A Week in Pickleball: A 15-Year-Old Rewrites the Script

15-Year-Old Tama Shimabukuro Makes History

A year ago, Tama Shimabukuro was at Brookhaven as part of an all-junior Major League Pickleball team. On Sunday he left as a world champion. Partnered with JW Johnson, the 15-year-old won men's doubles gold by beating Christian Alshon and Andrei Daescu 5-11, 5-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-4 in a best-of-five final that ran more than two hours.

Alshon and Daescu looked in full control after taking the first two games. Then the pairing flipped the match, helped along by an energetic crowd. It was the first title together for Johnson and Shimabukuro, and Shimabukuro's first PPA Tour men's doubles gold.

The result lands as another sign that the sport's youth pipeline now reaches the top of the draw, and that men's doubles is more open than it has been in years.

Anna Leigh Waters Captures Yet Another Triple Crown

Waters swept all three events at Worlds to log her 46th career PPA Tour Triple Crown. She opened the day with Ben Johns in mixed doubles, outlasting No. 3 seeds Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 3-11, 11-4. With Anna Bright she beat Sofia Sewing and Catherine Parenteau 11-4, 11-9, 11-5 in women's doubles, the pair's 18th straight tournament title together, a new PPA Tour record.

Then, after eight games of doubles, she closed the weekend by beating Kate Fahey 11-3, 11-2 in the singles final. It was her 300th career PPA Tour singles win. She is 19.

John Lucian Goins Takes Down Jack Sock

Eighteen-year-old John Lucian Goins won the men's singles crown at Worlds, beating Jack Sock 11-5, 12-10 in the final. Along the way he knocked out No. 1 seed Chris Haworth in the quarterfinals and Christian Alshon in the semifinals. It was his first Slam title and his second straight PPA Tour singles title, and he reportedly dropped no games all week.

Sock, the former tennis star, had beaten Federico Staksrud, Roscoe Bellamy and Hunter Johnson to reach the final, still chasing his first PPA Tour singles gold. The scoreline shows how close the second game got. Goins held his composure at 10-10 and closed it out.

USA Pickleball Delists CPX Hyper+

Off the court, the equipment office made the biggest noise. USA Pickleball revoked certification for the CPX Hyper+ elongated 14mm and 16mm paddles, announcing the removal on November 2. The paddles submitted for certification passed testing. Retail samples tested later produced significantly different deflection and PBCoR results. In The Dink's words, they played "too hot."

Existing Hyper+ paddles can still be used for recreational play, open play and tournaments that don't require USAP certification, but they are not legal in USAP-sanctioned events. USAP officials say financial penalties against CPX are "in consideration," though none has been announced. CPX acknowledged that some production units exceeded certified specs. It is working on a replacement, the Hyper+ 2, which is undergoing recertification, and plans a rebate or replacement for affected players.

Mark Wahlberg Headlines the Celebrity Showdown

The off-court buzz belonged to the MUNICIPAL Celebrity Pickleball Showdown presented by Corient, played Thursday evening, November 5 on Powerball Championship Court. Mark Wahlberg, who co-founded the title-sponsor brand MUNICIPAL, led the field alongside Sean O'Malley, Jeremy Piven, Isabelle Harrison, John Isner, Richard Rawlings and Lauren Riihimaki, each paired with PPA pros.

Team Wahlberg, with O'Malley, Harrison and Ben Johns, edged Team Piven in a DreamBreaker, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 4-11, 15-13. Pros who played reflected on how far the sport's entertainment and media profile has come in a year. Separately, MUNICIPAL has been named official apparel partner of the Dallas Flash for the 2027 MLP season.

For more on his pickleball side, see our feature Mark Wahlberg's Pickleball Era.

The Week in One Read

Youth is arriving at the top of the draw, with Shimabukuro at 15 and Goins at 18. Waters' record keeps moving, and the equipment rules are being enforced in public. The celebrity crossover is now part of the tour's main-stage programming.