Anna Leigh Waters Shines In Pros At The Biofreeze USA Pickleball National Championships

This past weekend was the 14th Annual USA Pickleball Association National Championships, sponsored by Biofreeze and held at the same venue that just finished hosting the Major League Pickleball Dallas event, namely Brookhaven Country Club in Dallas, TX.

It is the crowning jewel of the amateur season and for many years featured solely amateur events for those who had qualified into nationals by virtue of winning a “golden ticket” at a regional event. With the advent of professionals in the sport, it has offered up “pro” divisions since 2018, which we’re covering here.

This event has come a long way since its inception in 2009. The first ever Nationals event was hosted in Buckeye, Arizona at the Sun City Festival retirement community. The venue featured 20 courts (12 of which were taped onto existing Tennis courts), 393 players, and was tournament id number 13 in a brand new software package called Pickleball Tournaments. Nationals was (per their history page) the first tournament to be run using the new platform, which came to become the standard platform for a decade (only recently supplanted by Pickleball Brackets, with a new design and updated code). It cost just $20 to enter Nationals in 2009 (a far cry from the $250 entry fees this year) and many of the “Open” titles went to local Arizona residents.

2023’s event features 3,397 registered players, who are competing on more than 60 courts at the Brookhaven facility, which underwent a $6M construction project to host this event. There was a huge celebrity event broadcast live on ESPN on Tuesday. Lastly, all the amateurs were joined by the vast majority of the touring pros active today, who were here last weekend for MLP and have stayed around to compete in one of the many pro divisions. This event marked the debut of PickleballTV.com, a joint venture between the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) and the Tennis Channel. There were plenty of famous people and celebrities hanging out all weekend, live music on Pickleball Boulevard, and a festive atmosphere.

Click here for the Pickleball Brackets home page for the event.

In addition to the typical “Pro” events, we had split age and senior pro divisions. This event was not an official PPA stop, but which was run in partnership with the PPA, which meant that the regular PPA touring pros often tried out “experimental” partnerships. Furthermore, this event used a progressive schedule for the non-split pro draws (where one competition lasts several days and plays 1-2 rounds a day) as opposed to the typical “all in one day” draws, something that will be used more extensively next season.

A note: There were dozens and dozens of amateur events competed, from junior divisions featuring players as young as 8 years old, all the way to Age 85-89 divisions. This is their national championship, and my only covering the pro events does not in any way dismiss the amateur competitions, the devotion these players made to get to Dallas, and the time and financial commitment made to spend nearly a week at the event competing and watching. Social media was filled with players and attendees relaying their experiences, some good and some bad. I was onsite for two days later in the week, not as a competitor but as a fan, and I thought the venue looked amazing, the atmosphere was electric, and the play was outstanding.

Let’s review the pro draws.

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Men’s Pro Split Age

This Monday event was a fun one, featuring “split age” players (aka, one older than 50, one younger). The draw had a slew of pickleball dignitaries represented amongst the “old” partners, including PPA
PPA
majority owner Tom Dundon, MLP commissioner Brooks Wiley, PPA Commissioner Connor Pardoe’s father Dirk, PPA broadcast lead Dave Fleming, and MLP/PPA ownership board member Brian Levine. Dundon paired with Ben Johns and was the #1 seed, but got upset by the excellent father/son Dawson team (Steve and Callan).

The finals came down to two top Men’s pros playing with two top Senior pros. Riley Newman & Dayne Gingrich (who owns 26 career gold medals across major senior competitions) took out J.W. Johnson & Mircea Morariu (owner of 4 golds on the PPA this year) 5,8 in the final. The Bronze went to James Ignatowich & the legendary Altaf Merchant.

Gold: Newman/Gingrich. Silver: Johnson/Morariu. Bronze: Ignatowich/Merchant.

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Women’s Pro Split Age

A much smaller draw for the Women’s Pro split age led to a round robin competition between five teams. Anna Bright teamed with Christine Karges (owner of 6 career APP champions tour medals) to go 4-0 and take the gold. Megan Fudge teamed with one of the most decorated Senior pro in history in Eva Welsher (60+ career medals and currently the #1 ranked Senior Mixed pro Female) for the silver. Susannah Barr teamed with Sheri Courtier to claim the bronze.

