The PPA Tour was back in action in Cincinnati, Ohio, for the first time in two years. The tour skipped Cincinnati in 2024 due to the host venue, the Lindner Family Tennis Center, being under construction.

To display how different things are in the pro pickleball landscape from the tournament two years ago, take a look at Ben Johns. He earned his 100th medal at the PPA Baird Cincinnati Open in 2023, and now he has over 160 career medals on the PPA Tour.

The top news story, though, has to be Jade and Jackie Kawamoto winning their first ever gold medals on the PPA Tour.

Let’s get into the action.

Jade and Jackie Kawamoto earned their first gold medal of their careers in Cincinnati The identical twin sisters have been regarded by most pundits as top talents for the past two to three years, but have yet to find gold. Until Sunday.

The former University of Dayton Flyers Tennis players now both work full-time for the NCAA while also balancing playing pickleball professionally. Because of their jobs, they often playa  few less tournaments per year than the rest of the field. While Jade is a lefty and Jackie is a righty who prefers the left side, they don’t play doubles together all that often.   

In fact, the Kawamotos have played together in only three events in 2025. They made the quarterfinals in PPA Mesa in February. In April, they upset Rachel Rohrabacher and Anna Bright in North Carolina (their last tournament together) and took home a bronze medal. 

On Sunday, the Ka... FULL ARTICLE FOUND ON: https://www.thedinkpickleball.com/the-kawamotos-win-their-first-ever-gold-cincinnati-ppa-recap/