It was a bittersweet ending to Ben Johns’ century-eclipsing 100th title weekend in Cincinnati—he finished with 101 titles—but he probably should have punctuated his festivities with a Triple-Crown.
First, Ben and Colin Johns scrapped and clawed their way to perhaps their grittiest-ever PPA Men’s Doubles title. They saved match point in the quarterfinals against Pablo Tellez and Federico Staksrud and were just two points from defeat against Thomas Wilson and Riley Newman in the semifinals. In the best-of-five final, against the young duo of Dylan Frazier and J.W. Johnson, the brothers won 11-6, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8. But all that extra play in doubles may have come back to bite Ben in the singles final.
Ben also captured the Mixed Doubles championship with Anna Leigh Waters, dropping just one game (shoutout Pablo Tellez and Jackie Kawamoto). The Johns/Waters duo is borderline unfair, but we can hope that the standard they set inspires the next generation’s Mixed Doubles teams. It’s difficult to see them losing in the foreseeable future, as they are both by far the best male and female Pickleball players in the world.
It’s extremely rare to see Ben Johns run out of gas physically, but that’s exactly what happened in the singles final. Up 8-3 in game three against Staksrud- arguably the second-best singles player in the game.
The Argentine, with the help of one lucky net-cord, reeled off five consecutive points to tie the contest at eight points each. Staksrud raised his level, while Johns simultaneously lowered his.
After a few side-outs and some incredible points, an exhausted Johns gave the ball back to Staksrud for the last time.
“This was such a battle,” Staksrud said after defeating Johns in a final for the first time. “I was down by a lot, but the crowd kept me pushing. This was just because of the crowd, the passion and the mental fortitude was because of them… I love playing Pickleball.”
This improbable victory is a huge moment for Staksrud, who had lost his previous four finals against Johns. It was a great weekend for the GOAT, but he will not be happy after losing an 8-3 lead in the singles final, just three points away from another Triple Crown. On the Women’s side, ALW cruised to both the singles and doubles title, while capturing gold in mixed with Johns.
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