The next stop on the PPA Tour takes us to Atlanta for the Veolia Atlanta Pickleball Championships. It is the last stop before the PPA Finals, and therefore the last opportunity for players to gain ranking points to qualify for the finals. Atlanta will have 2,000 ranking points available and there are a number of players on the bubble to qualify. Veolia Atlanta will also feature some new talent from across the Pacific Ocean, adding an additional layer of interest for the tournament.

 

Let’s go over each of the five events, highlighting the most interesting early round matches and which players may be able to grab enough points to make the finals.

 

 

Gabe Tardio and Ben Johns are undefeated in 2026 and will look for another gold medal in Atlanta. They have a relatively favorable draw and have a good chance to win it all. Augie Ge is 17th in the rankings for men’s doubles, one spot from qualifying for the PPA Finals. He teams with Dekel Bar in Atlanta, and they are the #10 seed. For Ge to qualify for the PPA Finals, he and Bar would likely need to defeat #7 Jay Devilliers/Pablo Tellez in the Round of 16 and defeat Tardio/Johns in the quarterfinals, a tough task.

 

Look for a great quarterfinal match between #4 Federico Staksrud/Andrei Daescu and #5 Eric Oncins/Dylan Frazier. The top four seeds continue to dominate men’s doubles and Oncins/Frazier are the top team looking to break into that top four. Oncins won his first PPA gold recently in Sacramento, in mixed doubles. Oncins is firmly established as a top 10 player, and if he can break into the medals in men’s doubles, he will challenge for a top five ranking.

 

 

In the bottom half of the draw, the #2 seed goes to Hayden Patriquin/Christian Alshon. Retaining that #2 ranking is key, as that ensures the team of being on the opposite side of the draw from Tardio/Johns. Patriquin/Alshon have a moderately difficult draw, with a number of good teams in their quarter of the draw. In that section, a very interesting Round of 16 match will occur between #6 Noe Khlif/Matt Wright and #9 Riley Newman/Armaan Bhatia, assuming both teams can win their opening Round of 32 match. Newman and Wright have not faced each other much since their well-publicized partnership breakup of 2024, and if that match happens, it is must-see pickleball. Adding fuel is the fact Newman occupies the 16th and final spot in men’s doubles for the PPA Finals, so he needs a good performance in Atlanta to keep his spot.

 

Watch out for #12 seed Jack Sock/Blaine Hovenier. They have a very good draw, both are playing well, and they could have a nice run in Atlanta. Finally, check out the Round of 32 match between #15 Collin Johns/Len Yang against #19 Yuta Funemizu/Tama Shimabukuro. That match has a little of everything; the veteran Johns who is now underrated and somewhat forgotten, the up-and-coming youngster Shimabukuro, the unusual style of Funemizu, and the potential of Yang. These kind of Round of 32 matches are what makes for entertaining TV on Wednesday on Pickleballtv.

 

 

The unpredictability of men’s singles will once again make the draw so interesting in Atlanta. Eight players qualify for the finals and Jack Sock and John Lucian Goins currently hold the seventh and eighth spots, with small leads over Gabe Joseph, Zane Ford, and Noe Khlif in the 9, 10, 11 spots. Any of these players are capable of getting to Sunday and grabbing enough points to make the finals. Further, any of these eight players qualifying for the finals is capable of winning it all, so the intensity should be sky high for men’s singles in Atlanta.

 

Chris Haworth is the #1 seed in Atlanta, but #1 seeds have not had much success in men’s singles. #8 John Lucian Goins is potentially set to play #9 Gabe Joseph in the Round of 16, which would be a match to determine who makes the PPA Finals. Also in the top half of the draw are #4 Christian Alshon and #5 Connor Garnett. One great Round of 64 match to see will be #25 Alex Crum facing #35 Matt Barlow. Both have shown the ability to make a deep run, but one will be sent home in the Round of 64, demonstrating how difficult the men’s singles draw is.

 

In the bottom half of the draw, the #2 seed goes to Federico Staksrud, who has been playing the best singles of anyone lately. But the bottom half of the draw is tough, with the presence of #3 Hunter Johnson, #6 Roscoe Bellamy, and #7 Jack Sock.

 

Also in the bottom half is #16 Hong Kit “Jack” Wong. Wong is an excellent singles player from Hong Kong. He has done very well in Asian events against PPA competition. We will now see how he does on US soil. He will be tested early, with a Round of 32 match against #22 Eric Oncins. The winner of that match is likely to then face #3 Hunter Johnson. Again, Wong is very good, and the draw he has been given will provide us a great sense of where he stands against the best players in the world.

