The Challenger Showdown. A season's climb ends here.
November 5–7, 2026 at Brookhaven Country Club, Farmers Branch, TX, played during the Opendoor Pickleball World Championships. The culmination of the PPA Challenger Tour season, with eight PPA Tour contracts on the line.
The Challenger Showdown comes to Dallas, played at Brookhaven Country Club during the Opendoor Pickleball World Championships — putting these players in front of the largest event in pickleball.
The Showdown is the culmination of the PPA Challenger Tour season. The highest-ranking non-PPA-signed professional athletes are invited to compete for their spot on the PPA Tour in 2027.
Three days, two pools, one bracket.
The 2026 Challenger Showdown follows a round-robin format, with teams and players seeded into a four-team playoff. Each event features 8 teams — 8 players for singles — divided into two pools. Round-robin pool play runs Thursday and Friday, with the top two teams or players from each pool advancing to the semifinals.
Thursday
Men's & Women's Singles pool play.
Friday
Men's, Women's & Mixed Doubles pool play.
Saturday
Semifinals & finals for all events.
Earned on the Challenger Tour.
Qualification comes off PPA Challenger point rankings at the close of the season.
Singles
The top 8 players in Men's and the top 8 players in Women's qualify for the event.
Gender Doubles
The top 16 players in Men's and the top 16 players in Women's qualify for the event.
Mixed Doubles
The top 8 men and the top 8 women qualify for the event.
Round robin into the semis.
Every match in every discipline is played best 2 out of 3.
Singles
Players are split into pools based on PPA Challenger point rankings, then compete in round-robin play, with the top two from each pool progressing to the semifinals.
Gender and Mixed Doubles
The top seeded player chooses his or her partner for the event, and players continue to make partner selections based on rankings. Once all teams have been selected, they are seeded into two pools for round-robin play, with the top two from each pool progressing to the semifinals.
- Both players must agree to compete together, and the partnership must be confirmed by October 26.
- For the 2027 Challenger Showdown, players will be permitted to compete in multiple disciplines if they are within the qualifying rankings for each discipline.
Eight contracts on the line.
8 players in total will be offered a PPA Tour contract, signing with the tour and receiving professional status from the PPA Tour in 2027.
Same grounds as Worlds.
The Challenger Showdown is played at Brookhaven Country Club during Worlds week, so a ticket for the day gets you the Showdown and everything else on the grounds. Parking, accessibility and amenities are on the venue page; host hotels and directions are on the travel page.