The Association of Pickleball Players (APP) hosted a capacity crowd and national television audience as the sport's elite professionals battled for gold on the shores of Lake Michigan at the 2024 Zimmer Biomet APP Chicago Open.
Danny Cunniff Park played host for the sixth edition of the APP’s hometown tournament, welcoming hundreds of players and spectators from across the Midwest over five days of action. The world’s first and world’s best pickleball tour showcased five thrilling Championship Sunday matches on CBS Sports Network as eight different players brought home hardware and their share of a $100,000 prize pool. Megan Fudge and Chris Haworth added more gold medals to their dominant singles seasons, Will Howells and CJ Klinger teamed up for men’s doubles gold, Mari Humberg and Eric Oncins won the mixed doubles gold and Susannah Barr and Bobbi Oshiro secured the women’s doubles title.
Women’s Pro Singles
The championship slate started off with women’s singles, pitting two of pickleball’s most decorated pros against each other for the gold. Megan Fudge, the APP Tour’s all-time women’s leader in total medals, snuck past Simone Jardim, who owns the APP Tour’s all-time women’s gold medal record, in game one 17-15. Jardim responded strong to start game two before Fudge fired back to win 16-14, securing her seventh gold medal of 2024.
“It was a nailbiter, it felt like a chess game out there trying to figure out what each other was going to do,” Fudge said. “Credit to Simone, she played a fantastic match. Thank you to my team, my husband and my coach for sticking with me, and shoutout to Intersport and Zimmer Biomet for allowing us to live our dream and play pickleball out here.”
Rachael James earned women’s singles bronze for her first APP Tour medal of the season.
Men’s Pro Singles
The action continued with a matchup of men’s singles heavyweights as defending champion Chris Haworth took on his men’s doubles partner Grayson Goldin. Each game was neck-and-neck, with Haworth prevailing 15-13 and 16-14 to give him his fifth APP Tour men’s singles title of 2024. With the win, Haworth moved to 5-0 in men’s singles gold medal matches this season.
“The conditions were a little tough today with the wind, so there was going to be ups and downs in the match,” Haworth said following the win. “I always tell myself to weather the storm and that’s what I did, I stuck with it and came out on top.”
2024 APP U.S. Next Gen National Team member Jack Foster took home men’s singles bronze.
Men’s Pro Doubles
Men’s pro doubles followed suit, featuring 18-year-old CJ Klinger and former Notre Dame tennis standout Will Howells against Rob Nunnery and Jack Munro. Game one was all Klinger and Howells as they won 11-2. Klinger and Howells’ momentum carried over to game two as they won 11-8 to clinch their second men’s doubles gold medals as a duo in 2024.
“We communicate really well and have a great time on the court,” Howells said following his men’s-leading 11th APP Tour medal of 2024. “Huge thank you to the APP for running a great event, and to the crowd today for all your support. You guys are awesome.”
“Will played really smart and disciplined, even though he can be a little wild Will sometimes”, added Klinger.
Erik Lange and Max Manthou earned men’s doubles bronze in Chicago.
Mixed Pro Doubles
The mixed pro doubles final saw Mari Humberg and Eric Oncins vie for their first gold medals of 2024 as they matched up against multi-gold winners Yana Newell and Will Howells. Humberg and Oncins displayed remarkable chemistry as they won game one 11-5. With their sights set on gold, Humberg and Oncins finished strong and took game two 11-7 to secure their elusive first golds of the season.
“I want to thank everyone that’s out here and the APP,” an ecstatic Humberg said. “The organization, the fans, everyone’s incredible. Eric is positive all the way, he’s got great energy, and we got to speak Portuguese [together] which is a plus, so lots of fun this week.”
“Props to Mari,” added Oncins. “She’s the right-side queen, she carried me all the way to the finals. This is a huge accomplishment, and I hope we can play more together.”
Jill Braveman and CJ Klinger won mixed doubles bronze.
Women’s Pro Doubles
Championship Sunday in the Windy City concluded with the women’s doubles final as Susannah Barr and Bobbi Oshiro faced Amanda Hendry and Mari Humberg. Barr and Oshiro each entered the week with six APP Tour medals on the year and left with medals number seven, as they took the match 11-4 and 11-6 for the gold.
“The wind was the fifth player out there today, so whoever could get closer to the ball [would win] and we did today,” commented Barr. “Shoutout to Mari and Amanda, they’re incredible competitors. We had to study their game and expected them to speed up at us.”
“It’s all been working really well for both of us,” Oshiro added. “When we’re being aggressive, we know who’s covering which side and who’s going to take which ball. We trust each other’s shots.”
Jill Braverman and Megan Fudge collected women’s doubles bronze.
AARP Champions Pro Action
In AARP Champions Division (50+) competition in Chicago, Marcello Jardim earned the men’s singles title and Karin Ptaszek-Kochis won another women’s singles gold. Lee Whitwell won two golds – one in women’s doubles with Angela Simon and another in mixed doubles with Jaime Oncins. Stefan Andren and Jose Derisi took home the men’s doubles title.
Additional Details
Full tournament results available here. The APP returns to action October 4-6 for the inaugural APP Women’s Open presented by The James – an APP Signature Event and the first-ever pickleball event created exclusively for, and by, women.
More information about upcoming APP events—including APP Tour dates, player registration and ticket information—is available on theapp.global. Pickleball enthusiasts can also stay in the know by following the APP on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok, Threads and LinkedIn.
