(Stats and records from PPA events only)

NOTES:

• This is Waters’ 50^th consecutive tournament winning at least one medal.

=== MEN’S SINGLES ===

#3 TYSON McGUFFIN: 

• His six career gold medals is third all-time behind Johns and Staksrud.
• His last title was nearly a year ago, at the Tournament of Champions, coincidentally against Garnett.
• Beat #1 seed Federico Staksrud in three games in the semis.

#2 CONNOR GARNETT:

• Won the Los Angeles Open in April, vs Federico Staksrud.
• #3 ranked player on Tour. 

Bronze: 

#1 Federico Staksrud:

• Has earned a medal in every tournament this year. (5 gold, 7 silver, and one bronze)
• His nine career men’s singles titles are second only to Ben Johns.
• His nine career titles have come in finals against nine different players.

#9 Christopher Haworth:

• Ranked #10, but was not in the Top 20 at the start of the year.
• Earned his first career title by beating Staksrud in the Orange County Cup in June, his only podium finish this year.

=== WOMEN’S SINGLES ===

#3 BROOKE BUCKNER: 

• Beat top-seed Catherine Parenteau in the quarterfinals.
• Won the Los Angeles Open in April, her first PPA title.
• Was ranked 11^th to start the year, now #6.

#31 KATE FAHEY:

• Beat second-seed…

One of the things we try to do with Pickleball Statistics is add specificity to general assumptions. For example, the “third shot drive/fifth shot drop combo.” How often does that actually happen in PPA play? 

Breakdown of the Study

I watched the most recent tournament, the Orange County Cup, played in San Clemente, California on June 30. For this study, nine high-profile matches: the two semifinals and final in each of Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Doubles. Those nine matches had 371 third-shot drives. Here’s the breakdown: 

371 third shot drives. Subtract 27 errors and winners on those drives, and 344 rallies continued.

344 third shot drives in play. The receiving team made 35 errors and winners on their fourth shots, so 309 rallies went to a fifth shot.

309 fifth shot opportunities. The most common option was a drop shot, either as a volley or on a bounce. 203 were hit by either player on the serving team, which is 66 percent of the 309 opportunities.

The second-most common option for a fifth shot was a firm volley, either by the player who hit the third shot drive or his/her teammate, such as a “shake and bake” or the player who drove the ball following his own shot. There were 98 firm volleys, or 31 percent of the 309 fifth shot…

The depth of talent in PPA tournaments is getting better and better. As pickleball’s popularity continues to boom, more people are training and putting in the work to become tournament caliber players, and that hard work is paying off in success at the PPA level, especially in Singles. Beside seeing bigger brackets, and “newer” names reaching the latter rounds of tournaments, how can we measure this phenomenon? Let’s look at the history of Singles champions, medalists, and number of tournaments on the PPA Tour.

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Women’s Singles: 

2020/2021: 17 tournaments. Five different players won titles (5/17 = .29) and eleven different players won medals (11/17 = .64)

2022: 17 tournaments: Three different players won titles (3/17 = .17) and nine different players won medals (9/17 = .52)

2023: 20 tournaments: Four different players won titles (4/20 = .20) and 15 different players won medals (15/20 = .75)

2024: 13  tournaments: Six different players won titles (6/13 = .46) and 12 different players won medals (12/13 = .92)

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Men’s Singles:

2020/2021: 17 tournaments: Two different players won titles (2/17 = .11) and eight different players won medals (8/17 = .47)

2022: 17 tournaments: Five different players won titles (5/17 = .29) and 13 different…

It wasn’t long ago that an Erne or an ATP on the PPA tour was usually a winner. Now, those shots are often returned comfortably, with rallies continuing. Just how good are the PPA pros at defending Ernes and ATPs and keeping the ball in play? Let’s look at the stats from all the championship doubles matches in the first part of this season.

Erne defense rate:  What we don’t have is when a player went for an Erne and missed, such as, stepping on the line or hitting it long. Here’s what we do have: stats from the first 13 PPA tournaments of 2024: 

Men’s Doubles Finals:

63 Ernes were hit into the opponent’s court.

36 were either “clean winners” or not returned successfully. (58%)

27 were defended successfully, continuing the rally. (42%)

Women’s Doubles Finals:

29 Ernes were hit into the opponent’s court.

9 were either “clean winners” or not returned successfully. (31%)

20 were defended successfully, continuing the rally. (69%)

Mixed Doubles Finals:

77 Ernes were hit into the opponent’s court.

53 were either “clean winners” or not returned successfully. (68%)

24 were defended successfully, continuing the rally. (32%)

Cumulative Doubles Finals:

169 Ernes were hit into the opponent’s…

Dialed-in Dinks: 

Federico Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin were the only team to play a Doubles final (Sacramento Open) without hitting a dink into the net or wide. How rare is this? It happened only twice last year.

