Cape Coral, USA – In a weekend defined by blustery conditions and marathon matches, the established royalty of the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) Tour reaffirmed their dominance at the Zimmer Biomet Cape Coral Open on Sunday. Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters, the sport’s perennial standard-bearers, navigated a precarious “Championship Sunday,” securing titles in their respective doubles disciplines and combining for a dramatic mixed doubles victory that required saving a championship point. The event also marked a significant resurgence for Kaitlyn Christian in singles and a career milestone for young phenomenon Gabe Tardio.
The weather on Sunday played a decisive role as a tactical disruptor. With winds swirling around the Humana Championship Court, the clean, rhythmic pickleball often seen indoors was replaced by a gritty battle of attrition and mental fortitude. Players were forced to adjust toss heights, drive trajectories, and dink pacing, leading to several uncharacteristic errors and momentum swings throughout the finals. Despite the environmental chaos, the veterans largely prevailed, proving that adaptability remains the most valuable currency in outdoor professional pickleball.
Beyond the individual match results, the tournament underscored the intensifying rivalries at the top of the game. While the scoreboards showed gold for the favourites, the margins of victory have visibly tightened. The gap between the number one seeds and the chasing pack—led by the likes of Anna Bright, Hayden Patriquin, and the Johnson siblings—has narrowed to a razor’s edge, setting the stage for a fiercely contested 2026 season.
The headline fixture of the weekend was undoubtedly the mixed doubles final, where Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters outlasted Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquin in a five-game classic. The match mirrored their previous encounter at the PPA Masters, with the top seeds winning the first game before falling behind 1-2 in games. Facing a 2-6 deficit in the fourth game and eventually a championship point against them, Waters and Johns showcased their trademark resilience. They clawed back to force a decider, eventually winning 11-7, 9-11, 3-11, 12-10, 11-5 in a contest lasting nearly two hours. Waters credited Johns for his support during her mid-match struggles, noting the immense pressure applied by Bright and Patriquin.
In men’s doubles, the partnership of Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio capped off their first full year together with emphatic efficiency. They defeated the surging team of JW Johnson and CJ Klinger 11-9, 11-3, 11-7. The victory was historically significant for the 20-year-old Tardio, marking his 20th career PPA title, a milestone that ties him with veterans Riley Newman and Matt Wright for fifth on the all-time list. The Johns/Tardio duo has now amassed a staggering 66-4 record since joining forces at the 2025 Mesa Cup, solidifying their status as the team to beat globally.
On the singles court, Federico Staksrud and Kaitlyn Christian claimed the top honours. Staksrud captured his first title of 2026 with a tactical masterclass against Hunter Johnson, winning 11-9, 11-7. The win was an emotional one; Staksrud used his post-match interview to honour fellow pro Grayson Goldin, who was hospitalised earlier in the week after suffering two strokes. Meanwhile, Kaitlyn Christian secured her fourth career title and first since August 2025 by defeating Genie Bouchard in a three-game battle, 13-15, 11-6, 11-2. Christian overcame a marathon first-game loss to dominate the subsequent frames, proving her fitness and focus in the difficult wind.
In women’s doubles, the top-seeded pair of Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright swept the Kawamoto sisters, Jackie and Jade, 11-9, 11-5, 11-2. The match followed a familiar script, with a tight opening game giving way to dominance as the top seeds adjusted to the conditions. This victory was statistically monumental for Anna Bright, who joined Catherine Parenteau as the only players in PPA history to record at least 30 gold, 30 silver, and 30 bronze medals—the prestigious “30x30x30” club.
What’s the Score?
The Cape Coral Open reinforced the hierarchy at the pinnacle of the sport while highlighting the vulnerability of that position. Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters remain the closers of the tour, securing three gold medals between them, but the margin for error has vanished. The mixed doubles final, decided by a single point in the fourth game, proved that the rivalry with Bright and Patriquin is now the sport’s premier competitive narrative. Structurally, Gabe Tardio’s entry into the top-5 all-time title winners signals a generational shift, confirming his transition from “next gen” talent to established superstar.
Hit it Deeper!
The most compelling tactical takeaway from Cape Coral was the impact of environmental variance on the “power game” versus the “control game.” In the Men’s Singles final, Staksrud’s hybrid “cat-and-mouse” style dismantled Hunter Johnson’s modern, passing-shot-heavy baseline game. In heavy wind, the ability to reset, construct points, and manipulate the ball with soft hands proved superior to raw power. This serves as a critical lesson for tour players: while the indoor game (and the MLP format) rewards aggression, outdoor tour stops still demand a mastery of traditional, soft-game mechanics. Players who rely solely on the “shake and bake” or baseline drives found themselves unravelling when the wind removed their ability to paint the lines.
Furthermore, the “Johns/Tardio Project” has reached a maturity level that poses a severe problem for the rest of the men’s field. When they united in early 2025, there were questions about how two right-sided dominant players would mesh. A 66-4 record and 11 titles later, they have answered those questions emphatically. They have evolved a rotation that maximises Tardio’s lightning-fast hands and Johns’ court geometry. The fact that they dismantled a team as cohesive as Johnson/Klinger in straight games suggests that the gap in men’s doubles is widening, not shrinking, forcing other top teams to reconsider their partnerships and strategies heading into the spring swing.
Finally, the mixed doubles landscape has officially evolved into a “Big Two” scenario. For months, the narrative was “Waters and Johns against the field.” Now, it is specifically “Waters/Johns vs. Bright/Patriquin.” The psychological dynamic of this rivalry is fascinating; despite Bright and Patriquin having yet to record a match win against the top seeds, they are consistently pushing them to five games and match points. This repeated exposure to high-pressure failures is often the precursor to a breakthrough. If Bright and Patriquin can solve the mental puzzle of closing out a match, it could trigger a seismic shift in the mixed doubles rankings and player hierarchy later in 2026.
The World Pickleball Magazine Verdict
The Zimmer Biomet Cape Coral Open will be remembered as a testament to the resilience of champions. In conditions that levelled the playing field and invited upsets, the sport’s biggest names—Waters, Johns, Christian, and Staksrud—found ways to win ugly. This ability to grind out results when not playing their best is what separates the perennial gold medalists from the contenders.
However, the warnings were clear. The dominance of the top seeds is no longer comfortable; it is combative. With young stars like Tardio hitting historic milestones and rivals like Bright and Patriquin inches away from overthrowing the kings and queens of the court, the 2026 PPA season is poised to be the most competitive in the sport’s history. Global pickleball is evolving, and while the names on the trophies remain the same this week, the grip on those trophies is looser than ever before.
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