2026 Global Pro Pickleball Schedules Rounding Into Form

The Global pro pickleball landscape is rounding into form for 2026, with dozens of events announced and new partnerships guiding the pathway forward for the sport.

Various

The major pro entities operating in the sport have made a slew of announcements over the past few weeks, publishing their upcoming schedules of events and giving fans a highlight into how the 2026 season will look. We’ve also seen two major shifts from the two leading US-based pro tours (APP and PPA), which will drive a new look for both tours in the new calendar year and which we’ll cover in a moment.

Let’s take a quick peek at these schedule announcements, list the events we know by tour at this point, and highlight some fun stuff to look forward to in 2026. I’ll cover these in the rough order they were announced, starting in Mid August 2025.

I maintain a “Master Pro Event Calendar” in a publicly available Google XLS where all the below events are listed, week by week. I maintain this schedule as a scheduling aid to help with my coverage of the sport, and as a quick reference point for the Tournament Management Software links for each event. Please bookmark this resource and use it as well. In all cases below, the tournament date listed is the Sunday of the tournament weekend that the event ends.

Association of Pickleball Players 2026 Pro Schedule

The first pro organization to announce its 2026 slate was the Association of Pickleball Players (APP), who announced their core 2026 schedule in late August. The schedule consists of twelve (12) nationally televised APP Tour events, featuring familiar and brand-new tour stops, an expanded APP Next (Formerly APP NextGen) calendar, the recently announced APP Selkirk Collegiate Series, and Showcase Events such as the Women’s Open held annually in Columbus.

Here’s how their 2026 Pro tour slate looks:

• 2/22/2026 Daytona Beach, FL 2026 APP Daytona Beach Open
• 3/29/2026 Fort Lauderdale, FL 2026 APP Fort Lauderdale Open
• 5/3/2026 Sacramento, CA 2026 APP Sacramento Open
• 5/17/2026 Newport Beach, CA 2026 APP Southern California Open
• 5/31/2026 Virginia Beach, VA 2026 APP Virginia Beach Open
• 6/14/2026 Cincinnati, OH 2026 APP Vlasic Classic
• 7/26/2026 Chicago, IL 2026 APP Chicago Open
• 8/23/2026 Detroit, MI 2026 APP Detroit Open
• 9/20/2026 Overland Park, KS 2026 APP Overland Park Open
• 10/4/2026 Columbus, OH 2026 APP Women’s Open
• 10/18/2026 Louisville, KY 2026 APP Humana Louisville Open
• 11/1/2026 Mesa, AZ 2026 APP Arizona Open
• 11/15/2026 Location, Tbd 2026 APP Pro-Invite Event
• 12/6/2026 Fort Lauderdale, FL 2026 APP Championships/Atlantic Cup

Here’s a map showing the 2026 APP pro stops.

Observations on the APP’s schedule:

• The APP will be visiting some new locations; they’ve never been to Virginia Beach before, nor Detroit, Overland Park, or Louisville. In particular I’m looking forward to an APP event in nearby Virginia Beach, drivable from my home base.
• At the same time, they’ll be returning the 5th or 6th time to some popular venues, including Pictona in Daytona Beach, Johnson Ranch in Sacramento, The Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, the Newport Beach Tennis club in Southern California, Sawyer Point in Cincinnati, and of course the APP’s headquarters at the Fort in Fort Lauderdale.
• The Chicago Open moves out of its traditional Labor Day weekend spot for the first time; this was the very first official APP event held back in September 2020 and is thus the longest running APP event.
• The first seven events on the slate also double as official USA Pickleball Golden Ticket events, as part of the APP-USAP partnership signed last year. More on the USAP’s slate of events further down.

APP Next Slate for up-and-coming pros in 2026

APP is scheduled to hold six 2025 Next events for up and coming pros, and is looking at the same cadence for next year.

