STORYLINES FOR THE LAS VEGAS PICKLEBALL CUP - Sioux Falls Area Pickleball

VIVA LAS VEGAS: Waters, B. Johns, Parenteau, Alshon, and Buckner among the many players returning to the draw after sitting out Salt Lake City.
INSIDE INFORMATION: Playing indoors at the beautiful Fontainebleau Hotel’s Royal Ballroom (100,000+ square feet transformed into a pickleball mecca).
LET IT RIDE: Last of the August gauntlet – who will ride the wave of confidence gained in multiple tournaments?
DOUBLE DOWN: Gabe Tardio rolls into Vegas after winning men’s and mixed doubles in SLC.
PROGRESSIVE JACKPOT: 1,500 points for the winners and all disciplines are played each day.

Event #17 of the year and first of two stops in Vegas. This one on the strip.
First Carvana PPA Tour event at Fontainebleau Hotel, so no defending champions.
Broadcast start times are 11am Pacific Wednesday through Sunday.
National coverage includes FS2 and Tennis Channel.
Full coverage on Pickleball TV (Prime Video, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, LG, and many more).

AL Waters (1) is back in singles after sitting out singles in KC and TN and skipping the Utah event.
Kate Fahey (17) riding the high of a victory in SLC.
Kaitlyn Christian (7) reached her third final in Utah but came up just short.
WATCH OUT FOR: Brooke Buckner (4) – won back-to-back in KC and TN then took Utah off – red hot.

Staksrud (1) so good on Sundays against the field (except Ben). Won convincingly over Garnett in 2 straight in the SLC final.
Ben Johns is in the doubles draws, but not playing singles.
Quang Duong (5) – jets to Mumbai last week, wins pro singles, now jets to Vegas looking for gold.
Sherry (24) vs. Ge (42) will actually happen in Vegas – look out for the Sher Bear in sin city.
WATCH OUT FOR: Gabe Tardio (19) vs. Hayden Patriquin (15), potentially Shocking round of 32 match.

Waters and Johns (1) are back and had won 6 events in a row before sitting out Utah.
Bright and Alshon (2) – made the final in their debut in TN, can they do it again?
Wright and Kovalova (14) struggling in ’24 – do they have a Vegas run this week?
New/old partnership: Newman and Parenteau (6) are back together – can they restore the old magic?
WATCH OUT FOR: Ignatowich and Glozman (4) – team tall is very dangerous.

ALW and Parenteau (1) are the most dominant team in pickle: over 100 wins and 1 loss.
Girlies not playing together: Bright/Pisnik (2) and Rohrabacher/J.Johnson (4) – which of these teams catches fire? (Bright entered the tourney late, thus this partner situation).
Can Wright and Dizon (3) build on their bronze medal performance from their home state?
WATCH OUT FOR: Black and Todd (7) – athletic, dangerous team looking to reach the podium.

Johnson and Frazier in a mini drought, missing Sunday in two straight as the top seed.
Tardio and Daescu (9) finally pay off “giant-killing” upsets with a gold win in Utah and are brimming with confidence.
Ignatowich/Freeman (12) Who?: Max Freeman is Jimmy’s coach and fellow Vandy Commodore.
WATCH OUT FOR: Patriquin and Tellez (4) – had a match point to knock out Tardio and Daescu in a Salt Lake City semifinal thriller – watch out as these two seek to take the top spot in Vegas.