Gold: Bright/Karges. Silver: Fudge & Welsher. Bronze: Barr & Courtier.

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Mixed Pro Split Age

There’s two ways to go in Mixed Split Age: a pro male with a senior pro female, or a pro female paired with a senior pro male. Which configuration was better? Well, 7 of the 8 quarterfinalists featured a touring female pro paired with a top senior male, and it’s probably no surprise who ended up in the medal matches.

Top-5 female pro Anna Bright paired with one of the best senior pros out there in Altaf Merchant (who still qualifies for the main draws in the regular pros in addition to frequently taking medals in the Senior pros, and has won no fewer than 15 gold medals in 2023 alone in senior competitions). They were seeded #1 and were not seriously challenged until the gold medal match. There they met the #2 seeded team of Jorga Johnson and Mircea Morariu, who gave them a run for their money in game one but fell 11,3 in the final. Megan Fudge & Dayne Gingrich picked up the bronze.

Gold: Bright & Merchant. Silver: Johnson & Morariu. Bronze: Fudge & Gingrich

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Men’s Pro Singles Recap

Men’s Singles competitions have proven to be the biggest challenge to predict, and this event was no different. When rain washed away a day of competition, the players went inside, which meant that #1 Ben Johns was forced to play under the lights, something he has admitted he is not comfortable doing. Sure enough, he was trounced in the round of 16 by Christopher Haworth, a solid Oklahoma-based pro who has medaled three times since August on the APP tour. Haworth was bounced in the semis, but held on to take the Bronze over APP #1 Hunter Johnson.

Johnson took out #3 Connor Garnett in the quarters, and was one of a slew of “APP pros” who got wins over their PPA counterparts in this draw. #2 seed McGuffin fell to Juame Martinez Vich, who continued his run all the way to the final. With McGuffin’s loss, Nationals was guaranteed a new Men’s Pro Singles champion for the first time since 2017 (Tyson and Ben had traded the last 4 titles here between themselves).

In the final, #4 J.W. Johnson came from a game down to oust #7 Vich for the win.

Gold: J.W. Johnson. Silver: Juame Martinez Vich. Bronze: Christopher Haworth.

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Women’s Pro Singles Recap

The back end of the Women’s Pro Singles draw went quite chalk, with 7 of the top 8 seeds advancing into the quarters (the sole exception being the teenager #9 Jorja Johnson taking out 40-something #8 Simone Jardim, the 2019 champion here). Jorja went on to take a game off of #1 Anna Leigh Waters to make a statement in the quarters that the world’s top female took to heart; she trounced #5 Judit Castillo 1,0 in the semis to return to the finals here for the third straight event. Judit rebounded from her semis loss to top Fudge for the bronze.

On the bottom half, top APP pro #3 Megan Fudge took the battle to the PPA’s #2 Catherine Parenteau, having the lead in both games before falling 11-8, 12-10. This set up the expected 1 v 2 matchup in the Sunday final, and the crowd was treated to a fantastic back and forth affair. ALW ended up with the three-peat, but it took a 12-10 third game victory to do so. In the final game, ALW saved four match points against, showing some serious clutch performance.

With this win (the last pro match competed on the weekend), ALW secured her 21st career professional triple crown.

Gold: Anna Leigh Waters. Silver: Catherine Parenteau. Bronze: Judit Castillo.

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Mixed Pro Doubles Recap

The Mixed Pro draw featured a couple of major upsets in the opening rounds, as the depth in Mixed continues to result in 20+ seeds making deep runs. #23 Megan Dizon & Yates Johnson took a 5-game win over #10 Julian Arnold & Lauren Stratman, then continued their run into the quarters by taking out fellow upset winners #26 Lina Padegimaite & Stefan Auvergne (who had taken out #6 Dylan Frazier & Callie Smith, quite an upset).

