A memorable week at the Veolia Atlanta Pickleball Championships concluded Sunday afternoon with the gold medal matches in men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and women’s singles, where Ben Johns, Gabe Tardio, Anna Bright, and Anna Leigh Waters triumphed in their respective events.

In men’s doubles, the top-seeded tandem of Johns and Tardio continued their undefeated 2026 campaign with an 11-5, 11-7, 11-2 victory over No. 13 seeds Connor Garnett/Roscoe Bellamy.

The first-time partnership of Garnett/Bellamy had made a stunning run to the final that included an upset win over 2025 champions JW Johnson/CJ Klinger in the Round of 16, but Johns/Tardio proved to be too much despite an inspired performance.

Johns broke down some of the biggest challenges that the No. 13 seeds posed.

“I felt like our biggest thing was just avoiding making errors on the serve return and then fielding their drives and trying not to give them free points there,” he told Pickleballtv’s Kamryn Blackwood and Matt Manasse. “If they shake and bake and get a couple of points, so be it, but we didn’t want that to be the pattern. We didn’t do a great job of that at the beginning of Game 2, but outside of that, we were pretty happy with that part of it.”

Sunday’s loss won’t dampen what was an excellent showing for both Bellamy and Garnett; Bellamy earned his first career PPA doubles medal, while Garnett made his first PPA doubles final since 2024 and claimed bronze in men’s singles.

In women’s doubles, Waters/Bright continued to assert their dominance on the rest of the field with an 11-3, 11-4, 11-0 victory over No. 2 seeds Jorja Johnson/Tyra Black.

The top seeds struck gold without dropping a game through five matches, as Bright noted how her and Waters’ collective level rose as the week went on.

“I think we played really, really disciplined pickleball, kind of from the quarterfinals on,” she shared. “In the Round of 16, we played Brooke Buckner and Millie Rane, and they were bringing a lot of aggression. I think we were a little spastic, and even though in that match we still played well, we wanted to bounce back and play a bit more disciplined for the rest of the week, and I think we did a really good job of that.”

Waters closed out the weekend with a 12-10, 11-5 victory over No. 2 seed Kate Fahey in the women’s singles final, a win that earns the 18-year-old her 44^th career Triple Crown on the PPA Tour.

Fahey had game point at both 10-8 and 10-9 in the opening game, but Waters came up with untouched passing shots on both occasions to stay in control and get the win in straight games.

One turning point came late in Game 1 when some members of the crowd organized a chant in favor of Fahey with Waters serving at 9-10.

The top seed evidently took that personally and proceeded to reel off three straight points to take Game 1 before hitting an “I can’t hear you” celebration towards the fans.

“The crowd got me fired up,” she admitted afterwards. “If something gets me fired up, I usually start to play better, so I was kind of egging them on.”

Waters was also candid about how Fahey has pushed her in their last two meetings and addressed what she wants to work on ahead of their next clash.

“I feel like against Kate the last two times I’ve started kind of slow. In Utah, she won the first game. Here, she was up the whole first game. So, I think next time against her I’m going to try to start a little better and a little faster, but it’s really tough against her because she takes balls early and hits the ball really hard. I feel like with Kate I’ve just got to be quicker.”

The PPA Tour schedule rolls right along this week with the PPA Tour Finals, where main draw action will begin on May 5 in San Clemente, CA.