Waters remains the undisputed to Female player on the planet, but there is a changing of the guard … [+]
This is part of a series of 2024 news recaps in the ever-expanding world of Pickleball. Here, we’re focusing on news related to the players who compete on the pro tours. These are news items about specific players in some cases, or news that impacts the collective 150 or so contracted players on the leading pro tours.
In early January 2024, the Draws for the first PPA event of the year (the Hyundai Masters in Palm Springs) reveal some interesting items. MLP-exclusive players did not boycott the event en masse as was worried (remember, at this point, the PPA-MLP merger is still up in the air). We get the PPA touring debuts of several big names: Jack Sock, Genie Bouchard, and Donald Young; all are given protected seeds into the main draw/round of 32 as per their contracts. Furthermore, the top eight seeds are given byes into the round of 16 despite more than 70 qualifiers competing for just eight spots in the main draw.
In early January, 2024, all five Pro Bronze medal matches are forfeited in the PPA’s opening tournament, and despite some nebulous claims of injury the forfeits seem deliberate. This is the first event under the new “salary” contracts for these players, and clearly the incentives for playing a near-meaningless 3rd place match were not present. Pat Smith takes to social media to dispute the supposed injuries claimed by players and the tour, and is suspended for the subsequent PPA event by this action, but the PPA’s next reaction was swift: penalties are immediately introduced for abandoning bronze medal matches going forward.
In Mid January, 2024, On KOTC’s Masters recap podcast, host Jimmy Miller floats an amazing tidbit: apparently the “Johnson Five” (JW Johnson, Jorja Johnson, Dylan Frazier, Gabe Tardio, and Milan Rane) never signed the term sheet they negotiated during the August/September 2023 MLP/PPA signing wars, even though they were the last major holdouts. Which means, they have nothing on paper to “go back to” when MLP went to the players and asked for 40% pay reductions, and now the combined entity is refusing to honor those terms. A couple days later Jim Kloss also posts on the same on social media, while others with knowledge of the situation dispute these claims.
In Late February, the three main Pro focused podcasts (KOTC, Picklepod, Tennis Sucks) all leak interesting tidbits about player contracts and the merger terms. The new PPA/MLP merged entity has bought out 20-30 players from their contracts, some players have refused to sign 40% pay reductions (including most notably and publicly, Riley Newman), and the Johnson Five are reportedly considering legal action to enforce their contract.
In Late March, the PPA announces a new set of “exclusive” signings that, per Jill Braverman, are essentially “clarifications” of existing MLP contracts. The impact though becomes clear: several former top APP players are now PPA exclusive. This robs the APP of several more of its stars who have dominated APP play for most of the last two seasons, including Parris Todd, Hunter Johnson, Yates Johnson, Alix Troung, and others.
In early April 2024, on the eve of the MLP draft, the UPA announces that it has come to terms after months of dispute with the “Johnson Five.” Various outlets “reported it” but it was not actually finalized and signed (per their agent) until about an hour before the draft. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the leading players of the group (JW and Frazier) secured sizeable salaries. All five players, who have been playing APP events in the interim, are now locked into exclusive UPA contracts.
In Early April, 2024, Riley Newman announces a modification to his contract to enable him to play PPAs. Newman had initially been the highest profile player to refuse to renegotiate his MLP deal, and stood firm on being basically omitted from PPA events for the next three years.
In Mid April, 2024, PPA No. 1 Anna Leigh Waters wins her 100th career PPA title en route to a triple crown at the PPA event in Cary, NC. She’s just the second pro player behind Ben Johns to achieve 100 gold medals in her career, and she’s only 17.
In Mid April 2024, at the PPA Los Angeles event, No. 1 Ben Johns takes another early round upset in Men’s Pro singles (his fourth such early round upset already in 2024) while No. 2 Federico Staksrud makes his 8th straight gold medal match to open 2024. This combination of events is enough to allow Staksrud to supplant Johns as the No. 1 ranked singles player on tour. This is the first time Johns has not been ranked No. 1 on the tour since its inception in February 2020. Johns briefly regains the No. 1 ranking after this event, but by mid-summer Staksrud is firmly entrenched atop the standings.
In mid May 2024, Pro player Andrei Daescu is found to have foreign substances on one of his paddles, which results in a $50k fine and a 60-day suspension. There are questions about the paddle and whether it was ever actually used in competition (or was a training aid), and there are questions about the amount of the fine w/r/t Daescu’s contract status (he seems to have signed a PPA exclusive contract in the wake of this suspension). It seems as if Daescu (who was not PPA-exclusive at this point) may have “cut a deal” and agreed to an exclusive deal (up to this point he was on a MLP contract with an APP carve-out) in order to cut down on the fine and suspension.