1-2-3 x 2: 

Teammates in a Doubles final who did not hit a ball “out” on a serve, return, or third shot:

Ben Johns and Collin Johns, Houston Open, Men’s final.

Blunt Force Trauma: 

Doubles finals where: (1) Every rally was fewer than 30 shots, (2) There was fewer than eight shots per rally,  (3) The match had fewer than 1,000 shots overall: 

Mixed Doubles final, Masters. (Waters & Johns def. Bright & Ignatowich)

Women’s final, North Carolina Cup. (Parenteau & Waters def. David & Schneemann)

Fundamentals: 

Players in a Doubles final who did not hit a ball “out” on a serve, return, third shot, or dink. (This happened only three times last year): 

Anna Leigh Waters, North Carolina Cup, Mixed Doubles.

Collin Johns, Houston Open, Men’s Doubles.

Federico Staksrud, Sacramento Open, Men’s Doubles.

Equal Opportunity: 

Federico Staksrud’s five singles titles this year have come in finals against five different players. Better yet, his nine career titles have come in finals against nine different…

Milestones:

• 100 career titles, Anna Leigh Waters.
• 50 career titles in a single category (Mixed Doubles), Ben Johns.
• 40 career titles in a single category (Men’s Doubles), Ben Johns.
• 40 career titles, Catherine Parenteau.
• 20 career titles, Matt Wright.
• 10 career titles, Dylan Frazier. 
• 10 career titles, Federico Staksrud.

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Gold Standard: Ben Johns and Matt Wright are the only players to have won at least one gold medal every year since 2020. Three other players…Lucy Kovalova, Tyson McGuffin, and Riley Newman…can still join that club later this year.

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Gold Medals Leaderboard:

Men:

• 20, Ben Johns.
• 6, Federico Staksrud.
• 6, Dylan Frazier.
• 5, Collin Johns.
• 5, JW Johnson.
• 3, Thomas Wilson.

Women:

• 23, Anna Leigh Waters.
• 8, Catherine Parenteau.
• 5, Anna Bright.
• 4, Rachel Rohrabacher.
• 3, Lea Jansen.

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First-time Champions:

Men: 

• Christian Alshon, Doubles.
• Andrei Daescu, Doubles, Mixed Doubles.
• Connor Garnett, Singles.
• Chris Haworth, Singles.
• Hayden Patriquin, Doubles.
• Thomas Wilson, Doubles, Mixed Doubles.

Women:

• Mary Brascia, Singles.
• Brooke Buckner, Singles.
• Judit Castillo, Singles.
• Tina Pisnik, Doubles.
• Rachel Rohrabacher, Doubles.

=== MEN’S SINGLES ===

#1 Federico Staksrud:

• Has earned a medal in every tournament this year. (4 gold, 6 silver, and a bronze last week.
• His eight career men’s singles titles are second only to Ben Johns.
• His eight career titles have come in finals against eight different players. (Hewett, Devilliers, McGuffin, Ben Johns, Martinez Vich, Garnett, Quang Duong, and Sock)

#9 JW Johnson:

• Beat three higher-seeded players in a row to reach this final.
• Beat his doubles partner, Dylan Frazier, in three games in the semis.
• His last singles championship was at the Atlanta Open 13 months ago.
• His five career men’s titles are fourth all-time; Tyson McGuffin is third with six.

Bronze: (5) Quang Duong vs (4) Dylan Frazier.

=== WOMEN’S SINGLES ===

#1 Anna Leigh Waters:

• Had four “pickles” in the eight games she won Thursday, while allowing only 15 points.
• Can tie Ben Johns at 38 career singles titles today.
• The last time she faced Parenteau for a title, she won the North Carolina Open in April, (11-4, 11-4).
• Waters is 16-1 all-time in finals vs Parenteau. Catherine beat her in the PPA Championships final in October of 2021.
• Waters has beaten seven different players in PPA finals: Todd, Patenteau, Mary Brascia, Jansen,…