2023 APP Vlasic Classic Preview

The APP Tour travels to Cincinnati, Ohio this week for its fifth tournament of 2023 – the APP Vlasic Classic. Six days of world-class pickleball action awaits from Sawyer Point Pickleball Complex on the city’s beautiful riverfront, starting Tuesday, May 9, and the event is LIVE on CBS Sports Network on Sunday from 12 to 2 pm ET. 

More than 900 players, including 700 amateurs, will participate in the 2023 APP Vlasic Classic. Amateurs, pros, and senior pros will participate in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles competition throughout the week. 

The 2023 APP Vlasic Classic will be streamed live on APPTV – available on the APP Tour YouTube and Facebook pages – on Saturday, May 13 starting at 1 pm ET and Sunday, May 14, starting at 8 am ET. Additionally, the APP Vlasic Classic will air live Championship Sunday coverage on CBS Sports Network from 12-2 pm ET on Sunday, May 14. 

Spectator tickets for the event are available via Eventbrite.com; Walk-up tickets for single-day sessions will also be available for purchase at the venue with doors opening at 8 am ET each day.  

Among the top pros participating are defending gold medalists Andrei Daescu, Susannah Barr, Simone Jardim, Yates Johnson and Parris Todd. Shelby Bates, Salome Devidze, Megan Fudge, Hunter Johnson and Alix Truong all return to action in Cincinnati. 

Daescu was the story in Sacramento, winning two more gold medals to raise his gold count to six – the most of any APP men’s pro this season. The Palm Beach Gardens, Florida resident earned his fourth-consecutive men’s pro doubles gold and second-straight with partner Pesa Teoni, while also winning a second gold in a row with Susannah Barr in mixed pro doubles. 

Todd leads all APP women’s pros with ten total medals and seven gold medals in 2023. The Fort Myers resident won her fourth-straight women’s pro doubles gold alongside Jardim at the 2023 APP Sunmed Sacramento Open, while also earning silver in mixed pro doubles alongside Hunter Johnson. At the season-opening 2023 APP Sunmed Punta Gorda Open, she became only the second woman in APP history to earn a Triple Crown with three gold medals.   

Yates Johnson broke through in Sacramento, taking down his brother Hunter in the men’s pro singles final to win his first gold of the season and first career gold medal at the pro level. Hunter earned another silver in mixed pro doubles alongside Parris Todd, which brought his 2023 total medal count to 11 – leading all men’s and women’s APP pros this season. 

Jardim, one of the sport’s elite veterans, took home a her fourth-straight women’s pro doubles gold alongside Parris Todd at the APP Sunmed Sacramento Open.  

Barr earned her second-straight gold medal of 2023 with her mixed doubles victory alongside Daescu. 

Fudge brough home two more silvers from Sacramento, raising her 2023 total medal count to eight – the second-most among APP women’s pros. 

Devidze returns to action in Cincinnati after winning women’s pro singles gold in Mesa earlier this season. 

Fans can stay posted on all the action by following the APP’s social media pages – @OfficialAPPTour on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok and APP Tour on Facebook.