Tennis stars begin their quest to challenge the world’s best pro pickleball players, including Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters, at Mission Hills Country Club in Palm Springs, January 10-14, 2024
DALLAS, December 13, 2023 – Tennis Champions Genie Bouchard, Jack Sock, Sam Querrey and Donald Young are set to make their debuts on the 2024 Carvana PPA Tour at the Hyundai Masters powered by Invited, taking place at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, CA, January 10-14. Sock previously competed at the 2023 PPA North Carolina Open, winning the Mixed Doubles title alongside World No.1 Anna Leigh Waters, and Querrey will make his second consecutive appearance at the Masters. For Bouchard and Young, the Masters will be their first pro pickleball outing, as they seek to improve their skills and reach the top of the game.
Sock will play mixed doubles with Canadian World No.2 Catherine Parenteau and doubles with Collin Shick. Bouchard will partner with Utah native Tyler Loong for doubles. Querrey will team up with good friend Wes Burrows in doubles and former USC tennis standout Kaitlyn Christian for mixed. Other pairings will be announced leading up to the event.
“I’m so excited to make my PPA Tour debut at the Masters in Palm Springs in January,” said Bouchard. “I don’t really have any expectations as this will be my first event. I’m training hard and am excited to compete against the best players in the world. This will be a great moment to start my pickleball career.”
“Competing in the PPA Tour event in North Carolina last summer was a great experience,” said Sock. “I’m excited to play a full schedule of tournaments in 2024 and I’m thrilled to partner with a champion in Catherine Parenteau to play the first event in Palm Springs.”
The Masters is one of the four “Slams” on the PPA Tour and provides the highest amount of ranking points for players as they battle to become the best in the world. Bouchard, Sock, Querrey and Young will join Waters, World No.1 on the men’s side Ben Johns, and the other top pickleball athletes at the first event of the 2024 season, with the option to compete across singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
“The 2024 PPA season is set to be the biggest and most exciting year of pro pickleball yet,” said PPA Tour founder and CEO Connor Pardoe. “The level of play has never been higher, and we’re looking forward to welcoming new talent to the tour. Genie, Jack, Sam and Donald have proven themselves on the tennis court time and time again, and now fans will be able to see them train to challenge the top players in the world on the pickleball court.”
Bouchard reached the Wimbledon final in 2014 and a Women’s Tennis Association career-high ranking of No.5 shortly thereafter, becoming the first Canadian to reach the Top 5 in singles. Sock is a four-time Grand Slam champion (3 doubles, 1 mixed doubles) and Olympic Doubles Gold and Mixed Doubles Bronze Medalist who reached No.8 in singles and No.2 in doubles during the height of his tennis career. Querrey achieved a career-high ranking of No.11 in singles in 2018, following a run to the Wimbledon semifinals and US Open quarterfinals. Young is a Grand Slam doubles finalist and reached the top 50 in both singles and doubles.
While tennis has many overlapping skills with pickleball, including hand-eye coordination, touch and court awareness, the transition for tennis players into pickleball is not seamless. Players often struggle with the play around the non-volley zone line (Kitchen Line). This includes dinks, volleys, and movement around the non-volley zone. A player must have patience to set up a strategy in dinking while maintaining balance in their movement.
The PPA Tour is the professional tour of pickleball, where the top players battle on the court week in and week out to determine who is the best in the world. Tickets for the Masters can be purchased at ppatour.com. The tournament will be broadcast across FS1, FS2, Tennis Channel, PickleballTV, and the PPA Tour YouTube Channel. For the full broadcast schedule, visit ppatour.com/watch.
In addition to the pros, roughly 1,000 amateur players compete at each PPA Tour stop across different level and age divisions. To register to play, visit ppatour.com.
About Carvana PPA Tour:
Founded in 2019, the Carvana PPA Tour is where pickleball’s top athletes go head-to-head to determine the best male and female players in the world. The Carvana PPA Tour organizes and conducts tournaments at world-class facilities across the country, establishes player rankings, and awards over $5.5 million in annual prize money during the 2023 season with equal play and pay. Inviting amateur players to also compete and “play where the pros play,” the Carvana PPA Tour offers divisions for every age group and skill level. Characterized by a uniquely festive and fun atmosphere, Carvana PPA Tour events deliver unparalleled experiences for fans on-site, including pro player meet-and-greets, clinics, food, beverages, live entertainment, giveaways, games, shopping, and VIP upgrades. For more information, go to www.ppatour.com, and follow us on social: Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn.
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