
Johnson, Frazier capture Atlanta Open crown
PEACHTREE CORNERS, GA - JW Johnson and Dylan Frazier overcame a one-game deficit to defeat Matt Wright and Federico Staksrud in the men’s doubles gold medal match.
Staksrud and Wright were flying high after their semifinal victory over Ben and Collin Johns, and they carried that momentum with them into the match’s first game and took it 11-4.
The No. 2 seeds found their form from there, though, and took the next three games behind their typical brand of disciplined pickleball in which they displayed impressive patience in lengthy dink rallies.
“They came out strong and came out firing, so we just had to buckle down and be ready to grind and fight for every single point,” Frazier said of the victory. “They made very few unforced errors, so it just came down to execution and winning some hands battles when we needed to.”
One of the challenges for Frazier and Johnson was dealing with the crafty right-side play of Wright, who frequently changed the pace of rallies by lobbing from the kitchen line.
“Matt’s super tricky with it,” Frazier explained. “He takes a lot of balls out of the air. Sometimes he dinks it, sometimes he speeds it up, sometimes he lobs it. It’s hard to know which one’s coming, and you’ve just got to be on your toes at all times.”
This 4-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-5 win marks the 8th PPA Tour title for Frazier and Johnson.
In the bronze medal match, Tyson McGuffin and Dekel Bar downed the Johns brothers 11-5, 4-11, 12-10, handing them their second consecutive loss.
Related articles

Crum stuns top seed Staksrud in three games
Down goes the top seed in men's singles.
5 hours ago
-Will Daughton

LIVE BLOG: The latest news and updates from the Veolia Atlanta Pickleball Championships presented by Ensure Max Protein
Jorja Johnson earned two golds at the most recent PPA Tour event in North Carolina and will be looking to build on that success this week in Atlanta.
10 hours ago
-Will Daughton

Walker, Scarpa Triple Crown at New England PPA Challenger
It was quite the weekend for Angie Walker and Anderson Scarpa.
1 day ago
-Will Daughton

MLP Waiver Update: Hard Eights claim Bellamy from Sliders
Roscoe Bellamy is the newest member of the SoCal Hard Eights.
1 day ago
-Will Daughton