CAPE CORAL, Fla. — It was a big weekend for Pickleball in Cape Coral, where the city not only showed it could host a huge PPA tournament but look good doing it.
The newly christened "The Courts" formally known as Lake Kennedy shined on the international pickleball scene. It also had the star power to show it.
Anna Leigh Waters grabbed a triple crown and wowed audiences coming from behind in several games, not new to the triple crown, she has over 32 of them. The Cape crowd didn't mind and cheered her on loudly for another, including in this 5 game slug fest.
Water's Mixed Doubles partner and other huge name and crowd favorite Ben Johns was knocked out of singles in the quarters. But it made way for another Floridian Christian Alshon to truly shine. Alshon won his first PPA singles gold medal with a win over Jaume Martinez Vich.
Alshon thanked the rowdy Cape Coral crowd and his family and friends for cheering him onto a come from behind win.
The women's doubles pitted No. 1 pair of Anna Leigh Waters & Catherine Parenteau against the No. 2 pair of Anna Bright & Rachel Rohrabacher again. Waters and Parenteau came out on top.
Mens doubles saw the pairing of Ben Johns and Andrei Daescu beating out the singles champ Alshon and his partner Federico Staksrud.
All and all it was four days of some spectacular pickleball with sold out crowds on the weekend and really great weather. There were also amateur events going on the entire time, making it fun to walk around the back courts and check on the next stars in the waiting.
The Courts in Cape Coral will host the APP US Collegiate Championships coming up on March 28th.
