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Radzikowska starts her final year with gold at the Punta Gorda Challenger

By Pickleball Skill Levels · November 6, 2026 · 3 min read · Last updated November 6, 2026

Ewa Radzikowska, who says 2026 is her last year playing, won women's doubles gold in Punta Gorda, where a 14-year-old also left with a men's doubles title.

Doubles play on sunny outdoor pickleball courts in Florida

Ewa Radzikowska is making her last season count. She and Tammy Emmrich won the women's doubles gold at the PPA Challenger event in Punta Gorda, Florida, beating Christa Gecheva and Mehvish Safdar in the final, as recapped by pickleball.com.

"2026 is officially my last year of playing pickleball, so I want to finish strong. I want to enjoy it. I have amazing partners for this year, so I just want to go all out with no regrets, work hard, and see what happens," Radzikowska said.

A 14-year-old champion

The men's doubles final produced the weekend's wildest finish. Juan Benitez and 14-year-old Camden Chaffin trailed Anouar Braham and Luca Mack 4-9 in the deciding game and saved four match points before winning 6-11, 11-0, 13-11. Tom Protzek and Martin Emmrich took the bronze.

The rest of the Punta Gorda medalists

A ball dropping just over the net tape into the kitchen, close-up

In women's singles, Seone Mendez won her third career PPA Challenger singles title, ahead of Samantha Buyckx (silver) and Kelsey Laurente (bronze). George Rangelov won his second career PPA Challenger singles title in the men's draw, with Matthew Finnerty second and William Sobek third.

Mixed doubles gold went to Paula Rives and Christopher Crouch, with Mya Bui and Austin Bricker taking silver and Mehvish Safdar and Anouar Braham bronze. In women's doubles, Mari Humberg and Andrea Koop joined Radzikowska/Emmrich and Gecheva/Safdar on the podium with bronze.

There is no rest on the Challenger grind: many of the weekend's players were already on their way to Palm Springs, California, for this week's Carvana PPA Masters powered by Invited, the first PPA Tour event of the season. The Challenger circuit is where the next wave of tour players comes from — and this week at the World Championships in Farmers Branch, eight Challenger players will leave with 2027 tour contracts of their own.

Source: pickleball.com, "Punta Gorda PPA Challenger Recap: Radzikowska kicks off final year with women's doubles gold alongside Emmrich." Results and quotes as reported there. Want to know where your own game stands? Take the free skill check.

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Pickleball words, in plain English

Players throw these words around like everyone knows them. Here is what each one actually means.

Kitchen
The 7-foot zone right at the net. You can stand in it, but you can't hit the ball out of the air while you're there.
Dink
A soft, gentle shot that just clears the net and lands in the kitchen. It forces the other side to hit up, not down.
Third-shot drop
Your team's first shot after the serve and return. Hit it soft so it drops into the kitchen — that lets you walk up to the net.
Reset
When a hard shot comes at you, you block it softly into the kitchen instead of swinging back. It slows the point down and saves you.
Drive
A hard, fast shot hit low over the net. The opposite of a dink.
Pop-up
A ball you hit too high by accident. It hangs in the air, and the other side gets to smash it. Most points at low levels end this way.
Speed up
To suddenly hit the ball hard and fast on purpose, to rush the other side before they're ready.
Volley
Hitting the ball out of the air before it bounces.