share the court with Andrei Daescu for the first time at next week’s Veolia Cape Coral Open presented by Proton.

Daescu has been on fire to start off 2025 and actually beat Johns in Tucson and Mesa en route to back-to-back men’s doubles titles with Christian Alshon.

 

This upcoming partnership features two of the top players in the game, but it will also present some new looks for both involved parties.

This will be Johns’ fourth straight tournament playing with a different men’s doubles partner. His first three partners this year—Collin Johns, Hayden Patriquin, and the aforementioned Tardio—are all right-side specialists in men’s doubles.

Daescu—like Ben—is a left-side specialist. That means that one of them (most likely Daescu) will shift over to the right side.

Now, don’t look too much into this. Both Johns and Daescu are obviously good enough that they can hit virtually any shot from any spot on the court.

But having one player competing from a position that they aren’t frequently in could make it even more difficult for Johns/Daescu to take gold in a stacked draw that includes pairings like Federico Staksrud/Christian Alshon, JW Johnson/CJ Klinger, and Dylan Frazier/Riley Newman.

We'll see if they're up for the challenge in Sunshine State when main draw action begins on Mar. 6.