The PPA Tour moves from a beautiful outdoor venue in California to chilly Minnesota, but fortunately it is the Pickleball Central Indoor National Championships, so weather will not be an issue.

 

Not everyone is making the trek, so we will have some new partnerships for the second tournament of the year.

 

 

After serving a short suspension, Parris Todd returns to action in Minnesota. In singles, she has an opportunity for a rare gold medal, as Anna Leigh Waters is sitting out this event. Todd gets the No. 4 seed, and is in the top half of the draw with potential quarterfinal opponent No. 5 Catherine Parenteau, and potential semifinal opponent No. 1 seed Kaitlyn Christian. In the bottom half of the draw, the No. 2 seed goes to Brooke Buckner. She will face challenges from potential quarterfinal opponent No. 6 Zoey Wang and potential semifinal opponent No. 3 Lea Jansen. For a Round of 32 match that should be entertaining, check out No. 12 Milan Rane against No. 17 Cailyn Campbell. Rane played well at the Masters and Campbell is an up and coming youngster.

 

 

 

Jorja Johnson, JW Johnson, and Ben Johns are all sitting out Minnesota, and Waters declined to play mixed doubles without Johns, so the top seed goes to Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquin. They lost a great five-game gold medal match to Johns/Waters at the Masters, and should enjoy the opportunity to win a gold medal in Minnesota against a thinner field. Their main competition is likely a potential semifinal match against No. 3 Catherine Parenteau/Gabe Tardio. Parenteau/Tardio lost a close three-game match against Bright/Patriquin at the Masters, and a rematch would be interesting to see. Parenteau/Tardio will have to get by a potential Round of 16 match against No. 14 Rachel Rohrabacher/Will Howells. Rohrabacher/Howells lost at the Masters to Kate Fahey/Federico Staksrud in what is already being called “the match of the year.” If you did not see it, check out the replay. Also in the top half of the draw are No. 8 Tina Pisnik/Noe Khlif, who enjoyed a fine run to a bronze medal at the Masters.

 

 

In the bottom half of the draw, the No. 2 seed goes to Tyra Black and Christian Alshon. Their main obstacle is likely to be No. 4 Parris Todd/Andrei Daescu. Also in the bottom half are No. 5 Alix Truong/Federico Staksrud, No. 7 Allyce Jones/Dekel Bar, and No.9 Meghan Dizon/Eric Oncins. Jones/Bar have a favorable draw, and Bar is back to playing 100%, so look for them to be a tough out.

 

 

 

While she is sitting out singles and mixed doubles, Anna Leigh Waters will be in Minnesota for women’s doubles, teaming with Anna Bright as the top seed. Their top half of the draw is relatively thin, but they could be challenged by No. 8 Lea Jansen/Callie Smith, two veteran players who should know how to play the top team.

 

The bottom half of the draw is more competitive. The No. 2 seed goes to Rachel Rohrabacher and Catherine Parenteau, but they lost relatively early (for them) in the quarterfinals at the Masters. They are beatable, as both Rohrabacher and Parenteau are better on the right, so the pairing is not optimal. Looking to take advantage of this will be No. 3 seed Tyra Black/Parris Todd. The Black/Todd team is tough, so long as they properly position Black on the left. They have a tendency to play Todd on the left some, which is a mistake as statistically they are far better with Black on the left. Also in the bottom half of the draw are No. 6 seed Allyce Jones/Mari Humberg, No. 7 Zoey Wang/Brooke Buckner, and No. 9 Tina Pisnik/Cailyn Campbell, a new partnership that will be interesting to watch.

 

 

 

The most difficult event to win is men’s singles, and it is certainly the most difficult to win twice in a row. Chris Haworth will give it a shot, starting as the No. 5 seed. He faces potential matches against No. 2 Federico Staksrud and No. 3 Christian Alshon. No. 7 Gabe Joseph is also in the bottom half of the draw, and he has a reasonable path to a medal. In the top half of the draw, No. 1 seed Hunter Johnson will look to take the gold. But he faces a formidable lineup of strong singles players. He is likely to play in the quarterfinals the winner of a great Round of 16 match between No. 8 John Lucian Goins and No. 10 Noe Khlif. Also in the top half are No. 4 Connor Garnett and No. 6 Roscoe Bellamy.

 

 

 

Of all the new partnerships in Minnesota, the most interesting is No. 1 seed Gabe Tardio and Andrei Daescu. They should fit well together as Daescu’s style is very similar to that of Ben Johns. Tardio arguably played the best pickleball at the Masters of anyone, so he is a great partner for any left side dominant player. Their main competition in the top half of the draw will be the new partnership of No. 3 CJ Klinger and Federico Staksrud. Staksrud will obviously move back to the left side for this one. In the bottom half of the draw, the No. 2 seed goes to Hayden Patriquin and Christian Alshon. They looked good at the Masters in their first time out, and will try to take advantage of Ben Johns’ absence to grab a gold medal. Standing in their way is a likely Round of 16 match against No. 14 Will Howells and Noe Khlif, which has the potential to be a great match. Also in the bottom half are No. 4 Eric Oncins/Dylan Frazier, No. 6 Jaume Martinez Vich/Matt Wright, and No. 8 Augie Ge/Connor Garnett.

 

For an early round match to check out, make sure you see the expected Round of 32 matchup of No. 7 Max Freeman/Tyson McGuffin v. No. 29 Tama Shimabukuro/Luc Pham. Pham already has one win in men’s doubles over McGuffin and the 14-year-old Shimabukuro plays a very steady game. An upset there would not be a big surprise.

 

 

 

After going 5-for-5 picking gold medal winners at the Masters, I have nowhere to go but down, but let’s see if we can keep up the streak.

In women’s singles, I will take Todd in an upset run over Jansen.

For mixed doubles, I like Bright/Patriquin over Black/Alshon.

In women’s doubles, the Bright/Waters duo will not face either the Kawamotos or
Johnson/Black, so I expect them to cruise to a gold over Black/Todd.

In men’s singles, it is very tough to repeat, but Haworth is just playing on a different level. I will take him to repeat, defeating Goins in the final.

Finally, in men’s doubles, the Daescu/Tardio team looks very tough, so I will pick them to defeat Patriquin/Alshon in the final.

 

The Pickleball Central Indoor National Championships should be a lot of fun. While a couple of the top players sit this one out, it creates more uncertainly about who will win and it gives more people a good opportunity to win or medal. I know I will be watching on Pickleballtv.

 

Follow me on X @pickleball_jim for updates.