The Picklr files for Chapter 11 as founder owns up to lease guarantees

The Picklr files for Chapter 11 as founder owns up to lease guarantees

The Picklr, an indoor pickleball franchise chain, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court in the Northern District of Texas. Founder and CEO Jorge Barragan says the filing stems from corporate guarantees the company signed on behalf of roughly 40 franchise locations' leases, a burden he says became unsustainable for the parent holding company. "We signed, unfortunately, too many corporate guarantees that landed on the holding company. And that's on us. I own it," Barragan told Sports Business Journal.

According to Fox Business and Sports Business Journal, the company had about $19 million in total liabilities as of the end of March, after a $4.4 million net loss on $10.3 million in revenue in 2025, and in 2024 Tom Dundon’s Pickleball Inc. led a Series B funding round that valued The Picklr at $59 million.

An investor group called Dynamus Alliance, led by Picklr franchisee Tom Neale, is stepping in to sponsor the reorganization. The Picklr's own announcement puts that financing at $4.5 million, while Sports Business Journal reports the actual commitment is $4.8 million. The focus now is on whether the new investors and a court-supervised restructuring can resolve the lease guarantees that left the parent company exposed across roughly 40 locations.

Anna Leigh Waters hits 45th triple crown as PPA Tour splits for Virginia Beach and Brisbane

Anna Leigh Waters swept all three finals at the PPA Tour's Chicago Cup, completing her 45th career triple crown just after reaching her 200th career PPA Tour title. She and Anna Bright rallied from a 2-11 opening-game loss to beat Tyra Black and Catherine Parenteau 2-11, 11-3, 11-4 in women's doubles, then Waters beat Kate Fahey 11-1, 11-7 in women's singles, having already won mixed doubles with Ben Johns 11-4, 11-4 over Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson.

In the men's singles final, Roscoe Bellamy claimed his second career PPA Tour title, beating top seed Chris Haworth 11-4, 11-5 for his first head-to-head win over Haworth and their first meeting since 2024. "I got lucky today. Chris didn't play his best, and fortunately I was able to come up with some really clutch shots," Bellamy said. "Chris is one of my best friends on tour, and the guy's an absolute beast, so to even get a win against him is huge." It was his first singles title since the 2025 Lakeland Open.

For the week of October 13-18, the PPA Tour features the Mojo Energy Pouches Virginia Beach Open, where Roscoe Bellamy is the top men's singles seed with Noe Khlif, Jack Sock and Jaume Martinez Vich among the other top seeds at the 1,000-point Open-level event, while Anna Leigh Waters, Ben Johns, Hayden Patriquin and Anna Bright are not in that field. At the same time, the tour heads to the Queensland Tennis Centre in Brisbane for the 2026 WALKER Australia Pickleball Cup, a PPA1500 event offering more than $500,000 in prize money and 1,500 ranking points, the largest purse ever offered at a professional pickleball tournament in Australia, with Australians Sahra Dennehy, Andie Dikosavljevic, Mitch Hargreaves and Joey Wild in the draws, including a men's doubles pairing of Hargreaves with Collin Johns.

Dinkers Pickleball Academy partners with Vietnam's D-Joy to expand coaching in India

Dinkers Pickleball Academy has partnered with Vietnam's D-Joy Sports Academy to bring high-performance international coaching and global tour events to India, with head coaches Dhiren Patel and Kyle Yates teaming up to train Indian players for the world stage.

The plan also includes bilateral tournaments between India and Vietnam, part of an effort to build out competitive pickleball infrastructure in India.

BTS members run their own pickleball tournament on Run BTS 2.0

In a new episode of Run BTS 2.0, the seven BTS members organized their own pickleball tournament, with V and j-hope, who used to play the sport together as a hobby, appearing more comfortable on the court than some of their bandmates.

The first match pitted RM and Jin against Jimin and Jung Kook, with Team Kim Seokjin advancing. Playful punishments were on the line for the losers, and by the end of the episode the group was discussing turning the competition into a running series.