In Mid-May 2024, Ben Johns gives an interview to CNBC and puts his annual income at $2.5 million. It is no secret that the PPA, during the tour wars in August 2023, committed to several high six-figure/low seven-figure deals with its top players in order to maintain their business strategy, but the $2.5 million figure is eye opening for sure.
In late June 2024, Ben & Collin Johns are upset yet again in a PPA Pro Doubles draw, their fourth successive failure to win gold, and the combination of their quarter finals exit and the No. 2 Frazier/Johnson team making the finals will knock Ben Johns out of the No. 1 ranking for Men’s Doubles players for the first time since September 2020. Johnson, who has slightly fewer points than Frazier due to having played fewer 2024 matches, will surpass Collin for No. 3, which will guarantee that Johnson/Frazier will be the No. 1 seeds at the next PPA event. This is a seminal moment on the tour and is the second time that the sport’s long-time “Number 1” male pro has been supplanted at the top of the rankings.
In late July 2024, Collin Johns, a couple days after he and brother Ben were (frankly) embarrassed at the MLP’s Salt Lake City event, has a multi-page rant leaked to social media about how much he despises MLP as a competition and structure. As one might imagine, it is not well received and comes off as real sour grapes for one of the highest compensated players in the sport. A few days later, Johns responds, saying that the supposed email was actually taken from a set of text messages he sent to people. Quoting Johns’ social media response: “My opinions were reframed and forwarded to MLP without my consent, then subsequently leaked to the general public, which was never my intention.” This was not exactly an apology for what he said, but the damage has been done.
In late September 2024, The PPA tour announces that Jay Devilliers has suffered a “minor knee injury” that requires surgery, which will cost him the rest of the 2024 season. Devilliers was not ranked in the top 10 in any of the three disciplines this season, so the impact to the tour races is minimal, but his MLP team (the Columbus Sliders) will now have to find a replacement for the rest of the season.
In early December, 2024, The final season rankings are set prior to the end of the Tour finals: Anna Leigh Waters finishes #1 in all three disciplines. The three men’s titles are taken by three different players: Federico Staksrud finishes #1 in Men’s Singles, Collin Johns finishes #1 in Men’s Doubles, and Ben Johns finishes #1 in Mixed Doubles. Ben Johns swept the #1 title for all three disciplines in 2023.
In mid December, 2024, The PPA releases its 2024 End of Season Awards (as voted on by the public) in a YouTube show. They give out awards in more than 20 categories, but the main awards (Players of the Year) go to long-standing #1s Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns.
In mid December, 2024, The Dink (later confirmed by the Kitchen, then officially discussed by Pickleball.com with statements from the family) gets the scoop that Ben Johns and Collin Johns will end their partnership effective immediately. The pair won 33 Men’s Doubles titles together once they started playing together to begin the 2021 season, but suddenly in mid-2024 found themselves losing time and again in events after years of success together.
In Mid December, two new leagues set to have competitions in the early part of 2025 in India begin announcing signings. The World Pickleball League (WPBL) announces the results of the draft for its 2025 league in Mumbai, which includes a slew of recognizable names from the US, including Irizarry, Sobek, Lane, Foster, Jardim, Blaszkewycz, Tomassi, Freeman, Whitaker, Schull, and Mercado. Meanwhile, the Pickleball World Rankings (PWR) DURP India league announces its Premier League signings for the 2025 league, and it includes top US pros like Munro, Goldin, DeHeart, Lange, Kawka, Diamond, Shick, Fudge, Barr, Braverman, Gecheva (Newell), Harris, and Maddox. Suffice it to say, between these two organizations and other non-PPA affiliated tours around the world, the global market for pro players is about to get more competitive.
On New Year’s Eve 2024, the PPA announces that they’ve signed young star Gabriel Tardio to a three year deal. It was a poorly kept secret in the industry that rising star Tardio was only on a one-year deal and was entertaining participation with the newly emerging international tournaments. Instead, with Ben Johns looking for a new partner in 2025 and Tardio being a leading candidate, the PPA locked up the teenager to a reported $800 thousand contract. This signing will have cascading effects for MLP as well, and may result in his MLP team changing strategies related to who they drop in the upcoming 2025 transaction window.
Those were the biggest pro player-specific news items from 2024.
