The 2019 Margaritaville USA Pickleball National Championships—the sport’s premiere event—is set to return to the beautiful Indian Wells Tennis Garden November 2-10 with various tournament upgrades that are sure to excite participants and pickleball enthusiasts across the nation.
The Indian Wells Tennis Garden will be expanding to 49 pickleball courts, allowing for more participants. In addition to more courts, Nationals will have new fan-friendly tournament scheduling, which will help spectators take in all the amazing pickleball action, plus more restrooms and concessions throughout the facility. As part of the upgrades, players will have access to the Championship Court included in their registration price, online check-in and a revamped player-focused venue layout with a variety of food options near the courts.
Players will see a revised ticket pricing structure, including VIP seating and packages, when they go to the registration page. Please review all your options carefully.
NEW THIS YEAR
We are excited to share the new registration process with you outlined below:
General registration will open on August 1 at midnight PDT. When general registration opens, players will be allowed, for a one-week period, to register at a time that is convenient for you with no priority given by timestamp of when you registered. On August 8, a random drawing will take place to determine the remaining spots in each event after pre-registration. Players will be notified if they got a spot by August 22.
When a player’s name is drawn, he/she and his/her partner will be entered in all events for which they have registered, if spots are available.
Once all spots are filled, the players who were not chosen in the lottery will be placed on a wait list in the order by which they are drawn.
Anyone registering after August 7 will be placed on the wait list after those from the lottery.
We hope this method of registration will relieve the anxiety of not having the fastest network or typing fingers when trying to get a spot. We feel this process will give all an equal chance to get into all available events.
FRIDAY NIGHT Kick-off-Party – On Friday night, November 1, join us for the player kick-off party, complete with the Media/Pro Challenge, wheelchair exhibition, food, and entertainment, and be sure to meet all your fellow participants and pickleball enthusiasts. See details on the registration page.
2019 PARTICIPANT REQUIREMENTS (all players)
To participate in this year’s tournament, a player must have participated in at least one of the qualifying USAPA-sanctioned events between July 16, 2018, and July 15, 2019. It is not necessary to have participated in one-for-one events. For example, if you played mixed in a sanctioned tournament, you are eligible to participate in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.
To view the full list of qualifying tournaments, visit the FAQ “Who is eligible to play in the USAPA National Tournament?“
If a player does not live in the U.S. for more than three months a year and is not able to participate in a USAPA-sanctioned tournament, he/she may request a hardship exemption from the Tournament Director. Like all participants, international players are still required to have a valid USAPA membership through the duration of the National Championships. The following list of Regional and Tier II events are the qualifiers for the 2019 National Championships: https://www.usapa.org/2019-national-qualifiers-july-15-2018-july-15-2019/.
Pro event entrants must have a minimum of a 5.0 USAPA rating by July 31, 2019. Events may open to 4.5 USAPA rated players, depending on participation levels in each event. (Example, this is your rating as of July 1, 2019. Player ratings changing to 4.5 or 5.0 October 1 will be reviewed as requested to play in Pro events based on availability.)