Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio Stage Dramatic Comeback: Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio won a tough semifinal match at the 2025 Veolia Atlanta Pickleball Championships presented by Ensure Max Protein on Saturday at Life Time Peachtree Corners. They beat the No. 3 seeds Christian Alshon and Andrei Daescu 10-12, 11-3, 11-4 to advance to the final.
Johns and Tardio had lost to Alshon and Daescu in the final of the 2025 Carvana Mesa Cup back in February. But on Saturday night, they turned the tables with a strong comeback in Georgia.
Early Setback in a Tight First Game
Johns and Tardio started the match well with a 7-2 lead in the first game. They even had two chances to close out the game at 10-9. However, Alshon and Daescu stayed calm and took advantage of some errors by Johns to win the first game 12-10.
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Strong Comeback Led by Tardio
After losing the first game, Johns and Tardio did not lose focus. They won the next two games easily with scores of 11-3 and 11-4. Gabe Tardio played nearly perfectly, making almost no mistakes. Johns praised his partner’s performance.
“I think I missed two balls there at 10-9, so it was definitely on me. But Gabe was super positive and pointed out that we were outplaying them at the line, so we knew that as long we kept getting to the line that things would go our way. Gabe obviously played amazing. I think he missed maybe one dink and made zero errors other than that, which is just insane. The guy is crazy good, and I love having him next to me.” – (johns)
Looking Ahead to the Final
The win sets up a gold medal match on Sunday between Johns/Tardio and Alshon/Daescu. These teams met before last month at the 2025 Veolia North Carolina Open, where Johns and Tardio also won 11-7, 11-6 in the quarterfinals.
This match shows that the rivalry between the two pairs is strong, and the final will be exciting. Johns and Tardio’s ability to recover from early setbacks will be key to their chances of winning the championship.
News in Brief: Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio Stage Dramatic Comeback
Ben Johns and Gabe Tardio defeated Christian Alshon and Andrei Daescu 10-12, 11-3, 11-4 in the semifinal of the 2025 Veolia Atlanta Pickleball Championships. The match was held on Saturday at Life Time Peachtree Corners. Johns/Tardio will face Alshon/Daescu again in Sunday’s final.