PPA Tour’s 100th Tournament Highlights Pickleball’s Unprecedented Growth, Bright Future

Over the past weekend, the PPA Tour held the Jenius Bank Pickleball World Championships at Brookhaven Country Club in the US. The tournament is notable for bringing together one of the largest playing fields ever—some 3,500 players competed in the tourney—in pickleball history. It is also noteworthy because it marked a major milestone: the Jenius Bank Pickleball World Championships is the PPA Tour’s 100th tournament.

That number is staggering, especially when you consider that the inaugural PPA tournament in Mesa, AZ, in February 2020 brought together 600 picklers and about 2,000 fans. Now, just five years later, the PPA Tour’s 100th tournament drew 500% more players and was witnessed by some 55,000 spectators—an unprecedented increase, to say the least, that shows just how much the sport has grown.

Connor Pardoe, Founder and CEO of the PPA Tour, is hardly surprised. But he is nonetheless quite thankful for everyone that has made the tour a smashing success and the sport nothing short of a sensation, both in the US and all around the world.

“I think we all knew where pickleball could head, but the fact that we got here so quick, everybody should be real proud. It’s been a big team effort, and we’re just really grateful to have all you guys here,” said Pardoe when he addressed the fans who trooped to Nature’s Choice Championship Court to catch top-level pickleball action. “The game is just really special. It’s something that you can do with everybody, whether you’re playing with your father or I play with my six-year-old kids now. We feel like our job has just been like, ‘How can we make the sport grow faster? How can we create a platform that is enjoyable for all you guys as fans?’ I’m glad you guys have been able to join the journey with us…”

A ‘Pretty Amazing’ Journey for the PPA Tour

While Pardoe fully believed in the sport’s potential, he admitted in a Pickleballtv interview over the weekend that he didn’t think pickleball would grow at this supercharged rate.

“Did I ever think we were going to get here? Absolutely. I was a big believer right from the beginning,” Pardoe told Pickleballtv hosts Kamryn Blackwood and Matt Manasse. “I fell in love with pickleball like a lot of players, right? I started playing, started getting exposed to the game, loved it, wanted to play it as much as possible, and eventually had the vision of thinking, ‘Hey, pickleball could become a professional sport.’ But one thing’s for sure, I didn’t think that it was going to grow this fast, this quick, so five years has been pretty amazing.”

The PPA Tour’s five-year journey thus far has, indeed, been amazing, and it mirrors the equally amazing journey of pickleball as a whole. Over those five years, the sport has grown exponentially, not just in the US but also globally—so much so that the PPA Tour now has the PPA Tour Asia, and tournaments like the 2025 Pickleball World Cup are attracting players from countries on every continent.

So, yes, this journey has been pretty amazing. The exciting thing is that this same journey isn’t ending anytime soon. In fact, it might just be getting started.