The Report
Arizona Opens Up, Tama Wins Again and Vietnam Carries World Cup Form Forward
Good morning, pickleballers.
The PPA Tour arrives in Arizona with several of its usual partnerships broken apart, some major names missing and a progressive draw that gives the opening week of the new season an unusually unsettled feel. Ben Johns and Federico Staksrud will play together, Sofia Sewing has another significant doubles opportunity and Hunter Johnson arrives with consecutive singles titles behind him.
Elsewhere, 15-year-old Tama Shimabukuro has won another PPA Tour Asia singles title after beating two opponents he had already defeated before, Trang Huynh has turned Vietnam’s World Cup momentum into D-Joy singles gold, and Yuri Syromolotov has produced one of the biggest results of his pickleball career in Spain.
The door is open in Arizona
The Arizona Open begins in Mesa with some of the season’s established combinations missing or temporarily rearranged, creating one of those rare PPA weeks when the draws feel less predictable before a ball has been struck.
Ben Johns and Federico Staksrud will play men’s doubles together for the first time, while Gabe Tardio, Hayden Patriquin, J.W. Johnson and several other major names are absent. In women’s doubles, Anna Bright and Jorja Johnson are out, Anna Leigh Waters is not playing the discipline, and Sofia Sewing partners Catherine Parenteau after another strong week in Cary.
Hunter Johnson also arrives with consecutive singles titles, while the World Pickleball Ranking bye system means Johns enters directly in the round of 16. Arizona offers several players a genuine chance to turn opportunity into something more permanent.
Read the Arizona previewTama is 15. The same opponents keep losing to him.
Jessie Irvine and Gabriel Tardio left Kuala Lumpur with two gold medals each, but Tama Shimabukuro’s second PPA Tour Asia singles title may have the longer-term significance. He beat Noe Khlif 11-8, 11-5 in the final after defeating Hong Kit Wong in the semi-final.
The interesting part is that neither result was new. Shimabukuro had already beaten Khlif during his extraordinary Atlanta run and had beaten Wong for the Macao singles title. Both opponents had another look at him. Neither changed the outcome.
Atlanta announced him, Macao proved he could win and Kuala Lumpur added another layer of evidence to a 2026 season in which the teenager’s results are becoming harder to explain through age or surprise alone.
Read the Kuala Lumpur reviewFrom World Cup finalist to D-Joy champion
Days after helping Vietnam reach the Open team final at the Pickleball World Cup, Trang Huynh returned to individual competition and won the D-Joy women’s singles title, defeating recent World Cup singles champion Katerina Stewart.
Vietnam took only one of the five professional titles, but that does not tell the whole story. Trịnh Linh Giang reached both the mixed and men’s doubles finals, while the visiting champions included players carrying World Cup medals and extensive international experience into Ho Chi Minh City.
The useful question is no longer whether Vietnam can produce a home winner. It is whether its leading players can keep competing deep into draws whose international standard is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
Read the D-Joy finals reviewYuri Syromolotov beats No. 1. Mijas nearly doubles in size.
Former US college tennis standout Yuri Syromolotov defeated Pickle Pro Tour unified No. 1 Ignasi de Rueda 22-20, 22-21 to win the men’s singles title in Mijas, producing the biggest result of a pickleball career that began only after years of high-level tennis.
The tournament around him supplied another significant number. Mijas attracted 290 players, up from 148 in 2025, with 866 matches played across three days. That is close to a 96 per cent year-on-year increase rather than another vague claim that pickleball is simply “growing”.
Syromolotov had previously argued that Spanish pickleball needed more grassroots competition and more reasons for players to keep competing. Mijas provided some tangible evidence that part of that structure is beginning to develop.
Read the Mijas featureThree more from the September issue
The Player Package Isn’t a Suggestion. Lee Whitwell explains why the details around a professional event matter to players long before they walk onto centre court.
The Shot You Already Know How to Hit. Dr Deirdre Timlin looks at why better pickleball does not always require learning something new, and how familiar movement patterns can unlock a more reliable game.
Samba Begins. Brazil’s developing tournament scene provides another view of what competitive pickleball looks like when a country starts turning participation into organised events.
Explore the September issueDownload the complete September magazine
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