If you want to see what pickleball looks like at its absolute highest level, the PPA Tour is where you look. It's the sport's premier professional circuit, home to the biggest names, the biggest prize money and the rankings that decide who's really on top.
Right now the tour is in the middle of one of its signature stops: the Rate Las Vegas Open, where more than $1 million in prize money is on the line this week. Here's a quick guide to what the PPA Tour is, why Vegas matters, and the upcoming events worth putting in your calendar.
What Is the PPA Tour?
The Carvana PPA Tour (Professional Pickleball Association) is the professional pickleball circuit. It runs around 20 tour stops a year across the United States, with a growing international footprint that now reaches 12 countries. The tour lists more than $30 million in total payouts to its pro athletes.
The tour is part of Pickleball Inc., which also runs Major League Pickleball (MLP), PickleballTV, Pickleball.com and Pickleball Central. That's why so much of the sport's top-level action, scoring and streaming now flows through one connected ecosystem.
How the season works
The PPA season runs like a proper pro sport, with one season-long points race. It starts in August with the National Championships and builds to the PPA Finals in May, where the season titles are decided.
Every stop features five pro divisions: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. Results feed the World Pickleball Rankings, so each event moves players up or down the ladder.
Not every event carries the same weight. The tour uses a tier system, much like tennis:
- Opens (1,000 points): the backbone of the tour, held in cities across the country.
- Cups (1,500 points): premium destinations with longer broadcast windows.
- Majors (2,000 to 3,000 points): the crown jewels, including the Masters, the Players Championships, Nationals and Worlds.
- PPA Finals (2,000 points): the season-ending championship.
- Challengers (125 to 500 points): a feeder series for rising players.
It's not just for the pros
One of the best things about the PPA Tour is that it's open to everyday players too. Every stop runs an amateur and junior draw on the same courts the pros use, with brackets by skill level and age. There are also clinics, pro-ams and volunteer roles, so fans can get much closer to the action than in most professional sports.
Happening Now: The 2026 Rate Las Vegas Open
The Rate Las Vegas Open, presented by JOOLA, runs from September 28 to October 4, 2026 at the Darling Tennis Center in Las Vegas. It's a 1,000-point Open with a total payout of $1,063,327 across the five pro divisions, and every No. 1 seed is in the draw.
This is the PPA's seventh straight year at Darling Tennis Center, and the event is expecting more than 1,400 players across the pro, amateur and junior draws. One twist this year: every final is best two out of three games, so expect championship matches with real swings in momentum.
Storylines to follow
- Anna Leigh Waters chasing title No. 200. The world No. 1 is skipping singles in Vegas, but if she wins both of her doubles draws she reaches 200 career titles. She and Ben Johns have also won mixed doubles at this venue four years running.
- Johns and Tardio's perfect season. Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio are the defending men's doubles champions and arrive with a perfect 2026 record. Christian Alshon and Andrei Daescu lost last year's final 12-10 in the fifth game, one of the longest matches in PPA history, and will be looking for revenge.
- Open fields in singles. With Waters out of women's singles, top seed Kate Fahey (the 2024 champion here) has a real shot, as does a returning Genie Bouchard. On the men's side, Chris Haworth is the top seed and Federico Staksrud is defending his title.
- New partnerships. Watch Sofia Sewing and Tina Pisnik, who bring their Major League Pickleball chemistry to women's doubles, plus first-time mixed pairing Andrei Daescu and Jessie Irvine.
How to watch
The business end of the week runs from Thursday to Sunday: round of 16 on October 1, quarterfinals on October 2, semifinals on October 3 and Championship Sunday on October 4. Every court streams live on PickleballTV, and Sunday's finals are also on Tennis Channel in the US. For live scores and brackets, the PPA's MATCHDAY app has you covered.
Upcoming PPA Tour Events to Watch
Vegas is only the start of a busy stretch. Here are the stops on the PPA Tour schedule worth keeping an eye on over the coming months.
Veolia Chicago Cup — October 5–11, 2026
The tour heads straight from Vegas to Chicago for the Veolia Chicago Cup, presented by Storm. As a Cup event it's worth 1,500 points, so the top players have every reason to back up a strong week in Vegas.
Mojo Energy Pouches Virginia Beach Open — October 12–18, 2026
The Virginia Beach Open at Pickleball Virginia Beach is another 1,000-point Open, and the third consecutive week of tour action.
International stops in Brisbane and Hong Kong
The PPA's global reach is on show in October. The WALKER Australia Pickleball Cup runs October 13–18 in Brisbane, followed by the PPA Asia Hong Kong Slam at Kai Tak Arena from October 19–25. Both are 1,500-point Cup events.
Opendoor Pickleball World Championships — November 2–8, 2026
This is the big one. The Pickleball World Championships in Farmers Branch, Texas, is a Major worth 3,000 points, the most of any event on the calendar. If you only watch one PPA tournament this year, make it Worlds.
Proton Daytona Beach Open — November 16–22, 2026
The Daytona Beach Open in Holly Hill, Florida, has history: the 2025 men's doubles final there is the longest match in PPA history, decided 11-8 in the fifth game.
Looking ahead to 2027
The new year opens with the Carvana Pickleball Masters in Rancho Mirage, California (January 11–17), a 2,000-point Major. The Pickleball Players Championships follow in Atlanta (April 26–May 2), before the season wraps up at the PPA Finals in San Clemente, California, from May 10–16, 2027.
How to Follow the PPA Tour
The easiest way to keep up is through ppatour.com, which has the full schedule, live scores, player profiles and the latest rankings. PickleballTV streams every court at every stop, the MATCHDAY app handles scores and brackets on your phone, and the tour posts highlights across its social channels.
Watching the pros is also one of the best ways to sharpen your own game. Pay attention to how they reset at the kitchen line, when they choose to speed up, and how doubles partners cover the court together. Then take what you've seen back to your next session.
Whoever lifts the trophies in Vegas this weekend, the next few months on the PPA Tour should be some of the best pickleball of the year.
0 comments