The latest stop on the PPA Tour takes us to Atlanta for the CIBC Atlanta Slam presented by Vizzy. This tournament features a progressive draw, so all five events are in action each day. Tuesday featured Round of 64 play.

 

 

There were not too many upsets in the first round, as chalk ruled the day. In men’s doubles, 12 of 16 matches were won by the higher seed. The highest seed to lose was #24 Yates Johnson/Blaine Hovenier, who lost to #43 Richard Livornese/Tanner Tomassi. In men’s singles, 19 of 24 were won by the higher seed. There were two significant upsets. #9 Jack Sock fell to #53 Jack Foster. That one is not as much an upset as it may appear on paper; Foster is a very good and experienced singles player, who just lacks PPA points for a higher seed. The other upset was #54 Alexander Crum over #10 Pablo Tellez, in three close games. In mixed doubles, the higher seed won 28 of 32 matches, with the only big upset being #59 Noe Khlif/Bobbi Oshiro defeating #5 Vivienne David/Wyatt Stone. In women’s doubles, 15 of 19 matches went to the higher seed, with no team seeded higher than #27 losing. Finally, in women's’ singles, 12 of 16 higher seeds won, with no major upsets.

 

 

 

Jay Devilliers has long been correctly identified as the best pickleball player from France. But, he finally has competition for that distinction, from countryman Noe Khlif. I have been touting Khlif ever since I first saw him play singles early in 2024. His game is well suited for doubles, he just needs better partners. He found an interesting one this week in mixed doubles, in Bobbi Oshiro. Oshiro is a quality right side player, who is not seen that often on the PPA Tour. But despite the lack of notoriety, she is a solid player. Oshiro and Khlif took out #5 Vivienne David/Wyatt Stone 11-4, 4-11, 11-7, to move into the Round of 32. This was the biggest upset of day one. Khlif and Oshiro will now face #25 Milan Rane/Jaume Martinez Vich, in what should be an entertaining match.

 

 

Jack Sock can lay claim to being the best known “Jack” in pickleball, but another Jack, last name Foster, proved he has some game too. Foster defeated Sock convincingly 11-3, 11-2, in what the public probably sees as a shocking upset. Foster is another player somewhat rarely seen in PPA events, but he has a lot of singles game. Sock is so much fun to watch, that I think we all may overrate him just a bit. A more realistic way to look at Sock is as a #20-#25 type player. Expecting Sock to get results like a top 10 player is just not a correct evaluation of his pickleball skills at this point. One question at this point, after Sock has now played most of a year on the PPA Tour is, what exactly is his ceiling? He is, relatively speaking, old for a pickleball pro, at almost 32 years old. The reality is that he may never be a top 10-15 pickleball player.

 

 

Round of 32 action on Wednesday. Plenty of great matches. A few I will be watching: #11 Kate Fahey v #20 Layne Sleeth; #14 Zoey Wang/Brooke Buckner v #19 Bobbi Oshiro/Milan Rane; #15 Matt Wright/Lucy Kovalova v #21 Quang Duong/Lauren Stratman; #15 Travis Rettenmeier/Donald Young v #18 Jack Sock/Collin Shick; and, #12 Jay Devilliers v #21 Gabe Tardio. These and lots of other great matches will be on tap.

 

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