• 1/18/2026 Houston, TX 2026 APP Next Houston
• 2/15/2026 San Antonio, TX 2026 APP Next San Antonio
• 3/22/2026 Henderson, NV 2026 APP Next Las Vegas
• 6/21/2026 Grapevine, TX 2026 APP Next Dallas
• 8/2/2026 St. Louis, MO 2026 APP Next St. Louis
• 12/13/2026 Fort Lauderdale, FL 2026 APP Next Fort Lauderdale

Observations on the APP Next Schedule for 2026:

• The program has rebranded; it was formerly called APP NextGen, and is now just “APP Next.”
• The first five Next events are all hosted at Chicken N Pickle sites around the country, extending a great partnership with the leading eatertainment pickleball chain in the country.
• The APP may consider adding pro ranking points to its Next winners.

APP-Selkirk Collegiate Tour 2025-26

At around the same time the APP announced its 2026 slate, they also announced a partnership with three other groups (National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA), Selkirk Sport and USA Pickleball) to create the APP Selkirk Collegiate Series, aimed at growing collegiate pickleball in the USA.

• 10/26/2025 Boise, ID 2025 APP Selkirk Collegiate Qualifier – Idaho
• 11/9/2025 Mesa, AZ 2025 APP Selkirk Collegiate Qualifier – Arizona
• 11/16/2025 Thornton, CO 2025 APP Selkirk Collegiate Qualifier – Colorado
• 11/23/2025 Overland Park, KS 2025 APP Selkirk Collegiate Qualifier – Kansas
• 1/11/2026 Cape Coral, FL 2026 APP Selkirk Collegiate Qualifier – Florida
• 1/25/2026 Webster, TX 2026 APP Selkirk Collegiate Qualifier – Texas
• 2/1/2026 Hamilton, NJ 2026 APP Selkirk Collegiate Qualifier – New Jersey
• 3/8/2026 Cape Coral, FL 2026 3rd Annual APP Selkirk U.S. Collegiate Championships

Details of the new Collegiate Tour:

• The APP will host seven regional qualifiers across the country and culminate the season with the 2026 APP Selkirk U.S. Collegiate Championships hosted at The Courts, Cape Coral in March 2026.
• In total, college players will battle for $85,000 in prize money, including $5,000 per qualifier and $50,000 in the APP Selkirk U.S. Collegiate Championships.
• Chicken n Pickle will expand its existing partnership and will continue to be the primary host venue for the competition when playing in a town with a franchise location.

Collegiate Pickleball is a target area for multiple organizations, with now the APP, DUPR (by way of its newly created CPT) and the NCPA all now hosting intercollegiate events and championships. We will know more about the state of College Pickleball later in the fall as these organizations all announce their own national events coming in the spring of 2026.

USA Pickleball Slate of Golden Ticket Events for 2026 Nationals Qualification

Soon after the APP announced its pro slate, USA Pickleball announced its 2026 slate of events that will offer “Golden Tickets” to qualify for the 2026 USA Pickleball nationals, set for November 2026. There will be 14 such events in 2026, many of which are associated with USAP partner APP’s pro events.

Here’s the list, which started with the just-passed Great Lakes Open.

• Aug. 13–17, 2025 APP Great Lakes Open – Midland, Mich.
• Nov. 5–9, 2025 APP Mesa Open – Mesa, Ariz.
• Jan. 21–25, 2026 – USA Pickleball Golden Ticket in Glendale – Glendale, Ariz.
• Feb. 18–22, 2026 – APP Daytona Beach Open – Daytona Beach, Fla.
• Feb. 18–22, 2026 – USA Pickleball Golden Ticket in Las Vegas – Las Vegas, Nev.
• Mar. 25–29, 2026 – USA Pickleball Golden Ticket in Boise – Boise, Idaho
• Mar. 25–29, 2026 – APP Fort Lauderdale Open – Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
• April 22–26, 2026 – USA Pickleball Golden Ticket in San Diego – San Diego, Calif.
• April 29–May 3, 2026 – APP Sacramento Open – Sacramento, Calif.
• May 13–17, 2026 – APP Southern California Open – Newport Beach, Calif.
• May 27–31, 2026 – APP Virginia Beach Open – Virginia Beach, Va.
• June 3–7, 2026 – Golden Ticket – Wayne, N.J.
• June 10–14, 2026 – APP Vlasic Classic – Cincinnati – Cincinnati, Ohio
• June 24–28, 2026 – USA Pickleball Golden Ticket in Colorado Springs – Colorado Springs, Colo.
• July 8–12, 2026 – Golden Ticket – Seattle, Wash.
• July 22–26, 2026 – APP Chicago Open – Chicago, Ill.

