Teenager Tama Shimabukuro stuns Federico Staksrud in Atlanta upset

Tama Shimabukuro did more than pull an upset in Atlanta. The 15-year-old from Honolulu beat Federico Staksrud, the PPA Tour men’s singles No. 2 seed, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9 in nearly 70 minutes and gave the tour a result that looked less like a fluke than a warning shot.

The setting made the win bigger. The Veolia Atlanta Pickleball Championships ran April 27-May 3 at Life Time Peachtree Corners in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, with 2,000 ranking points on the line and the PPA Finals looming as the final stop. Staksrud came in as one of the tour’s established names, a 30-year-old from Buenos Aires who turned pro in 2021. Shimabukuro, by contrast, turned pro in 2025, started playing pickleball only two years ago and arrived with a background in skateboarding and surfing.

What made the result stand out was how deliberate it looked. Shimabukuro had lost to Staksrud in Sacramento just two weeks earlier, 5-11, 8-11, and he had also trained with him in Florida the week before Atlanta. That familiarity seemed to matter. The match stayed tight deep into the decider, and after the score reached 9-9, the two traded a long stretch of scoreless serve possessions before Shimabukuro finally took the last two points. He said he tried to stay levelheaded under pressure, and the way he closed fit that mindset: no rush, no panic, no bailout swing.

That is the part serious amateurs can learn from. Shimabukuro did not win by overcooking points. He won by holding tempo, trusting his shot selection and refusing to let the moment speed him up. He had already knocked out Jaume Martinez Vich in the Round of 32, so the Staksrud win was part of a broader breakout rather than a one-match spike. The next round only strengthened the case: Shimabukuro beat No. 11 seed Noe Khlif and then toppled No. 3 seed Hunter Johnson 11-7, 8-11, 11-1 to reach his first career PPA Tour final.

PPA Tour analyst Matt Manasse said the Atlanta crowd was the loudest he had ever heard at any PPA event, and Shimabukuro gave it a run worthy of the noise. Atlanta has produced big moments before, but this one carried a different edge: a 15-year-old did not just catch a seed on a bad day. He beat Staksrud, then kept going, which is exactly how a new era announces itself.