"This is the loudest crowd I’ve ever heard at any PPA event.”

That’s what Pickleballtv analyst Matt Manasse said during semifinal coverage of the Veolia Atlanta Pickleball Championships.

The crowds have indeed been raucous in the Georgia capital, but on Saturday, they weren’t cheering hardest for the sport’s biggest stars like Anna Leigh Waters, Ben Johns, or Anna Bright.

No, they saved that for one of pickleball’s newest icons: Tama Shimabukuro.

The 15-year-old sensation has been having the week of his career in Atlanta and is now into the men’s singles final after an 11-7, 8-11, 11-1 victory over No. 3 seed Hunter Johnson.

After wins over Jaume Martinez Vich, Federico Staksrud, and Noe Khlif in the previous three round, Shimabukuro stayed hot to advance to Carvana Championship Sunday for the first time in his career.

“This has honestly been a crazy week,” he said afterwards. “The crowd definitely got me through that third game. In the second, I started missing a little bit but when the third game started, the crowd started going crazy, and that definitely hyped me up.”

Chris Haworth awaits in Sunday’s final, but Shimabukuro will be back in action later Saturday evening when he and Yuta Funemizu take on Connor Garnett/Roscoe Bellamy with a spot in the men’s doubles final on the line.