Last year, UTR Sports hosted a few Golden Ticket events, but does not seem to be hosting any this year.. Every APP event up until June next year counts as a Golden Ticket event, as noted above.

Here’s a map of the geographic spread of USA Pickleball Golden Ticket events:

Observationally speaking, there seems to be one major region missing here: Texas. In years past there’s been complaints about missing the Pacific North west, or Denver, or the Northeast, but those areas at least have some coverage.

Professional Pickleball Association Pivot to a Fall-to-Spring 2025-26 Schedule

On September 10th, 2025, The PPA released its 2025-2026 schedule and announces a major shift in its “season” structure going forward. The tour will now operate on a fall-to-spring schedule, with its “season” ending in May, which then leads into its summer-based Major League Pickleball season, yet to be announced for 2026.

Here’s what the new 2025-26 slate will look like, starting with the Orange County Cup at the end of June:

• 6/22/2025 San Clemente, CA 2025 PPA Orange County Cup
• 8/10/2025 Bristol, TN 2025 Bristol Open
• 8/31/2025 Las Vegas, NV PPA 2025 Walgreens Open
• 9/14/2025 Cincinnati, OH 2025 Veolia Cincinnati Showcase
• 9/28/2025 Sacramento, CA 2025 Pickleball Central Wood Paddle Open
• 10/12/2025 Virginia Beach, VA 2025 Virginia Beach Cup
• 10/26/2025 Las Vegas, NV 2025 Rate Vegas Cup
• 11/9/2025 Dallas, TX 2025 UPA World Championships
• 11/23/2025 Lakeland, FL 2025 Lakeland Open
• 12/21/2025 Holly Hill, FL 2025 Daytona Beach Open
• 1/18/2026 Palm Springs, CA 2026 PPA Masters
• 1/25/2026 Lakeville, MN 2026 National Indoor Championships
• 2/15/2026 Cape Coral, FL 2026 PPA Cape Coral Open
• 2/22/2026 Mesa, AZ 2026 Mesa Cup
• 3/8/2026 Newport Beach, CA 2026 Newport Beach Open
• 3/15/2026 McKinney, TX 2026 Texas Open
• 3/29/2026 St. George, UT 2026 Greater Zion Cup
• 4/12/2026 Nashville, TN 2026 Nashville Open
• 4/19/2026 Sacramento, CA 2026 Sacramento Open
• 5/3/2026 Peachtree Corners, GA 2026 Atlanta Pickleball Championships
• 5/10/2026 San Clemente, CA 2026 PPA Tour Finals

Here’s some schedule observations:

• This is a ton of events on the PPA touring pros. That’s 10 events just between January and May 2026, before heading into (presumably) a 10-week slate for the 2026 MLP season.
• There’s a real focus on two main areas: Southern California and Florida. Two events hit the PPA’s headquarters city of Dallas, with a bit of eastern mid-Atlantic sites.
• The 2025 Tour Finals in San Clemente has been cancelled, moved to June 2026 in support of this move.
• In a fun wrinkle, the Atlanta Slam and its 2000 points has the possibility to drastically shake up the Tour Finals race. In the past few years, there’s been little drama as to who was qualifying for the Finals, but this year we could see huge runs in Peachtree Corners.
• The points calculation for Tour Finals qualification will start with the June Orange County Cup.
• This slate currently calls for four “Majors” or Slams: Cincinnati, Worlds, The Masters, and Atlanta. These are the same as what was scheduled originally in 2025.
• Cups or 1500 level events are planned for Virginia Beach, Vegas, Mesa, and St. George for now. PPA freely upgrades 1000-level events to 1500 with more prize money if it comes in. which is what happened at the just-held Cincinnati Slam last weekend.
• I see a couple new spots the PPA hasn’t been: Lakeland, Florida and Nashville. Otherwise, most of these spots are now experienced PPA host sites.

