The Race: How PPA Virginia Beach affects Finals

Opens, Cups, and Slams all have different point values that contribute to race totals. The Race differs from the 52-week ranking which is a rolling accumulation from the past 52 weeks. This rank determines seeding and draw placements for each event.

Virginia Beach is worth 1,500 points for the winner, 1,200 points for 2nd place, and 900 points for bronze. There are also points for appearing in any bracket level, starting with round of 64, as follows:

Here’s how players need to perform over the next few events (particularly Virginia Beach and World Championships, which have the most points) to make the cutoff for finals.

Women’s Singles

The current top 6 players (Anna Leigh, Lea, Brooke, Catherine, Kaitlyn, and Salome) are solidly locked in, with highly unlikely chances they’ll be knocked out. This leaves current spots 8-12 flexible enough to make the cutoff.

Lina Padegimaite & Lacy Schneemann and below are out of contention, barring something catastrophic for current seeds #6-8. Kate Fahey has a very low chance as well, as she’d need 2,400 points to match Mary Brascia in 8th place. Being in Anna Leigh’s bracket in Virginia Beach, and AL also playing at Worlds, Kate would need at least a bronze in the 4 remaining matches in order to make finals.

In Virginia Beach, Kaitlyn and Salome don’t have to pass through Anna Leigh on their path to finals, giving them a good chance to medal and further advance in the race, as they’re only separated by 350 points. Mary Brascia is not playing this event, but being 1,600 points ahead of 9th place Judit Castillo, she’s comfortably secure for now. But she won’t be able to miss many more events, or the field will catch up.

Men’s Singles

Fed by far leads the pack in Race points here, and Ben, Connor, Dylan, and Tyson are solidly “in” for the finals. Even with his injuries and past singles withdrawals, it’s almost impossible for Tyson to be knocked out of finals contention.

Quang and Christian have been struggling with injuries, both having withdrawn from singles in past events. They’re currently tied for points in 6th place, so every event they play matters. Either could surpass Tyson just by showing up.

Jack Sock hasn’t seen the medal stand since Red Rock in April, but he’s on the cusp of making top 8 with a few more events, even if he doesn’t medal in those. Neither Jack nor Chris Haworth are playing Virginia Beach, which hurts both for their chances of catching up to the field, especially as everyone currently ahead of them will be playing this event. Hunter Johnson will tie Haworth in The Race just by playing Virginia Beach and making it to round of 16.

Christian, Tyson, and Jaume all have to get through Ben Johns to make it to finals in Virginia Beach, while QD, Connor, and Dylan have to defeat Fed.

Men’s Doubles

In gendered doubles, Top 16 players are taken to the Finals event (worth noting: if a top 16 player’s preferred partner is not top 16, they cannot be chosen. Partners must be selected from top 16 seeds in Race points).

If a player makes it to quarters in the next 4 events, they would earn 1,100 points - double that if they make it to semis in all 4 events. Even James Ignatowich will struggle to crack top 16 without a semifinal appearance or two. With Thomas Wilson out for the foreseeable future (no news there), Riley and CG will assuredly secure a top 16 spot.

Tyler, partnering with CG for Virginia Beach and Worlds, needs to make semi-finals in both events, plus James and Riley to do poorly, to make the cutoff.

Otherwise, we don’t anticipate much of shift in rank and everyone Jaume and above is pretty much a lock.

Women’s Doubles

In this race, really only the 16th spot is up for grabs. Vivienne is not likely to drop points, as she frequently gets good partners and makes deep runs in the bracket. Jackie, Allyce, and Jade are neck-and-neck in points, and it may come down to who makes quarters more consistently and takes advantage of any weak draws they’re lucky enough to get.

In Virginia Beach, Jackie (16) is partnering with Lacy (11); Allyce (17) is teamed up with Hurricane Tyra (8); and Jade (18) is partnering with Parris (13).

Mixed Doubles

In mixed, Top 8 men and Top 8 women make finals; both their rankings are shown separately below.

Ok, we know they’re good but dang it if it doesn’t take your breath away a little, seeing Ben Johns sitting 12,000 points ahead of JW in 2nd place! There’s a wide margin in women’s, too, with 6k points between AL and AB — but that men’s margin is just astounding.

On the men’s side, if Thomas Wilson (3rd) still comes back this year, he has enoug points to make finals. Even though spots 5-7 are not mathmatically locked, realistically those players will accumulate enough points to put them out of reach just by making it to the round of 16 in the remaining events. Unless— someway, somehow— Riley, Andrei, or Jack can figure out how to beat Ben & Anna Leigh… multiple times. It’s just not gonna happen.

On the women’s side, the last two spots are tightly contested with just 125 points separating spots 7-9. Even Lea in 10th has the chance to make up the difference with a good partner and a couple deep runs. Can Jessie hold onto her #7 spot, and keep Rachel at bay?

In Virginia Beach, Lea (10) is playing with Hayden (T-8) who she has made it to quarters with several times in recent past. Hayden needs the deep run, too, to break his tie for 8th with Tyson. Etta (9) plays with our guy Tyler (28) and we expect they’ll have to face Ben & AL in Round of 16. Jessie (7) and Gabe (10) have to get through Dylan & Vivienne to make it to quarters where they’d likely meet up with Ben & AL. Rachel (8) and Fed (6) can easily make R16, but will face a tough matchup with Riley (11) & Jackie (13) to get to quarters.

As close as it is, the final cutlist in mixed will probably come down to who gets the most favorable draws in the remaining events.

Check out the 100th episode with Jason Aspes:

Next Pod: Wednesday, October 2nd @ 10 a.m. MT