The Report
World Cup champions, Cary answers and a 9,000-mile turnaround
Good morning, pickleballers.
Yesterday began with four World Cup finals still ahead of Lý Hoàng Nam and five PPA titles still undecided in Cary. This morning, we know what survived.
Hoàng Nam finished an extraordinary Sunday with one gold and three silvers as the United States beat Vietnam in the Open World Cup final. Anna Leigh Waters moved to 196 career titles, Hunter Johnson closed Cary with an 11-0 against Federico Staksrud, and Gabriel Tardio barely has time to celebrate before another 1,000-point tournament begins in Kuala Lumpur.
Lý Hoàng Nam started Sunday with four opportunities to win gold and finished it having played almost every version of elite pickleball available to him.
He recovered from a 15-6 opening-game defeat and an 8-5 deficit in the decider to beat Phúc Huỳnh for the men’s singles title, then took silver in mixed doubles and men’s doubles before Vietnam faced the United States in the Open team final.
The USA won that final 4-0, with Vietnam reaching 17, 10, 16 and 14 across the four completed matches. The score was decisive, but the route matters: Vietnam had already survived the Netherlands, edged Australia 4-3 and swept Japan 4-0 to reach Sunday.
That leaves a more useful conclusion than either “America still dominates” or “the world has caught up”. The gap is narrowing differently across players, partnerships and teams, and Da Nang gave us enough evidence to see all three at once.
Jack Munro and Nicola Schoeman supplied the other major finals-day story, each winning two Pro golds, while Katerina Stewart took women’s singles and the professional medals travelled in several different directions.
Read the World Cup finals analysisCary broke the script. Sunday put some of it back together.
Anna Leigh Waters lost her Triple Crown opportunity on Saturday, then responded by taking everything still available.
She won women’s doubles with Anna Bright and then beat Kate Fahey 11-1, 11-9 in singles, moving to 196 career titles and extending an unbeaten singles run that now stretches beyond 830 days.
Bright left with two golds too, adding mixed doubles alongside Hayden Patriquin. Ben Johns and Gabriel Tardio moved to 54-0 together in 2026, while Hunter Johnson produced perhaps the day’s most startling score by coming from behind to beat Federico Staksrud 7-11, 11-3, 11-0.
Cary’s hierarchy survived, but the routes changed. That may be the most useful thing the first PPA event after the summer MLP stretch told us.
Read our Cary Championship Sunday analysisTardio’s next tournament is 9,000 miles away
Gabriel Tardio won in Cary on Sunday. On Wednesday, he is scheduled to begin the 1,000-point Leapmotor Kuala Lumpur Cup in Malaysia.
This time Ben Johns will not be beside him. Noe Khlif, only weeks removed from facing Tardio in the MLP Finals, becomes his men’s doubles partner and the pair enter as the No. 1 seeds.
Kaitlyn Christian makes a similarly rapid switch after reaching the singles semi-finals in Cary and now heads the women’s singles draw in Malaysia. Augustus Ge makes his Asian debut, while Hong Kit Wong, Tama Shimabukuro and a developing regional field ensure this is not simply an imported-stars exhibition.
The interesting question is no longer whether Asia can stage professional tournaments. It is whether elite players are beginning to treat them as ordinary parts of the job.
Preview the Kuala Lumpur CupThe professional calendar is starting to connect
The three stories above look separate, but they point in roughly the same direction. Players are moving between MLP, PPA, Asian events and international competition with less separation between them, and the lessons from one environment are beginning to appear in another.
JW Johnson brought a more aggressive mixed-doubles role back from MLP into Cary. Tardio leaves an unbeaten American doubles partnership and lands in Malaysia with a new teammate three days later. Vietnam reaches a World Cup final before discovering how much team depth still separates it from the USA. The circuits remain distinct, but the sport is becoming much more connected.
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