The pro pickleball world shifts from MLP to PPA with the Veolia Atlanta Pickleball Championships starting Monday. This is a slam event, with big points at stake for the run to the season-ending PPA Championships. With the extra points at stake, every match will be important, so expect extra effort by all the players. This tournament will feature the first outing since Anna Leigh Waters and Catherine Parenteau ended their partnership, so the women’s doubles draw will be the focus of attention.

 

 

 

Let’s get right to the center of the action. The top seed goes to Parenteau, playing with Rachel Rohrabacher. It will be interesting to see how they play together. Both are better on the right side. I expect we will see a lot of straight up play, with Rohrabacher taking a litttle bit more of the left side. Opponents will want to attack this partnership, as the correct strategy against Waters/Parenteau and Bright/Rohrabacher was to attack Parenteau and Rohrabacher. Their matches together should lead to a lot of drives, speedups and firefights, for some exciting pickleball.

 

The #2 seed goes to Waters and Anna Bright. They may be the #2 seed, but are the clear favorites to win the event. As with Parenteau/Rohrabacher, it will be interesting to see how this partnership plays out. Bright is a better left side player than Parenteau or Rohrabacher, and Waters does not mind at all playing the right side, so we may well see Bright take the left a lot. I think Waters will be at her most aggressive; she wants to start firefights at every opportunity, even off injudicious speedups. Waters is so confident in her ability to win a firefight that she will start the action even off balls that should not be sped up. Waters will find Bright is a better partner than Parenteau for firefight action, so I think it will lead to Waters being hyper aggressive, trusting in Bright’s ability to help win the resulting firefight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The spotlight will be on the top two seeds, but there will be other challengers. At #3 is the pairing of Tyra Black and Parris Todd. They are both playing well, but Black is better off with Jorja Johnson as that allows Black to play her better, left side full time. When Black plays with Todd, they often make the mistake of putting Todd on the left. We will see if they play better strategy this time out.

 

Jorja Johnson is part of the #4 seed, along with Jade Kawamoto. This will push Johnson over to the left side. She is quite competent on the left, but has been playing a lot of good right side pickleball. We will have to see how she does back on the left.

 

For an interesting longshot with a chance for a run, keep an eye on #12 Zoey Wang/Brooke Buckner. They are playing a lot together and will have some breakout wins this year.

 

 

The women’s singles draw is loaded, with the top seeds going to Waters, Kate Fahey, Kaitlyn Christian, and Parris Todd. All have been playing well at singles. The depth of the draw is shawn by the #5-#9 seeds, Buckner, Lea Jansen, Parenteau, Salome Devidze, and Wang. These players are all capable of a medal run. The draw is so good that Jorja Johnson only gets a #14 seed!

 

For a longshot to watch, it’s #30 Jalina Ingram. She is only 17 years old, a tennis convert recently signed by the PPA. She has been moving up the singles rankings and a win over a high seed will happen soon. Is Atlanta the one?

 

 

 

While some things change, the duo of Waters and Ben Johns atop the mixed doubles seeding chart does not. Their top competition will again be #2 seed JW and Jorja Johnson. Another battle in the finals between the two top seeds would surprise no one. 

 

Christian Alshon has been playing great mixed doubles and will pair with Etta Tuionetoa and get the #4 seed. Bright has been changing mixed partners a fair amount and goes with Quang Duong at the #5 seed. Duong has not enjoyed much success at mixed doubles; playing with Bright will be his best opportunity for a deep run.

 

I like the #9 seed a lot, Andrei Daescu and Tina Pisnik. Pisnik is best on the right due to her steadiness, so she is very solid in mixed. Daescu has been a beast all of 2025. Look for them to make at least the semifinals.

 

 

 

The top seed goes to Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin. They will get challenged early, with a potential match in the round of 16 against #14 Eric Oncins and Rafa Hewett. Oncins has been moving up the rankings, and Hewett is a low floor/high ceiling player capable of an upset.

 

At #2 are Gabe Tardio and Ben Johns. Johns seems comfortable with Tardio, so expect a good effort from Johns in this event. They are on the more difficult side of the draw, with a potential semifinal against #3 Daescu/Alshon. There is a legitimate question right now whether Johns, Daescu, or Alshon is playing the best in 2025. Anytime those players are on the court at the same time is a guarantee of great pickleball.

 

The top 16 seeds in men’s doubles are all good and look like favorites to get to the round of 16. An interesting question is whether any #17 or lower seed can break through and make it that far. I like #18 Blaine Hovenier and DJ Young, but they and every non-top 16 seed will have a tough time in Atlanta.

 

 

Every draw in Atlanta is stacked and men’s singles may be the most stacked of all. Zane Ford at #15? Roscoe Bellamy at #13? JW Johnson at #12? Even further down, we see Max Freeman at #39; he is likely to see top seed Federico Staksrud in the round of 32, and while Freeman winning would be an upset, it would not be totally unexpected.

 

Hunter Johnson gets the #2 seed. He had a finger injury that prevented him from playing MLP Columbus. Hopefully, it will not affect his play in Atlanta. #3 is the ever steady Connor Garnett. Ben Johns drops all the way to #4.

 

The men’s singles draw will have great matches all over the place. For example, the round of 64 has Bellamy against #50 James Ignatowich, and the round of 32 is likely to see #14 Gabe Joseph against #23 John Lucian Goins. The round of 16 will be incredibly difficult. Picking the four semifinalists in this event will be more difficult than picking the Final Four in college basketball.

 

 

For women’s doubles, I like Waters and Bright to win it, but I will pick Parenteau and Rohrabacher to be upset along the way. I will tab Johnson/Kawamoto to come out of the top half of the draw.

In women’s singles, I won’t bet against Waters; I like Christian for the silver.

In mixed doubles, Waters/Johns are the team to beat. I will take them in the final over Daescu/Pisnik as my longshot finalist.

For men’s doubles, I am taking Daescu/Alshon to win it all over Staksrud/Patriquin.

Finally, in men’s singles, I flipped a coin several times and came up with Staksrud over Alshon in the final.

 

PPA Atlanta is going to be epic! Don’t miss any of the action on Pickleballtv.

 

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