Arizona Starts to Bite | World Pickleball Report

Good morning, pickleballers.

Arizona has started giving us answers. Tyson McGuffin survived an immediate three-game examination, Sofia Sewing and Casey Diamond turned an 11-3 opening defeat into the mixed-doubles result of the round, and Christopher Haworth began the extra work required of a No.1 singles seed who receives none of the protection normally associated with that number.

That last point takes us into today’s bigger question: what does a tournament seed actually mean when another ranking determines who gets the byes? Elsewhere, PPA Tour Europe prepares to open its new chapter in Barcelona, while Ben Johns and Anna Bright are heading to Tokyo for a Japanese tournament that is becoming considerably more significant than the arrival of two famous names.

Arizona starts to bite

Tyson McGuffin needed three games to escape Grayson Goldin, eventually surviving 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, while No.1 men’s singles seed Christopher Haworth began his tournament rather more comfortably with an 11-4, 11-3 victory over Nicolas Acevedo.

The most dramatic reversal came in mixed doubles. Lacy Schneemann and Jack Sock appeared to be cruising after taking the opening game 11-3 against Sofia Sewing and Casey Diamond, only for the match to turn completely. Sewing and Diamond responded 11-7 before running away with the decider 11-2.

Now the tournament begins to compress. Players who have already been tested are moving towards those protected deeper in the draw, and the Round of 32 should tell us considerably more about which opening-day performances actually matter.

Read the Arizona roundup

The No.1 seed started in the Round of 64. The No.22 seed didn’t.

Christopher Haworth arrived in Arizona as the No.1 men’s singles seed and still had to begin in the Round of 64. Ben Johns is seeded No.22 and goes directly to the Round of 16. Andrei Daescu sits even further down the singles seeding and receives the same protection.

Nothing has gone wrong with the bracket. The explanation lies in PPA’s new World Pickleball Ranking, which determines byes through a composite formula weighted 50% towards gender doubles, 35% towards mixed doubles and just 15% towards singles.

That creates an intriguing question for the sport. If one hierarchy decides where a player sits in the singles draw while another determines how many matches they must win, what does the seed beside their name actually tell us?

Inside the new ranking system

Barcelona opens a new chapter for European pickleball

PPA Tour Europe begins in Barcelona next week, with Zane Navratil providing the headline international name across singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles. The deeper interest, though, lies in the European field gathering around him.

Boris Paque, Rebecca Pijls, Pavel Maňásek and Giovanna Mandon are among the players entered across the Pro draws, while partnerships such as Navratil and Matteo Cugliari, and Navratil and Judit Castillo in mixed, give the opening tournament immediate competitive intrigue.

One tournament will not define PPA Tour Europe. What Barcelona can begin creating is something European pickleball has needed for some time: a recurring stage on which its best players meet often enough for partnerships, rivalries and a recognisable competitive hierarchy to develop.

Why Barcelona matters

Ben Johns is heading to Japan. He won’t be playing alone.

Ben Johns and Anna Bright will make their first appearances in Japan this December as Tokyo’s Ariake Tennis Forest Park prepares for the third PJ Pickleball Championships and the country’s first PPA Asia 125.

For the home crowd, perhaps the most intriguing detail is Johns’ partner. He will play men’s doubles alongside Yuta Funemizu, the Japanese player whose rise has already taken him into Major League Pickleball and to a PPA Tour men’s doubles title.

Around 2,000 players and 60 courts are planned across the wider five-day championships. Fabrizio Lavezzari reports on why the significance of Ariake extends beyond the famous players arriving in Tokyo.

Read Fabrizio Lavezzari’s report

Three more stories from Issue #20

The Missing Six Per Cent. Small margins are rarely small when points begin accumulating. This month’s performance feature examines the part of the game players often overlook and why closing that gap can matter more than searching for another spectacular weapon.

The Player Package Isn’t a Suggestion. Lee Whitwell looks at what it actually means to operate as a professional away from the court, where preparation, presentation and responsibility increasingly sit alongside what happens during the match itself.

The Court That Held a World. Pickleball can become global through tours, rankings and investment, but sometimes the sport’s meaning is easier to understand through one court and the community that formed around it.

Explore the September issue

Keep the complete September issue

Issue #20 brings together WPM’s long-form reporting from across the global game, spanning players, culture, tactics, equipment, history and the structures beginning to shape pickleball’s next phase.

Read it online or download the complete magazine free in its original page design and keep it on your phone, tablet or computer.

Download the free September PDF

Open the September issue page and select “Download Magazine”.

Make your next tournament easier to follow

World Pickleball Studio adds commentary, graphics and studio presentation to live tournament coverage, giving viewers a clearer sense of the people and matches in front of them.

Visit World Pickleball Studio

Know someone trying to understand the global game?

Forward them today’s edition. They can join the World Pickleball Report and receive the next briefing directly.

Join the World Pickleball Report