 

 

 

Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns have the #1 seed after passing on Sacramento. It is a big draw in Atlanta. They are likely to face the winner of #7 Tina Pisnik/Eric Oncins vs. #9 Kate Fahey/Federico Staksrud in the quarters. In the semis, the winner of #4 Rachel Rohrabacher/Christian Alshon vs. Parris Todd/Andrei Daescu awaits. Looking to spoil those matchups will be #22 Jackie Kawamoto/Dekel Bar, who will play Fahey/Staksrud in the Round of 32.

 

Another Round of 32 match to watch is #16 Danni-Elle Townsend/CJ Klinger vs. #19 Jade Kawamoto/Dylan Frazier. Townsend is an Aussie star, just coming to play regularly in the US. She was a high pick in the recent MLP Draft and some think she is a top 10 talent. I am not quite as high on Townsend as some, and Klinger has not played nearly as well in mixed doubles as he does in men’s doubles. Look for the steady duo of Kawamoto/Frazier to win a close one there.

 

In the bottom half of the draw, the #2 seed goes to Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson. The #3 seed is Anna Bright/Hayden Patriquin. If they both make the semifinals, that match will be extremely important for ranking points. The #2 ranked team automatically is on the opposite side of the draw from Waters/Johns in every tournament, so it is an important spot to grab. Challenging for a good run in the bottom half of the draw are #6 Catherine Parenteau/Gabe Tardio, #8 Jessie Irvine/Noe Khlif, and #10 Tyra Black/Will Howells. Black and Howells have a good draw and should have a good tournament.

 

Two low seeds to keep an eye on are #43 Sahra Dennehy/Tama Shimabukuro and #49 Cailyn Campbell/Will MacKinnon. Dennehy is another Aussie import, Shimabukuro is always a threat to break through, Campbell is moving up strongly in the women’s rankings, and MacKinnon continues to have a load of unrealized potential.

 

 

 

After skipping Sacramento, Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright are back in action in Atlanta. Their draw is interesting, as Jackie Kawamoto and Jade Kawamoto are seeded #5 and could play Waters/Bright in the quarters. As one of only two teams that have beaten Waters/Bright, the draw is about as challenging as it would be for the top seed. The #3 seed goes to Rachel Rohrabacher/Catherine Parenteau. They are likely to face the #16 seeded Aussie duo of Sahra Dennehy/Danni-Elle Townsend in the Round of 16. That match will go a long way to informing us of exactly where the Aussies stand.

 

Jorja Johnson and Tyra Black take the #2 seed, but their play has been a little off lately. Looking to challenge them will be #4 Kate Fahey/Parris Todd, #6 Meghan Dizon/Tina Pisnik, and #8 Alix Truong/Zoey Wang. Truong sits in the 16th and last spot to qualify for the PPA Finals, so she will want to have a good event to keep her spot.

 

 

Anna Leigh Waters has not lost in forever and she is the #1 seed in Atlanta. She has about as difficult a draw as she can ever have. Her expected opponents are #25 Victoria DiMuzio in the Round of 32, #13 Isabella Dunlap in the Round of 16, #5 Lea Jansen in the quarters, #4 Brooke Buckner in the semis, and #2 Kate Fahey in the finals. Not an easy road, but the way Waters has been playing, the odds are that she wins them all without dropping a single game. One of these days, Waters will lose a singles match, but predicting it is unlikely at best. Dunlap has been improving a lot, so she may well have the best chance for the upset in Atlanta.

 

On Fahey’s side of the draw, she will have to contend with #3 Kaitlyn Christian and #6 Catherine Parenteau. The Aussie women are both on that side of the draw. #12 Sahra Dennehy, who has played better at singles than doubles, is due to face #18 Hannah Blatt and the winner is likely to play Parenteau. That will be a good test for Dennehy. Meanwhile, #42 Danni-Elle Townsend will play #21 Angie Walker in the Round of 64, with the winner to play #9 Judit Castillo. Townsend has been better at doubles than singles, so a run by Townsend would be a surprise.

 

Everyone is in action in Atlanta, so the draws are very large. That guarantees a lot of good early round matches. It will all be on Pickleballtv, so join me in watching it beginning Monday.

 

Follow me on X @pickleball_jim for updates.