PPA Florida Dairy Farmers Daytona Beach Open Preview

The last stop on the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) Tour is taking place this week in Daytona Beach, Florida. The event is taking place at Pictona at Holly Hill, which has hosted quite a few pro tournaments during the last few years.

This is an Open level event, worth 1,000 PPA Points to the winners. There are quite a few players not attending the event either for rest purposes or they already hit their event count for the year.

Notable players missing:

• Ben Johns
• Anna Leigh Waters is ONLY playing women’s doubles
• Anna Bright
• Hayden Patriquin
• Parris Todd
• Kate Fahey
• Hunter Johnson
• Jade Kawamoto
• Jackie Kawamoto
• Alix Truong

How to Watch the PPA Florida Dairy Farmers Daytona Beach Open and Order of Play

Wednesday, December 17 - Singles (through quarterfinals)

• 11am - 7pm ET - Championship Court - pickleballtv
• 11am - 7pm ET - Grandstand Court - pickleballtv

Thursday, December 18 - Mixed Doubles (through quarterfinals)

• 11am - 7pm ET - Championship Court - pickleballtv
• 11am - 7pm ET - Grandstand Court - pickleballtv

Friday, December 19 - Gender Doubles (through quarterfinals)

• 11am - 7pm ET - Championship Court - pickleballtv
• 11am - 7pm ET - Grandstand Court - pickleballtv

Saturday, December 20 - Semifinals

• 11am - 7pm ET - Championship Court - pickleballtv
• 3:30pm - 6:30pm ET - Championship Court - Tennis Channel
• 11am - 7pm ET - Juniors Finals - Grandstand Court - pickleballtv

Sunday, December 21 - Finals

• 11am - 6pm ET - Championship Court - pickleballtv
• 2:30pm - 5pm ET - Championship Court - Tennis Channel
• 10am - 3pm ET - Bronze Matches - Grandstand Court - pickleballtv

Weather Outlook for the PPA Daytona Beach Open

The weather looks to be great in Florida. The Life Time LT Pro 48 should be playing true or slightly slower, especially as competition heats up headed into the weekend. With humidity levels in the 60%-70% range, play will be slightly slower than normal. The only real threat of precipitation is on Wednesday and Thursday, with the weekend very clear.

Let’s get into the action.

Women’s Singles

Top Storylines

• With Anna Leigh Waters, Kate Fahey, Brooke Buckner, and Parris Todd out, some of the seeds are much higher than they are used to - Parenteau, Bouchard, and Truluck are all top 5 seeds
• There are plenty of upset alert candidates in this one because the field is so wide open

Underdogs to look out for

• (25) Seone Mendez just won her first gold on another tour and last time she played ALW, she lost 5&6 to Anna Leigh Waters - the 26-year-old Aussie could make a deep run
• (23) Kiora Kunimoto just won the PPA Challenger in Raleigh last weekend and she is only 17 years old 
• (15) Ting Chieh (Jamie) Wei was part of the UPA Asia Trailblazers program and has been winning matches left and right in both the states and on the UPA Asia Tour

Predictions

• Semifinalists: (1) Kaitlyn Christian, (6) Judit Castillo, (25) Seone Mendez, and (15) Jamie Wei
• Finals: Kaitlyn Christian defeats Seone Mendez in three

Men’s Singles

Top Storylines

• With Hunter Johnson taking this tournament off, Federico Staksrud can put some distance between himself and Johnson for the #1 seed
• (28) Rafa Lenhard just won the PPA Challenger in Raleigh last weekend and has made deep runs in PPA tournaments before
• (4) Chris Haworth was the 57 seed in PPA Tournaments not too long ago and has already moved up to top 5 - he has a goal of being #1 and winning with a lesser field will help him keep on track to take that #1 seed

Predictions

• Semifinalists: (28) Rafa Lenhard, (5) Gabe Joseph, (2) Christian Alshon, and (4) Chris Haworth
• Finals: Chris Haworth defeats Rafa Lenhard in two

Mixed Doubles

Top Storylines

• With Ben and Anna Leigh missing, JW and Jorja Johnson are the prohibitive favorites as the #1 seed
• (4) Catherine Parenteau and Dekel Bar is a fun pairing we haven’t seen much of
• I have heard rumor this could be the last tournament that (3) Irvine and Tardio play together for the foreseeable future - can they go out on top?

Predictions

• Semifinalists: (1) Jorja & JW Johnson, (7) Tina Pisnik/Eric Oncins, (2) Hurricane Tyra Black/Christian Alshon, and (4) Catherine Parenteau/Dekel Bar
• Finals: Jorja and JW beat Tyra and Christian in four

Women’s Doubles

Top Storylines

• Jorja Johnson and Anna Leigh Waters are the odds on favorites with some of the other top players sitting this one out - I don’t think they lose a game
• The other top four seeds are super interesting because we haven’t seen much of them together - which teams can gel the quickest?
• (21) Ella Yeh and Kiora Kunimoto (combined age of 31) just took silver in the PPA Challenger in Raleigh this last weekend - can they keep the momentum going?

Predictions

• Semifinalists: (1) Jorja Johnson/Anna Leigh Waters, (6) Lea Jansen/Kaitlyn Christian, (2) Catherine Parenteau/Hurricane Tyra Black, and (3) Rachel Rohrabacher/Etta Tuionetoa
• Finals: Jorja and Anna Leigh beat Catherine and Tyra in three (without losing a game)

Men’s Doubles

Top Storylines

• With Ben missing, (1) Gabe and Andrei are teaming up once again - this duo won back to back PPA tournaments in late 2024 before Ben chose Gabe to be his partner for 2025
• (3) JW Johnson and Augie Ge are teaming up on the PPA Tour - the Dallas Flass MLP teammates are playing together for the first time in a while
• (2) Fed and Christian is a very interesting duo as the two seed - Christian has been playing the right side for nearly two years and Fed recently switch to the right side - who will play the left?

Predictions

• Semifinalists: (1) Gabe Tardio/Andrei Daescu, (4) CJ Klinger/Jaume Martinez Vich, (2) Federico Staksrud/Christian Alshon, and (3) Augie Ge/JW Johnson
• Finals: Gabe and Andrei take down Fed and Christian in four