Parris Todd Earns A Triple Crown At APP Tour 2023 Opener

The first event of the 2023 Association of Pickleball Professionals (APP) tour is in the books. This past weekend, the APP Sunmed Punta Gorda Open was held at the PicklePlex complex on the grounds of Florida Southwestern State College in Punta Gorda, Florida. Nearly 700 pro and amateur players battled it out on PicklePlex’s 16 dedicated courts in the northern suburbs of Fort Meyer under clear skies.

This is the beginning of a transitionary year for the APP. A number of their top touring players from year’s past have signed exclusive contracts with their competitor for 2023, and a number of their leading senior pro champions from 2022 have announced a competing team-based competition. However, for those who thought the APP was in trouble aren’t reading the tea leaves of the sport.

Nearly 40 Female Pros entered the Singles or Doubles draws, 45 Men’s pros entered the singles draw (leaving a huge waiting list above the full 32-man draw the event was capable of supporting), and the Senior Pro draws were just as full as they normally are. Pro Pickleball is alive and well, and the APP is full steam ahead.

The event was highlighted by the performance of Parris Todd, who earned the “Triple Crown” on the weekend. She won Pro Singles, Pro Doubles, and Mixed Pro Doubles. Hunter Johnson got the “double” on the weekend (winning Pro Singles himself and partnering with Todd in the Mixed), but fell a bit short in Men’s Pro Doubles. A great weekend for Todd, who hails from nearby Fort Meyer and enjoyed playing on near-home soil.

Let’s Recap the action.

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Men’s Pro Singles Recap:

#1 Hunter Johnson took the first Men’s Pro Singles title of 2023 and will be looking to build on his 6th place finish in APP Pro Singles last year. In the final, he faced upstart Richmond, Virginia-based pro #11 Jhonnatan Medina Alvarez, who had taken out three top-10 seeds to make the Winner’s bracket final, and then who had taken out #3 Yates Johnson (the brother of Hunter) to earn the Gold Medal match on Sunday. Despite taking a game off of Hunter in the winner’s bracket final, Medina Alvarez could get nothing going in the Gold Medal match, and Hunter Johnson could not miss, resulting in a 3,5 Gold Medal win for the Texas-based player.

Gold: Hunter Johnson. Silver: Jhonnatan Medina Alvarez. Bronze: Yates Johnson

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Men’s Pro Doubles Recap

#1 Seeds Kyle Yates & Andrei Daescu cruised through the draw, dropping just one game en route to the Gold Medal. In the winner’s bracket final, they took out the Johnson brothers Hunter & Yates to guarantee a spot in Sunday’s final. Johnson & Johnson (no relation to the corporation), who advanced to the medal rounds as the #7 seed, then lost a tough tie-breaker to the experienced team of Joey Farias & Andreas Siljestrom (seeded 5th) and settled for the Bronze. Farias & Siljestrom couldn’t do much with Yates & Daescu, losing the final 6,6. Look for more this year from the Johnson brothers, as they fully pivot to Pickleball after fledgling pro tennis careers.

Gold: Yates/Daescu. Silver: Farias/Siljestrom. Bronze: Johnson/Johnson.

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Women’s Pro Singles Recap

The Women’s Pro singles draw went chalk to the semis, with the top four seeds advancing without dropping a game. #1 Parris Todd advanced to the winner’s bracket final, where she toppled #3 Ewa Radzikowska to earn a spot in the Sunday Gold Medal Match. Radzikowska could not force a rematch though, losing a semis rematch against #2 Megan Fudge and settling for Bronze. In the final, Todd and Fudge (who finished 4th and 5th last year in the APP pro singles rankings) faced off on Sunday morning. Todd controlled the play, and Fudge valiantly kept the second game alive, staving off multiple match points, but eventually lost 5,6.

Gold: Parris Todd. Silver: Megan Fudge. Bronze: Ewa Radzikowska

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Women’s Pro Doubles Recap

Parris Todd teamed up with the legendary Simone Jardim, who has apparently put off her retirement plans, to take the Women’s Pro doubles title as the #1 seeds. They fought off the #4 seeded team of Megan Fudge & Alix Troung, who won the Loser’s bracket final over #2 seeds Susannah Barr & Bobbi Oshiro to earn the Gold Medal match. There, Fudge/Truong forced the deciding winner-take-all game by topping Todd/Jardim two straight 8,8. In that last game though, the #1 team regrouped to take the Gold Medal 15-8. The win guaranteed Todd the triple crown for the weekend.

Gold: Todd/Jardim. Silver: Fudge/Truong. Bronze: Barr/Oshiro

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Mixed Pro Doubles Recap

The two pro singles winners Todd and Hunter Johnson teamed up in the Mixed Doubles competition and cruised to the title as the #3 seed. They upset the #1 seeded team of Simone Jardim & Andrei Daescu in both the winner’s bracket final and in the Gold Medal match. #12 seeds Milan Rane & C.J. Klinger took out multiple top seeds in both the winner’s and loser’s bracket to earn the Bronze.

Gold: Todd/Johnson. Silver: Jardim/Daescu. Bronze: Rane/Klinger.

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Senior Pro Competition Quick Recap

• Men’s Senior Pro Singles: #9 Steve Rogers beat #1 Mark Palus twice to earn gold.
• Men’s Senior Pro Doubles: Mircea Morariu, who finished #2 in combined APP senior pro standings last year, teamed with Dan Granot to take the Gold. The 10th seeded team of Matthew Schiller / Martin Reist overcame teams with experienced senior pros like Paul Olin and John Sperling to take the Silver.
• Women’s Senior Pro Singles: Beth Bellamy, the dominant #1 Women’s Senior Pro from 2022, picked up right where she left off with a Gold in the singles, beating #6 Jenny Marcos in the final.
• Women’s Senior Pro Doubles: Bellamy teamed with Nathalie Bagby to take the Pro Doubles title as the #1 seeds and earn the double. This was the only draw of the weekend to finish Gold/Silver/Bronze chalk to the seeds.
• Mixed Senior Pro Doubles: The 4th seeded team of Eva Welsher & Jose Derisi hung on in the Gold medal game against top seeded Bellamy & Jaime Oncins De Oliveira, winning the winner-take-all game 15-12 for the Gold and denying Bellamy the Triple Crown.

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Next up on the APP tour? Daytona Beach the second week of February.