Yuta Funamizu, who came up through soft tennis, closed out a match against Ben Johns, the man at the top of the US pro tour, without ever letting him find a foothold. The stage was the Veolia Arizona Open, a PPA Tour event held in Mesa, Arizona, in the week of September 18, 2026. In the round of 16 in men's doubles, the 15th-seeded pair of Nico Acevedo and Funamizu put out Johns and Federico Staksrud, the world's top-ranked team, 11-4, 11-5 in just 34 minutes. The scoreline said plainly that a Japanese player can go toe to toe with the best in the world, and better.
Inside a match that ended 11-4, 11-5
The venue was a large complex in Mesa. With Gabe Tardio, his usual partner, out of the country, Johns was pairing with Staksrud for the first time at this event. The margins were 11-4 in the first game and 11-5 in the second. It never became a contest, and the match lasted only 34 minutes. That the other side was an improvised pairing counts for a lot, but on the scoreline alone this was a clean sweep, a win of real value over a team ranked above them. The original report, too, casts it as an "upset."
What decided it was the work at the net. Acevedo kept Johns moving with cross-court dinks, the soft exchanges just in front of the net, while Funamizu absorbed the heavy hitting with the soft counters he built in soft tennis. For a Johns pair wanting to speed the game up, this let-them-hit-then-break-them style was an awkward match-up. Having had no time to build any chemistry as a new pairing looks like part of why nothing clicked.
What makes the Acevedo-Funamizu pair strong
This win was no accident. The two took the title at the Wilson PPA Challenger this spring, and as members of the Miami Pickleball Club they have beaten strong teams such as Desk/Klinger and Martinez Vich/Devilliers. Seeded 15th, they look, if anything, rated modestly against what they have built. This match showed that the ability behind it carries against the very top of the world.
Funamizu built a career at national-team level in soft tennis and has shifted his focus to pickleball over the past few years. Japanese players who get results on the North American tour are still few, and beating the world's best head-on gives players in Japan who have only just picked up the sport something concrete to aim at.
The match in numbers
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Tournaments | Veolia Arizona Open (PPA Tour, Mesa, Arizona) |
| Event and round | Men's doubles, round of 16 |
| Winner | Nico Acevedo / Yuta Funamizu (15th seed) |
| Loser | Ben Johns / Federico Staksrud |
| Score | 11-4, 11-5 (first to two games) |
| Match time | 34 minutes |
| Next event | Face Casey Diamond / Tyson McGuffin (9th seed) in the quarterfinals |
How fans and the local scene took it
Among English-language pickleball outlets and fans, the one-sidedness of the scoreline drew most of the surprise. Many pointed to the absence of Tardio, Johns's regular partner, and the lack of chemistry that came with it, as a factor on his side. Others rated the way Acevedo and Funamizu won as no fluke and named the two as a pairing to watch in doubles this season. On Funamizu himself, fans in Japan have pointed to the touch he brings from soft tennis as his weapon.
The route to winning that pickleball opens for soft tennis players
What this match shows is that pickleball is not a sport decided by physicality. Even giving up power, a player with control in front of the net and the technique to neutralize heavy hitting has a route to beating the very best. For anyone who came up in soft tennis, rubber-ball tennis or table tennis, the touch sports with deep participation in Japan, the result backs up the idea that pickleball leaves plenty of room to grow after switching over.
From a coaching or school-operating standpoint, too, a design that brings in adults who already have a feel for the court, rather than only juniors who improve quickly early on, tends to work better for producing players who win. With courts and schools increasing across Japan, how to take in players from existing racket sports is becoming the theme for local clubs looking to get stronger.
What it means for the tour and for the Japanese market
The PPA Tour has seen a run of reshuffles among its top pairs going into the new season, and a period when settled chemistry comes apart is an opening for outsiders. If more Japanese players make their names at international events the way Funamizu has, interest in domestic tournament sponsorship, gear demand and broadcast or streaming tends to rise along with it. A player's win helps widen pickleball in Japan as something to watch.
Related moves and what to watch next
Funamizu has been building his presence at home and abroad, named captain of a Japan-based team in the first MLP Asia draft (Yuta Funamizu named captain as Japan's national players move in MLP Asia's first draft). The new PPA season has seen the faces among the top pairs change substantially (Shimabukuro pairs with JW Johnson as the PPA's new season reshuffles the top duos), and momentum at each event now feeds straight into the standings (Bright takes two titles at the opener as a women's pair go the distance giving up 28 points）。
Wrap-up: how to follow the quarterfinal
Acevedo and Funamizu take on the 9th-seeded Diamond/McGuffin pair in the quarterfinals. Get through that and a place in the last four at this event becomes realistic. Fans in Japan can follow Funamizu's net play on the stream, and anyone with a background in soft tennis or another touch sport has reason to get on a court once and see whether their own feel carries over. A win over the world's best is not an event in some distant world; it reads as a push toward a switch that is close at hand.
Sources
pickleball.com「Johns, Staksrud stunned by upset in first match together」
