The depth of talent in PPA tournaments is getting better and better. As pickleball’s popularity continues to boom, more people are training and putting in the work to become tournament caliber players, and that hard work is paying off in success at the PPA level, especially in Singles. Beside seeing bigger brackets, and “newer” names reaching the latter rounds of tournaments, how can we measure this phenomenon? Let’s look at the history of Singles champions, medalists, and number of tournaments on the PPA Tour.
Women’s Singles:
2020/2021: 17 tournaments. Five different players won titles (5/17 = .29) and eleven different players won medals (11/17 = .64)
2022: 17 tournaments: Three different players won titles (3/17 = .17) and nine different players won medals (9/17 = .52)
2023: 20 tournaments: Four different players won titles (4/20 = .20) and 15 different players won medals (15/20 = .75)
2024: 13 tournaments: Six different players won titles (6/13 = .46) and 12 different players won medals (12/13 = .92)
Men’s Singles:
2020/2021: 17 tournaments: Two different players won titles (2/17 = .11) and eight different players won medals (8/17 = .47)
2022: 17 tournaments: Five different players won titles (5/17 = .29) and 13 different players won medals (13/17 = .76)
2023: 20 tournaments: Six different players won titles (6/20 = .30) and 16 different players won medals (16/20 = .80)
2024: 13 tournaments: Five different players won titles (5/13 = .38) and 12 different players won medals (12/13 = .92)
Observations:
While two players claimed close to half of all the gold medals, the number of different players hoisting trophies on Sundays is on the rise. 2024 is only at the halfway point, but we have had a record number (six) of different women winning singles titles. A greater percentage of different players are winning medals, too. The women’s and men’s fields are so deep that we are close to seeing the ratio flip to having more different players winning medals than the number of tournaments played. If the rest of 2024 continues as it started, we might see new records, again, regarding champions and medalists. Yes, the PPA Singles talent pool is deep!
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