Next up on the PPA Tour is the Zimmer Biomet Cape Coral Open. It begins Monday from The Courts at Cape Coral. All the top pros in the world will be there, competing in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.

 

 

In women’s doubles, Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright take the court as the top seed, with the big question being whether anyone will beat them in 2026. The year is early, and they did lose twice in 2025, but Waters and Bright have so far looked unbeatable in 2026. 

 

The top half of the draw presents one big challenge to Waters and Bright in the form of #3 seed Tyra Black and Jorja Johnson. Black and Johnson have beaten Waters and Bright before. They are likely to meet in the semifinals. Also in the top half of the draw are #7 Kaitlyn Christian/Jessie Irvine, #8 Zoey Wang/Brooke Buckner, #9 Lea Jansen/Callie Smith, and #10 Tina Pisnik/Milan Rane. Jansen and Smith have the best early draw and have the best chance to get in the way of what would be a much anticipated semifinal.

 

In the bottom half of the draw, #2 seed Rachel Rohrabacher and Catherine Parenteau and #4 Jackie Kawamoto and Jade Kawamoto look to face each other in what would be another epic semifinal. Standing in their way will be #5 seed Parris Todd/Alix Truong and #6 seed Lacy Schneemann/Kate Fahey.

 

Look for the top four seeds to all make the seminfinals and what should be two of the best matches of the whole tournament.

 

 

Men’s doubles has been dominated for the last year-plus by eight players in the top four teams. Some of the partnerships have changed, but the results so far in 2026 have remained the same; the top four seeds all make the semifinals. At Cape Coral, the world’s #1 team Gabe Tardio/Ben Johns take the top seed and look to continue their winning ways. Joining them in the top half of the draw is the #3 seed Andrei Daescu/Federico Staksrud. Trying to stop them from meeting in the semifinals will be #6 Dekel Bar/Jay Devilliers, #8 Max Freeman/Tyson McGuffin, and #9 Augie Ge/Connor Garnett. 

 

In the bottom half of the draw, the #2 seed goes to Christian Alshon/Hayden Patriquin. Their main competition will be #4 seed JW Johnson/CJ Klinger. Challenging these top two teams will be #5 Eric Oncins/Dylan Frazier, #7 Pablo Tellez/Noe Khlif, and #11 Riley Newman/Will MacKinnon.

 

Are any of the top four seeds beatable? Certainly, but it will be a difficult task to take them down. Oncins has been playing great pickleball, and Frazier is capable of high-end right side play. Look for them to have the best chance for an upset win to break into the semifinals. 

 

For a longshot, keep an eye on #18 Julian Arnold and Martin Emmrich. They have a good draw and both have the ability to play with anyone when they are on.

 

 

Mixed doubles will once again be dominated by top seed Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns. They rarely lose, and the Cape Coral draw is favorable for them. In the top half of the draw, the main competition is likely to be the winner of a tough quarterfinal match between #4 Rachel Rohrabacher/Christian Alshon and #5 Catherine Parenteau/Gabe Tardio. Also in the top half of the draw are #8 Tina Pisnik/Noe Khlif and #10 Parris Todd/Dekel Bar. Another interesting duo in the top half of the draw is #15 Jackie Kawamoto/Eric Oncins. Oncins is playing very big in mixed doubles and covering a lot of court, while Kawamoto is as solid a defensive player as there is. 

 

In the bottom half of the draw, the #2 seed goes to Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson. They are always the toughest opponents for Waters/Johns, but to get another rematch, they will likely have to get through #3 seed Anna Bright/Hayden Patriquin. If those two teams meet in the semifinal, it will be must-watch pickleball. Also in the bottom half of the draw are #6 Jade Kawamoto/Andrei Daescu, #7 Kate Fahey/Federico Staksrud, and #9 Jessie Irvine/Jay Devilliers.

 

One new pairing is #11 Tyra Black and Mo Alhouni. As we learned at the Pickleball Central Indoor National Championships, Black and Christian Alshon ended their long-time partnership, going out with a gold medal. Black is rumored to be pairing soon with Will Howells, as soon as Howells returns from injury.

 

 

Anna Leigh Waters is sitting out singles, which gives everyone else a rare opportunity to snag a gold medal. Kate Fahey gets the top seed, but the top half of the draw is actually the more difficult half. The top half includes top singles players #3 Brooke Buckner, #5 Catherine Parenteau, #7 Genie Bouchard, and #9 Judit Castillo. Whoever comes out of the top half will have earned their place in the final.

 

In the bottom half of the draw, the #2 seed goes to Kaitlyn Christian. She will be challenged by #4 Lea Jansen and #6 Zoey Wang. But also watch out for #17 Kiora Kunimoto. The 17-year-old is making great strides in singles and is capable of beating anyone.

 

 

Men’s singles continues to be the most competitive and unpredictable event in pro pickleball. The top spot has bounced around between Hunter Johnson and Federico Staksrud for the last several months, while Chris Haworth has been making a strong case that he is the best player in the world. Cape Coral is the next chapter in this ongoing debate. Complicating things is that there are literally 25 to 30 players who are quite capable of winning the gold medal. JW Johnson, for example, is a #26 seed! Tyson McGuffin is a #40 seed!

 

The matches are incredibly tough from the Round of 64 forward. There are no easy matches. For example, in the Round of 64, McGuffin (multiple gold medal winner) will face #29 Tama Shimabukuro (who won singles gold at the most recent Challenger tournament). In the Round of 32, #11 Noe Khlif is likely to face #19 Grayson Goldin. 

 

To reach the final, #1 seed Hunter Johnson would likely have to defeat, in order, #28 Spartak Rahachou, #13 Adam Harvey, #6 Roscoe Bellamy, and #3 Christian Alshon. Talk about a difficult task!

 

For #2 seed Federico Staksrud, he could well face #25 Rafa Hewett, #17 Mo Alhouni, #7 Jaume Martinez Vich, and #4 Chris Haworth. There is no easy path to the final in men’s singles.

 

 

One of the most notable developments on the PPA Tour in 2026 has been the emergence of new players, especially the teenagers. They are starting to make their mark. This coming week at Cape Coral, we now see more veteran players teaming up with the youngsters. We see Mari Humberg with Emma Nelson, Mo Alhouni with Cam Chaffin, and Tyler Loong with Elsie Hendershot, to name just a few of these pairings. It is great to see some of the experienced players play with the teenagers to provide them some much needed veteran guidance.

 

For predictions, I will go with Waters/Bright over the Kawamotos, Tardio/Johns over Alshon/Patriquin, and Waters/Johns over Bright/Patriquin for my doubles picks. In singles, I will take Jansen over Parenteau in a flurry of upsets, and Haworth over Bellamy.

 

Let’s hope the recent cold weather in Florida is gone as we all enjoy some great pro pickleball from Cape Coral. Catch all the action on Pickleballtv.

 

Follow me for updates on X @pickleball_jim.