The Veolia Cape Coral Open presented by Proton wrapped up and the crowds were very large and enthusiastic. That makes it two great tournaments in a row for the PPA Tour, coming off the highly successful and well-attended Mesa Cup. It was worth the price of admission, as the tournament featured a lot of upsets, a battle for supremacy on the men’s side, and the usual domination by a certain player on the women’s side.

 

 

Ben Johns has been the acknowledged #1 player in pickleball for several years. He is facing perhaps the strongest challenge yet for his crown from Christian Alshon in 2025. Alshon was the second best player in 2024, held back only by injuries. He has stormed back in 2025. He came into Cape Coral on a hot streak, with two straight golds in men’s doubles. But, this time, it was Johns who had Andrei Daescu on his side of the net, with Alshon teaming up with Federico Staksrud.

 

 

Johns was clearly on a mission. At times, Johns can appear to be distracted or otherwise not playing his best. Not so at Cape Coral. This time, it was (as Zane Navratil puts it) “Sunday Ben” all the way, with Johns playing his best all week. Johns and Daescu dominated in the final, although they nearly fell in the semis to a great challenge from bronze medal winners JW Johnson/CJ Klinger.

 

 

Alshon had a very good week, taking a gold in singles, the silver in men’s doubles, and a bronze in mixed. But, Johns prevailed in the crown jewel of men’s doubles. That should stop the talk, at least for now, that Alshon has caught up to Ben as the #1 player in the world. However, it is worth keeping an eye on the subject. And let’s not forget Daescu. He now has three men’s doubles golds in a row, which is a fantastic achievement.

 

 

 

The top of the women’s side has no controversy about who is #1. Anna Leigh Waters continues to dominate with herself as her only competition. ALW won a triple crown, again. She did not lose a game in singles, did not lose a game in women’s doubles (with partner Catherine Parenteau) and did not lose a game in mixed doubles until the final (with partner Ben Johns). At some pint, we just run out of superlatives to describe ALW. One thing this week to note about her is that she always seems to win every 12-10 game, never seems to lose a game where she has a game point, never loses the 5th game of a match, and often comes from behind, winning games where the opponent has one or more match points. She seems to have a pickleball monopoly on “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

 

 

 

The men’s singles event remains as the toughest event to predict. Cape Coral was no exception. The round of 16 featured seeds #38, 40, 41, 46, and 47. Ben Johns was defeated in the quarterfinals by 16-year-old John Lucian Goins. Goins went on to grab the bronze medal. To win a medal at his age is an amazing accomplishment; I suspect we may be seeing a lot more of him as the years go by.

 

 

 

It was a mixed week for my predictions. I did hit the Florida triple for ALW, although predicting she wins a triple crown is not much of an accomplishment these days. I came close with my upset special of Zoey Wang to get a silver in women’s singles; she fell just one match short, losing in the semis. I had five of the 10 finalists, which is so-so. 

 

We are back right away this upcoming week, with the CIBC Texas Open presented by Fasenra. That tournament begins March 12. Catch it live if you can, as there is nothing better than seeing the pros close up. If you can’t be there in person, Pickleballtv will have all the action.

 

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