2026 Pickleball World Championships recap: JW Johnson, Tama Shimabukuro break through at Worlds
This week’s Pickleball World Championships brought together thousands of amateurs and hundreds of pros for the biggest pickleball festival of the year in the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch, Texas.
Spectators at Brookhaven Country Club and viewers at home witnessed incredible matches across every pro division, with plenty of surprises and upsets along the way.
The excitement level on site reached its peak Sunday afternoon during the men’s doubles final between JW Johnson/Tama Shimabukuro and Christian Alshon/Andrei Daescu.
Alshon/Daescu, who beat the top seeds Ben Johns/Gabe Tardio in the semifinals, got off to a fast start, taking the first two games 11-5, 11-5.
As the final went on, though, the 15-year-old Shimabukuro seemed to gain more and more confidence, and the No. 4 seeds won three straight games 11-4, 11-8, 11-4 to get their first title together.
And it was the biggest one they could win — with 3,000 world ranking points on the line, Worlds is the most important tournament on the PPA Tour calendar.
A year ago at Worlds, Shimabukuro was playing on the Major League Pickleball Junior All-Star team. This time around he was on the biggest stage against the best competition in the world.
“This is crazy, I never thought I’d be here the next year winning this event,” he said. “JW went crazy at the end of that match, and I think I lost my voice hyping him up.”
This week marked the fifth tournament together for Johnson and Shimabukuro, and Johnson said after the match that they’ve been steadily improving with each event.
“Every single tournament we just get more and more comfortable with each other and used to each other’s games,” Johnson said. “That’s really helped us the past couple events and this week especially.”
Johnson recently made headlines by becoming the No. 1 rated DUPR player in the world — slightly ahead of Ben Johns. He certainly played like it this week, and I talked to several people on site who said they’ve noticed Johnson taking his game to a new level in recent months.
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His mom and coach, Julie Johnson, credited JW’s progress to the most recent Major League Pickleball season.
“The Dallas Flash have been great to him and have created a network of people around him who he really trusts and enjoys being around, and he loves the new partnership with Tama,” she said. “So he just has a lot of good people around him right now who are pushing him and encouraging him, and I think that’s made a big difference. He’s always been willing to work super hard, and it’s been a lot of fun to see him get rewarded for all the effort he puts in.”
Ben Johns, Anna Leigh Waters win 4th straight mixed title at Worlds
Ben Johns & Anna Leigh Waters won their fourth straight mixed title at Worlds with a back-and-forth 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 3-11, 11-4 win over JW and Jorja Johnson in Sunday’s final.
The match lasted more than 2 hours with extended rallies seemingly every point. The Johnsons had a great opportunity to take control of the match in Game 3, as they jumped out to a 7-1 lead. Johns and Waters slowly chipped away, though, and took advantage of a couple late errors by the Johnsons to steal that game 11-9.
“The Johnsons played insane,” Waters said after the match. “I was grinding with Jorja for what felt like hours sometimes in these points. … I couldn’t do it without Ben. It’s been a long week and this puts the cherry on top for sure.”
Their four Worlds titles show just how dominant Johns and Waters have been over the years — many challengers have emerged, but they’ve always found a way to stay on top.
2023: Johns/Waters def. Anna Bright/James Ignatowich 11-6, 11-5, 11-3.
2024: Johns/Waters def. Christian Alshon/Etta Tuionetoa 11-9, 11-5, 11-2.
2025: Johns/Waters def. Johnson/Johnson 11-7, 11-4, 11-7.
2026: Johns/Waters def. Johnson/Johnson 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 3-11, 11-4.
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“I know most people haven’t been around the sport as long as I have — 10 years now — so just to see what it was at the beginning to where it is now, that doesn’t go unappreciated,” Johns said. “It’s very cool to think about it from that perspective. I appreciate everyone being here and I appreciate what this sport has given us all.”
Waters wins 46th Triple Crown
Waters went on to win her 46th Triple Crown on the PPA Tour with wins in women’s doubles and women’s singles later in the day.
In women’s doubles Waters and Anna Bright defeated Catherine Parenteau/Sofia Sewing 11-4, 11-9, 11-5 to win their 18th title together this year and second consecutive gold medal at Worlds.
“We’ve really been coming together and trusting each other in those big moments,” Bright said after the match. “We’re so thankful to have so much help on the bench to keep us grounded and thinking about the right things. There’s nobody else I’d love to battle with more.”
In women’s singles, Waters topped Kate Fahey 11-3, 11-2 to win her fourth straight women’s singles title at Worlds and 10th singles title of 2026. It was also her 300th match win in women’s singles on the PPA Tour — her last loss was in May 2024.
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John Lucian Goins earns second straight singles title
John Lucian Goins has been on an absolute tear in men’s singles this fall. Last month he won the Virginia Beach Open without dropping a single game in six matches, and he did the same this week at Worlds — which was particularly impressive given the players he faced this week.
In the quarterfinals he took down No. 1 seed Chris Haworth 11-5, 11-5, then beat Christian Alshon 11-4, 11-9 in the semifinals. On Championship Sunday he topped Jack Sock 11-5, 12-10.
The 18-year-old Goins praised those helping him on his bench — specifically his mom and fellow pro player Anouar Braham — for their support during his recent stretch of success.
“There’s so much that goes into it behind the scenes, even with things like keeping me on track with school and making sure I’m stretching after all my matches,” Goins said.
The gold medal at Worlds was the fourth gold of Goins’ career and his first in a “Slam” — his other wins have all come in “Open” events, which aren’t worth as many points.
Up-and-coming pros earn PPA contracts through Challenger Showdown
For the second straight year, the PPA Tour held the “Challenger Showdown” at Worlds, which gave up-and-coming pros a chance to earn PPA Tour contracts for the 2027 season.
Below are all the players who won their division and will compete full time on the tour next year.
Riley Inn and Alex Emery (men’s doubles champions)
Matt Burkhardt (men’s singles champion)
Allie Reichert and Madalina Grigoriu (women’s doubles champions)
Eileen Wang (women’s singles champion)
Anne-Sophie Courteau and Juan Varon (mixed doubles champions)
Every division was extremely competitive, featuring the top players in the points standings from this year’s PPA Challenger Series events. Many of the players who won contracts have played in and won main draw matches in regular PPA Tour tournaments at some point this year.
“This week has been a roller coaster of emotions,” Varon said after winning the Challenger Showdown mixed doubles title. “I took pickleball very seriously this year and was able to play in a lot of events, and I feel like I’ve been stepping up my game lately. There’s definitely been some ups and downs, but this was a really good opportunity and I’m glad we could take advantage.”