Alas, the cream rose to the top, as all four top seeds advanced to the semis. In the top semi, the #1 pair of Anna Leigh Waters & Ben Johns (who have never won Nationals, despite dozens of pro titles together) took out the #4 seeds Riley Newman & Parris Todd in three. From the bottom half, partners on- and off-the-court #2 Anna Bright & James Ignatowich cruised past the Johnson siblings JW and Jorja by isolating forehand dink rallies to Jorja and daring the Johnson’s to get aggressive with their speedups.

In the final, the world’s two best players (who have lost just twice since they began regularly playing together in January 2022) cruised past #2 Bright & Ignatowich for the title.

Gold: Waters & Johns. Silver: Bright & Ignatowich. Bronze: Johnson & Johnson.

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Men’s Pro Doubles Recap

The huge Men’s Pro Doubles draw at Nationals kept its seeding form for the most part in the latter part of the draw. #8 Tyler Loong & James Ignatowich did their best part to try to upset that apple cart, taking the #1 Johns brothers to a fifth game before falling 11-8. But the semis featured the top four doubles teams in the land and the crowds got some solid play.

In the semis, #1 Collin & Ben Johns (the defending Nationals champs) handled #4 Federiko Staksrud & Pablo Tellez in three, while the clear-cut #2 team in the world Dylan Frazier & JW Johnson took out #3 Riley Newman & Christian Alshon (who are also teamed up in MLP this season) in four.

In the final, Frazier & Johnson came up short once again versus the Johns brothers, settling for Silver.

Gold: Johns & Johns. Silver: Frazier & Johnson. Bronze: Newman & Alshon

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Women’s Pro Doubles Recap

The story of the Women’s Pro Doubles draw was the magnificent run by the Brascia sisters Mary & Maggie. As the #6 seeds, and without a pro medal playing together since a bronze medal at the December 2022 APP event in Mesa, they cruised past the red-hot Rachel Rohrbacher & Rianna Valdes in the 16s, then topped #3 Parris Todd & Jesse Irvine in the quarters. In the semis, they lost the first game 11-0 to #2 Bright & Kawamoto but bounced back to win a grueling 5-game battle to get to the final.

From the top side, #1 Anna Leigh Waters & Catherine Parenteau, who seem to have settled in as regular partners, winning the last three PPA events together, cruised into the final without being seriously challenged. And in that final, they dominated for long stretches at a time to win 7,0,4 and take gold.

Gold: Waters & Parenteau. Silver: Brascia & Brascia. Bronze: Bright & Kawamoto

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Champions (Senior) Pro Competition Quick Recap

• Men’s Champions Pro Singles: The event’s top three seeds were all upset in the quarters, leading to Connecticut-based Steve Rogers, who has a slew of golds on the APP Champions tour this year, to take the gold.
• Women’s Champions Pro Singles:#1 Jennifer Dawson defeated #5 Jenny Marcos in the winner’s bracket semis and then again in the gold medal match to take the title.
• Men’s Champions Pro Doubles: #1 Altaf Merchant continued his 2023 dominance by pairing with Dayne Gingrich to take the title. They topped #5 Matthias Johansson & Paul Olin in the semis, then again for Gold.
• Women’s Champions Pro Doubles: #2 Lily Kordic & Nathalie Bagby held off a furious comeback effort from #5 Anna Shirley & Sheri Courter to take the title.
• Mixed Champions Pro Doubles: Dawson and Gingrich both secured doubles for the weekend by topping Evelyn Welsher & Altaf Merchant in the gold medal match. This is one of the few (if only) senior losses Merchant has taken the entire 2023 season.

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The Pro Pickleball Medal Tracker has now been updated with these results; check out this link online for a complete pro medal history for all tours and all pro events.

Next up on the Pickleball Calendar? According to my Master Pickleball Schedule, the exhausted PPA staff heads east to Daytona Beach for the 2023 Hertz National Championships, the last event in which to earn points towards the year end championships in San Clemente. The APP has a NextGen event in Dallas, DUPR is hosting its Collegiate Championships at the awesome Life Time Peachtree Corners facility in Atlanta, and the SPT is having its last event of the year in Mesa. A very busy tournament weekend.