The short answer: the champions who stayed at home have called it right, and Anna Bright and Ben Johns are taking the bigger risk this week. Not a reckless one. But the arithmetic of the next fortnight is against them, and Worlds is not a tournament that forgives tired legs.
A quick word on the method. I went through the six-player rosters Major League Pickleball published for all eight Nations Cup teams, 48 players in all, and checked them against the holders of the five PPA World Championships titles. The dates come from the organisers’ own schedules. Where I am offering an opinion rather than a fact, I say so.
Who is defending what, and who is turning up?
Five players hold the five Worlds titles between them. Anna Leigh Waters has three: singles, women’s doubles with Bright and mixed with Johns. Federico Staksrud has two: men’s singles and men’s doubles with Hayden Patriquin.
Here is the number that matters. Of those five champions, two are on a Nations Cup roster. Bright and Johns are both in Johnny Goldberg’s USA side. Waters, Staksrud and Patriquin are on none of the eight teams, which means every title being defended at Brookhaven next week has at least one holder who will arrive fresh.
Why is the conventional view tempting?
The conventional view is that the Nations Cup is the ideal warm-up. It is at the same venue, Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch, Texas, and MLP bills it as the official kickoff to Worlds. Johns and Bright get three days on the exact courts where they will defend their titles, in a team format with no ranking points at stake. Where is the harm?
It is a fair case, and I would make it for most players. For a player who needs time on those courts, a weekend there is useful. For a squad of six sharing the load across the format, the workload on any one player can be managed by the captain.
So why do I think it is the riskier call?
The second number is the gap. The Nations Cup final is on Sunday 1 November. The round of 64 at Worlds is on Tuesday 3 November. If the USA go deep, as most people expect, Bright and Johns will have one day off between a final and the start of the biggest event of their year. Then come six consecutive days of play, ending with finals on Sunday 8 November.
And they did not start the week at rest. Both were seeded at the Hong Kong Slam, which ran from 19 to 25 October; Bright partnered Waters as top seeds in women’s doubles, and Johns was top seed in two events. Hong Kong, then Texas twice: that is three weeks on court, with a long-haul flight in the middle.
Team formats also have a habit of turning “light” weekends into heavy ones. Group play runs three ties on Friday and three on Saturday, and a captain chasing a first trophy has every reason to use his best players. I would not blame Goldberg for doing so. I would simply note that the people defending Worlds titles alongside Bright and Johns will spend that weekend resting, while their partners play on.
I looked for a public explanation from any of the absent champions and found none, so I will not invent one. It is quite possible that the reasons are commercial or personal rather than tactical. The effect is the same either way.
What would prove me wrong?
Two things. First, if the USA rotate sensibly and Bright and Johns play limited minutes, the cost is small and the benefit, real match play on the Worlds courts, is genuine. Second, these are two of the most durable players in the sport. Johns has spent years carrying multi-event schedules that would flatten most people, and fatigue is not a fact I can measure from a roster sheet.
But one of the players turning up this weekend is defending the mixed title with Waters, and the other is defending the women’s doubles title with her. If either partnership looks a beat slow in the semi-finals on 7 November, we will know where the beat went.
The verdict
The Nations Cup is a warm-up for players who need one. For the two champions who are playing in it, it is a warm-up that comes with a bill, and Worlds is where it falls due.
The week at a glance
- MLP Nations Cup: 30 Oct–1 Nov, Brookhaven Country Club, Farmers Branch, Texas. PickleballTV and app: Fri–Sat 11am–8pm ET (15:00–24:00 UK); Sun semi-finals 11am–2pm ET (16:00–19:00 UK), final 3–4.30pm ET (20:00–21:30 UK). Rosters.
- CPT College World Championship: 30 Oct–1 Nov, Brookhaven. Holders Utah Tech; six bids to The Nationals. Listed on PickleballTV; times not yet published.
- APP Moneyball Series Ocala: 30 Oct–1 Nov, Pickleball Kingdom Ocala, Florida. $15,000 guaranteed; first of four stops. No broadcast confirmed.
- PPA World Championships: 2–8 Nov, Brookhaven. Qualifying 2 Nov, finals 8 Nov; 3,000 points per title, $1,648,641 total payout. PickleballTV 12–8pm ET daily (17:00–01:00 UK); Championship Sunday 12–6pm ET (17:00–23:00 UK). Previews: Staksrud and Patriquin, Andie Dikosavljevic.
Chris Beaumont
Founder and Editor-in-ChiefChris Beaumont is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of World Pickleball Magazine, published by World Pickleball Media Ltd. He follows the global game closely, reporting on news, developments, stories and tournaments from all five continents. He also hosts the World Pickleball…
View All Articles →
