Gusting Winds Wreak Havoc, but ALW Still Grabs a Triple Crown - PPA Texas Open Recap

With wind gusts over 40mph on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, wind played a huge role in the Veolia PPA Texas Open Presented by Proton. This didn’t deter the best player in history, Anna Leigh Waters, earn her 42nd triple double of her career, and second triple double in as many weeks.

Let’s get into the action.

Anna Leigh Waters Earned her Third Triple Crown of 2026

Anna Leigh Waters continued dominating the competition in Texas. She just won a triple crown at the Newport Beach Open two days prior to beginning play in Texas.

Waters went 16-0 in matches in all three disciplines in Texas. She went 35-1 in all games played, only losing one game in mixed doubles in the finals to Hayden and Anna.

This means ALW won all of her singles games and won all of her doubles games with Anna Bright.

The last time Anna Leigh Waters lost was in mixed doubles in Mesa, to Hayden and Anna Bright, less than a month ago.

The last time AB and ALW lost a women's doubles match was over six months ago, and the last time ALW lost in singles was over 650 days ago.

Federico Staksrud Earned his Second Gold of 2026

Men's singles has become the show for early round upsets, but the big dogs continue to win.

Fed beat Oliver Frank, Donald Young, Armaan Bhatia, Jay Devilliers, John Lucian Goins, and Chris Haworth to win gold in Texas.

He only lost two games the entire time: one to Oliver Frank in the first round and one to Chris Haworth in the finals.

New PicklePod Co-Host, Nico the Lefty, is onto something with one of his recent posts:

I tend to agree with him. Hunter, Fed, and Chris are all at the top, top level. They are #1, #2, and #3 in the PPA Tour player rankings, respectively. Throughout the entire 2026 calendar year, these three will be fighting to either keep that top seed, or take it away.

2026 Medals Among the Top Three Men

• Chris Haworth - 🥇 🥇 🥈🥈
• Federico Staksrud - 🥇 🥇 🥈
• Hunter Johnson - 🥇 🥇 🥈

Gabe and Ben Dominated Their Opponents and Stayed Undefeated in 2026

This marks five tournaments in a row in 2026 for Gabe Tardio and Ben Johns when they both play. Gabe actually has the most men's doubles titles in 2026, as he won the indoor tournament with Andrei Daescu - Gabe is undefeated on the year.

The #1 seeds had the most trouble in quite a while in Texas. Since losing Worlds to Hayden and Christian in November, Ben and Gabe were 55-2 in games, and had not lost a match. In Texas, they lost three games - one to Luc Pham and Will Mackinnon, they got pickled by Tyler Loong and John Lucian Goins, and one game to Max Freeman and Tyson McGuffin.

In the finals, they took care of business against Andrei and Fed, winning 11-0, 12-10, 11-7.

Since losing Worlds in the finals, Gabe and Ben are now 66-5 in games played. They have now won 30 matches in a row, and six tournaments in a row. Who is going to step up and beat them?

Other Storylines

Alix Truong Made Her First Championship Sunday on US Soil

Truong has four gold medals on the PPA Tour Asia from 2025, but has never earned gold in the United States. She partnered with new Columbus Sliders teammate, Parris Todd, and they earned a silver medal together. Truong has been playing well as of late and recently played mixed doubles with Christian Alshon in Newport - her stock is on the rise.

The Atlanta Bouncer Men had an Amazing Run

Jay Devilliers and Jaume Martinez Vich Earned a bronze medal in Texas. They beat Augie Ge and Connor Garnett 6 &1, and then followed that up with a huge win the quarterfinals. They beat Christian Alshon and Hayden Patriquin 11-6, 12-10. After losing to Fed and Andrei in three, they were able to beat CJ Klinger and JW Johnson 11-9, 11-7 for bronze. Jay is playing a great left side while JMV is working his way back to 100% after a slight injury.

Christian Alshon, JW Johnson, and Jorja Johnson all Missed out on Medals

Quarterfinal Friday was not nice to Christian Alshon - he lost in men’s to Jay and JMV, lost in singles to John Lucian Goins, and he and Jessie Irvine lost to Gabe Tardio and Catherine Parenteau in mixed.

The Johnsons were upset in the quarters by Parris Todd and Andrei Daescu. On the same day, Jorja and Tyra were upset by Mari Humberg and Millie Rane. JW and CJ Klinger made the bronze medal match, but lost to the Atlanta Bouncer men.

The PPA Tour is taking a weekend off and then returning to action in eight days, to start the PPA Greater Zion Cup at Black Desert Resort -formerly known as the Red Rock Open. This is an important one, as it is a Cup.

Medals by MLP Team

St. Louis Shock - 🥇🥇🥈🥈🥈 (Anna, Gabe, Kate, & Hayden)

New Jersey 5s - 🥇🥇🥇 (ALW)

LA Mad Drops - 🥇🥇🥉 (Ben & Catherine)

Columbus Sliders - 🥈🥈🥈🥉🥉 (Parris, Andrei, & Alix)

Orlando Squeeze - 🥇🥈 (Fed)

Brooklyn Pickleball Team - 🥈🥉 (Chris Haworth & Rachel Rohrabacher)

Atlanta Bouncers - 🥉🥉🥉 (Kaitlyn Christian, Jay Devilliers, & JMV)

Non-Rostered - 🥉 (Zane Ford)

Medal Results

Women’s Singles

🥇 Anna Leigh Waters

🥈 Kate Fahey

🥉 Kaitlyn Christian

Men’s Singles

🥇 Federico Staksrud

🥈 Chris Haworth

🥉 Zane Ford

Mixed Doubles

🥇 Anna Leigh Waters/Ben Johns 

🥈 Anna Bright/Hayden Patriquin

🥉 Parris Todd/Andrei Daescu

Women’s Doubles

🥇 Anna Bright/Anna Leigh Waters

🥈 Alix Truong/Parris Todd

🥉 Rachel Rohrabacher/Catherine Parenteau

Men’s Doubles

🥇 Gabe Tardio/Ben Johns

🥈 Federico Staksrud/Andrei Daescu

🥉 Jaume Martinez Vich/Jay Devilliers