STORYLINES FOR THE SELECT MEDICAL ORANGE COUNTY CUP PRESENTED BY FITVINE WINES

THAT 70’S SHOW: Perfect weather in Orange County with highs in the mid 70s.
3’S COMPANY: Anna Leigh Waters is defending her triple crown from 2023.
ROAR-A-BACHER: Rachel is back in the singles draw and looking for huge results in doubles.
CHANCE OF A LIFE TIME: Prestigious title to win at one of the sport’s most iconic venues.
MY CUP RUNNETH OVER 1500 TIMES: A Cup is worth 1,500 points to the winner, coveted for seeding and qualifying for the year end CIBC PPA Finals.

Event #13 of the year – one of the Cups and a Progressive draw (play each discipline each day).
First of two trips to San Clemente – back for the CIBC PPA Finals in December.
Broadcast start times are 11am Pacific Wednesday through Sunday.
National windows: Wednesday night on ESPN2 from 8-10 Eastern and Championship Sunday on Tennis Channel from 2-8 Eastern.
Coverage on Pickleball TV (Prime Video, Roku, Samsung TV Plus, and many more).

Defending medalists: Waters, Parenteau, Castillo
ALW has but one loss in singles all year.
Bouchard (23) vs. Tereschenko (13) potential tennis star vs. pickle OG matchup in round of 32.
Parenteau (2) still mining for gold in singles in ’24.
WATCH OUT FOR: Judit Castillo (8), ’23 bronze medalist, can she make a deep run?

Defending medalists: McGuffin, Garnett, Shick
Staksrud is back to the top seed and brings double gold in his luggage from Sacramento.
Gabe Joseph (8) is always dangerous in California – he won at Los Cab in ’23.
Ben Johns is undefeated as a 2 seed, winning in Atlanta – will he strike again?
WATCH OUT FOR: Chris Haworth (11) – only player to beat Fed before Sunday all year and just missed gold against Johns in Texas.

Defending medalists: Waters/Johns, Parenteau/McGuffin, Bright/Ignatowich
Ben Johns goes for his 50^th mixed doubles title, a record by a mile (ALW is at 36).
Lea Jansen and Riley Newman (5) team up with firepower galore – can they gel?
No Viv David or Thomas Wilson in this tournament.
WATCH OUT FOR: Parenteau/Alshon (7) – 2^nd tourney for these two with Sock out of the draw – lost to ALW/Johns at Desert Ridge 11-6 in the 3^rd in the quarters.

Defending medalists: Bright/Waters, Tereschenko/Wright, Kovalova/Smith
Bright and Rohrabacher (2) got rocked by Waters/Parenteau (1) in Sacramento – won just 8 points in a 3/5. Would like another shot (but a lot of pickle to be played for this rematch).
Dizon and Wright (4) are back as Dizon has recovered from her illness that caused her to scratch in Sacramento.
Brascias (11) in their backyard have a potentially tough round of 16 vs. Black/Todd (5).
WATCH OUT FOR: Buckner/Wang (13) – can they pull off an upset?

Defending medalists: Johns/Johns, Newman/Wright, Ignatowich/McGuffin
Johns brothers (1) won 3 straight in April but haven’t hit the top of the podium since.
Wright/Staksrud (3) back for a second drive, grabbed silver in Atlanta.
Navratil/Newman (8) are quite the dangerous combo in their first PPA event.
WATCH OUT FOR: Patriquin/Tellez (5) – big H wants to build on his first PPA gold with the lefty Tellez – tough quarter with a motivated Johns duo.

*article is courtesy of PPA Tour