APP Partners with several International Organizations to have a Global Unified Tour

On August 27th, 2025, the APP, which had previously announced partnerships with Global Sports in India and Pickleball England, added partnerships with several other
international organizations to launch the first Global Professional Pickleball tour. The APP adds partnerships with the Canadian National Pickleball League (CNPL), the European Pickleball Federation (EPF), India’s Global Sports, Australia’s National Pickleball League (NPL), Pickleball England, and Vietnam’s Pickleball D-Joy to form the alliance.

Here’s what this new slate of international events now looks like for 2026:

• 1/25/2026 Tbd, Australia 2026 Australia Open
• 2/8/2026 Mumbai, India 2026 Indian Open
• 3/15/2026 Dubai, UAE 2026 GSP Event Dubai
• 3/22/2026 Tbd, Vietnam 2026 D-Joy Vietnam event
• 6/21/2026 Tbd, Vietnam 2026 D-Joy Vietnam event
• 8/2/2026 Mumbai, India 2026 Monsoon Pickleball Open
• 8/16/2026 Telford, ENG 2026 English Open, powered by the APP
• 9/6/2026 Tbd, Canada 2026 Canadian Open
• 9/13/2026 Tbd, Vietnam 2026 D-Joy Vietnam event
• 10/11/2026 TBD, England 2026 European Open
• 10/25/2026 Dubai, UAE 2026 Dubai Open
• 12/20/2026 Tbd, India 2026 Indian Grand Slam

International Event observations:

• The APP’s events in the US have no overlap, allowing APP players to freely travel to these events.
• There will be a global ranking system kicked off in conjunction with this slate.
• A number of these events are well established right now; the 2025 English Open had more than 2,300 players earlier this year, and Global Sports’ recurring Indian Open and Monsoon Open are amongst the biggest events in the region.
• The Australian Open seemingly has switched allegiances; it was a PPA-affiliated event this year but breaks away, a pattern we’re seeing as the PPA seems more likely to compete with established organizations rather than partner.
• The slate calls for three Vietnamese events held with D-Joy.

Placeholders for Remaining Independent Majors US Open and USA Pickleball Nationals

Two of the longest running properties in the sport remain kicking, and remain unaffiliated with the APP, PPA, or any other organization for now. Here’s the two placeholders for the US Open and USA Pickleball Nationals for 2026:

• 4/19/2026 Naples, FL 2026 10th Annual Minto US Open
• 11/22/2026 Site, TBD 2026 USA Pickleball Nationals

The APP has respected these two dates in its calendar, while the PPA has not and has scheduled competing events on both dates for several years now. The site for USA Pickleball Nationals has bounced around the past few years and is TBD for 2026. For years it was at Indian Wells, and will be in San Diego later this year, so it remains to be seen what 2026 will hold.

We still have a few organizations set to announce their slates for 2026, so there’s more to come.

• PPA Asia has yet to announce any events past September 2025 and has held a slew of events already this year, many of which have drawn established PPA touring pros. Same with PPA Australia, which has a solid base of events to build upon.
• The Indian Pro leagues seems set for 2026; the WPBL will run for a couple of weeks in Jan-Feb 2026. Meanwhile, Global Sports just held its pro draft, which includes a slew of US-based players that aren’t exclusively signed to the UPA. There’s 10 teams of players set, though their actual playing schedule remains to be seen. GSP, with this league plus their major events, remains a driving factor contributing to the non-UPA/non-PPA vision of pro pickleball.
• There’s also the busy WPC tournament series, but it’s hard to tell if these are “pro” level events drawing the top talent in the region.
• PWR came into being last year with a huge flourish, then cancelled all its planned events and leagues. Will it return?
• The various Senior Pro tours and leagues in the United States (NPL, SPT, USLPL, and USSP) are not covered in this document; I’m hoping to do a run-down of the “state” of senior pro pickleball at some point in the future after attending the USLPL combine last month.
• There should be more Collegiate events announced as we get closer to a 2026 spring schedule from DUPR/CPT and the NCPA.
• Lastly, Major League Pickleball 2026 clearly is set to start at the end of the PPA 2025-26 slate, but obviously we have no schedule at this time. MLP Australia also should run 2026 events, and has become a great showcase for talent in the region.

2026 is looking like a step up in events for the sport globally; we look forward to keeping up and seeing where these new alliances and new structures take us.