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

OVERALL TOP 5:

• 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. 

VENUE/TOURNEY/TV:

• 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).

WOMEN’S SINGLES:

• 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?  

MEN’S SINGLES:

• 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.

MIXED DOUBLES:

• 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.  

WOMEN’S DOUBLES:

• 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?

MEN’S DOUBLES:

• 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.