What folks will be talking about Saturday at the PPA Tour’s Arizona Grand Slam in Mesa, Az: Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters will not play on Championship Sunday together.
What folks ought to be talking about for the rest of the PPA season: how truly difficult it is to win on tour.
On a weekend where the No. 1 men’s player in the world has gone 0/2 in slots on Sunday so far and Waters, the No. 1 women’s player in the world, earned her way to a Championship Sunday singles showing, but lost alongside Johns for the first time this season, Friday was a bit of a shock to the pickleball system and a glimpse into its future.
Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson won the laurels of the day with the biggest upset of the 2023 season so far, taking down #1 seeds Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters, who had been previously undefeated this year. It was a hard fought battle over three games that ended with the Johnson siblings hugging each other in celebration after the game-winning point. While JW played phenomenal, clean pickleball, Jorja’s skillset and development really shined, and the chemistry between the two was clear.
“The draws in the PPA are deep and tough and a lot of teams can go far and everybody can beat everybody,” said Dekel Bar, who was making his first appearance of…
