As we approach another Championship Sunday on the PPA Tour, there are a lot of interesting storylines at the Takeya Showcase.
Ben and his injured brother Collin Johns are going for another doubles title, this one coming after Ben lost in singles and the pair went without a medal last week in Seattle. They’ll take on Dylan Frazier and J.W. Johnson, champions last time out in Seattle.
Anna Leigh Waters and her doubles partner Anna Bright are back on center court going for another woman’s title, this coming after Waters lost and set the pickleball social media world spinning wildly.
And of course, Ben Johns and Waters are back trying for another mixed doubles title, which would make it a seventh in a row for Waters and a sixth in a row alongside Johns.
The Takeya Showcase this week hasn’t been without its drama.
There’s been a lot of talk, buzz and beyond this week in Fountain View, Calif., but it hasn’t really been about Tyra Black. She’s just kind of been in the background, despite having a notable weekend.
Hurricane Tyra was on the business end of Thursday’s action, adjacent to the theater that was created when she defeated Waters in a quarterfinal singles match, where Waters’ actions caused everything from internet meltdowns to internet memes.
“I feel bad for her and how much hate she was getting online,” Black said. “I had awful reactions when I was her age in tennis, so I completely understand.”
Waters left the court after some exclaiming, a quick and cold paddle tap with Black, and then tossing that same paddle to her mother before sprinting off the court while continuing to yell.
Meanwhile, all Black did was win the match, win another, and make her way into the final.
And Saturday, Black made her way back to the medal stand, earning a bronze alongside Allyce Jones for her first PPA medal.
Playing for a gold, taking a bronze. Not too bad.
“I definitely did not,” Black said when asked if she expected this kind of result at the Showcase. “I thought I was going to go out pretty early in singles. And Allyce is an amazing partner.”
Jones and Black fell to Waters and Bright in the semifinal, but they rallied for an 11-8, 6-11, 11-4 victory against Lacy Schneemann and Etta Wright for the bronze.
And while it’s her first medal on the PPA Tour, Black has been playing her best pickleball of late. She took silver in women’s doubles and silver in women’s singles at the Beer City Open, a non-PPA event, but one with a loaded bracket, at the end of July.
“This is my best pickleball so far, but there are still so many things I’m trying to learn on the court, so I’m going to go home and keep training,” she said. “I learned some new things in singles so that helped me out a lot this week.”
Black, the No. 9 seed, takes on No. 6 seed Yana Newell for the women’s singles title Sunday. Neither has won a singles medal on the PPA Tour.
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