Labor Day weekend indicates many things; the kids go back to school, the NFL starts up, and suddenly it's in the 60s in the morning on the east coast after weeks of heat and humidity.
In the pickleball world, Labor Day weekend also now signifies two major shifts on the Pro calendar: the end of the Major League Pickleball season and the start of the Professional Pickleball ****** ociation season. It took a couple years of schedule manipulation, but once MLP and PPA joined forces under the UPA umbrella, they've endeavored to define "seasons" for each entity, and the PPA starts its 2026-27 season right now with a Grand Slam event in Cary, North Carolina.
(Note: I will be onsite in North Carolina this coming Wednesday; if you're reading this and will also be there then I look forward to meeting and catching up).
Here's some On the Court storylines to watch as we return to the tour this season. I'll cover more of the business side/Off the Court story lines in another post, but will allude to some of those stories below.
Gabe Tardio (L) and Ben Johns (R) enter the new season as dominant No. 1s.

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