Dallas was the center of the pickleball universe this week. Team USA ran the table at the first-ever MLP Nations Cup, then Worlds kicked off on the same courts and immediately served up an upset.
Meanwhile MLP grew to 21 teams and USA Pickleball yanked two paddles off the approved list. Grab your water bottle.
MLP: Team USA Owns the Nations Cup
The inaugural MLP Nations Cup went to Team USA, who swept Team Latin America 3-0 in Sunday’s final (Nov 1) at Brookhaven Country Club, 11-9, 11-1, 11-6.
The roster: Ben Johns, CJ Klinger, Will Howells, Anna Bright, Tyra Black and Kate Fahey, captained by Johnny Goldberg. They went undefeated through three group matches and the semis.
“I felt like we were playing our best pickleball in that last match,” Goldberg told Pickleball.com. Royal Pickleball adds that the US beat Europe–East 3-1 in the semis.
Latin America (Mari Humberg, Alexa Schull, Charlie Treviño, Eric Oncins, Nico Acevedo, Rafa Lenhard) made the final after dropping its Friday opener to Europe–East.
That 11-1 middle game? Somebody got pickled on international stage.
Houston Hammers make it 21
On Oct 28, MLP announced that the Houston Hammers join for 2027 as the league’s 21st team, under an ownership group led by Hugh Zhang. The plan includes hosting a 2027 league event in Houston, keeping the CSP Champion senior team, and fielding a Jr. Hammers squad.
“Houston is one of the top pickleball markets in the country,” Zhang said in the release.
The franchise has a long name history: Team Clean, Clean Cause, Frisco Clean Cause, Frisco Pandas, then Nashville Chefs, and it sat out 2026, per Times Now. Roster process, keeper deadlines and the draft date are still TBA.
College: Utah Tech Pulls Off the Comeback
At the College World Championship (Oct 30–Nov 1, Brookhaven), Utah Tech 1 repeated as champ by beating top-seeded FAU 1 3-2, per DUPR’s recap.
FAU led 2-0 in games and 20-11 in the DreamBreaker, one point from the title. Utah Tech won it anyway, which DUPR calls the largest comeback in College Pickleball Tour history. Ice in the veins.
PPA Tour: Worlds Is On (and Already Spicy)
The Opendoor Pickleball World Championships run Nov 2–8 at Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch, Texas. It’s a 3,000-point PPA Major with a $1,648,641 total payout. Finals are Sunday, Nov 8.
No champions yet. As of Nov 4, the live results tracker had women’s doubles into the quarterfinals and men’s singles at the Round of 16.
The upset of the week
In Tuesday’s men’s singles Round of 64, No. 59 seed Jaxon Madsen beat No. 8 Connor Garnett 11-7, 5-11, 11-1, per World Pickleball Magazine. An 11-1 decider against a top-eight seed is the kind of thing that ruins brackets.
Same report: Pretorius (61) took out Chao Yi Wang (5) on the women’s side, which saw ten upsets in the round. Ben Johns, Anna Leigh Waters, Federico Staksrud and Christopher Haworth all advanced.
Also through: Johns and Waters opened mixed with an 11-3, 11-2 win over Brooke Caruso and Kyle Koszuta, per the results feed.
Toughest guy in the draw
Hong Kong’s Jack Wong won his opening singles and mixed matches on Tuesday, two days after his car was hit and overturned in Dallas on Nov 1, Open Scoring reported, citing Pickleball.com and VnExpress. He escaped with small cuts from broken glass. Absolute dog.
Watching Worlds from the couch? Our Just One More Game tee is the official uniform of “one more match, then bed.” (It’s never one more.)
Next PPA stop: the Proton Daytona Beach Open, Nov 16–22 in Holly Hill, Florida.
Still simmering: the taunting debate
Not new this week, but not going away either: should the pros ban taunting? Per Royal Pickleball’s roundup, it started when Maria Ford’s post-point screaming in her PPA Chicago Cup win over Genie Bouchard went viral. Commentator Jim Kloss proposed an anti-taunting rule with escalating penalties, and Anna Bright and Kate Fahey pushed back. No tour has adopted a new rule.
APP Tour
A quiet week. The APP’s next US pro stop is the Arizona Open, Nov 12–15, per Royal Pickleball.
USA Pickleball: Nationals + a Paddle Pull
Nationals are live in San Diego
The Oceanview USA Pickleball National Championships run Oct 31–Nov 8 at Barnes Tennis Center, the second straight year in San Diego. General admission is free, and matches stream online and on QVC+, per Royal Pickleball.
CPX Hyper+ paddles removed
On Nov 2, USA Pickleball said it removed the CPX Hyper+ 14mm and 16mm from the certified list. Compliance testing found a significant difference in PBCoR and deflection between the units submitted for certification and the mass-production paddles sold to players. CPX is working on new versions under a new model name.
If you own one, check before your next sanctioned tournament.
Gear Watch
New approvals are flowing in under the spin-rate era. Since Oct 1, 2026, new paddle submissions must measure 2,100 RPM or less, per USA Pickleball.
Added to the approved paddle list this week:
– Oct 29: Spartus Spitfire Hybrid
– Oct 30: Onix Aeris, Nord Paddle Nord, and VANTA’s Strike, Apex and Velocity
– Nov 1: TENFESSO HZ2026-01
– Nov 3: six Decathlon paddles (Control, Power and Hybrid, each in Pro and DYN versions)
On shapes: Selkirk plans to move away from widebody designs over time, with more hybrid shapes expected around mid-2027, Selkirk’s Rob Barnes said on Nico the Lefty’s YouTube series, as reported via The Dink. The upcoming Boomstik ST will still come in widebody and elongated.
And DUPR named InBody its official body composition tech partner on Nov 3, with grip-strength testing at select events, per Open Scoring.
Grassroots Corner
The game keeps spreading worldwide. In China, the fifth Changsha County Games pickleball competition opened Nov 2 with 48 teams and runs through Nov 11. In Vietnam, the Education and Times Newspaper Cup in Quang Tri opens Nov 6 with 66 pairs registered. Both via Open Scoring.
The Takeaway
Team USA proved it can win as a team, Worlds proved seeds are just suggestions, and USA Pickleball proved it’s actually checking the paddles off the shelf. Watch Sunday’s Worlds finals, and check your paddle before your next tournament.
🎅 Gift-list shortcut: the Santas Favorite Pickleball Player crewneck sweatshirt. For the player who’s definitely on the nice list (ignore the kitchen violations).