{"id":1031,"date":"2026-04-09T02:38:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T17:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/player\/anna-leigh-waters\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T01:32:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:32:32","slug":"anna-leigh-waters","status":"publish","type":"player","link":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/player\/anna-leigh-waters\/","title":{"rendered":"Anna Leigh Waters\uff5cThe youngest pro ever and world No. 1 across all women's divisions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Anna Leigh Waters (born January 26, 2007)<\/strong>is an American professional pickleball player from Allentown, Pennsylvania. The \"Queen of Pickleball,\" she reigns as world No. 1 in all three divisions: women's singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. She turned pro at 12, the youngest pro player ever.<\/p>\n<h2>My encounter with pickleball<\/h2>\n<p>In 2017, while evacuating from Hurricane Irma, she discovered pickleball at her grandparents' home in Pennsylvania. At just<strong>10, she won a women's doubles gold medal<\/strong>. In 2019, at age 12, she made her pro debut and became the youngest pro player in history.<\/p>\n<h2>Astonishing competitive record<\/h2>\n<p>Career totals as of April 2026:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gold medals:<strong>181 or more<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Triple Crowns:<strong>39<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>More than 103 tournaments played in her career, with a win rate of<strong>93.8%<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>World No. 1 in all three PPA divisions: women's singles, doubles, and mixed doubles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Her coach and doubles partner is her mother,<strong>Leigh Waters<\/strong>(a former South Carolina NCAA D1 tennis player); their mother-daughter pairing is unique in the pro pickleball world.<a href=\"\/en\/player\/ben-johns\/\">Ben Johns<\/a>Their mixed doubles boasts a 97.63% win rate, the strongest pairing ever.<\/p>\n<h2>Play style<\/h2>\n<p>Her greatest trait is an aggressive, fast-paced playing style. She overwhelms net battles with extraordinary reach and hand speed. On top of youthful athleticism, tactical guidance from her mother broadens her range of play.<\/p>\n<h2>Sponsors and influence<\/h2>\n<p><strong>In January 2026 she signed a long-term deal with Franklin Sports<\/strong>(estimated at over $10 million). She uses the signature paddle \"Franklin C45 Aurelius.\" She previously had a seven-year contract with Paddletek. She also signed an apparel and footwear deal with Nike, becoming the first Nike athlete in pickleball. With a large social media following, she is a symbolic figure in spreading pickleball to younger generations.<\/p>\n<h2>2026 highlights<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"\/en\/tournament\/mb-hanoi-cup-2026\/\">MB Hanoi Cup 2026<\/a>she won women's doubles paired with<a href=\"\/en\/player\/anna-bright\/\">Anna Bright<\/a>(beating Tyra Black \/ <a href=\"\/en\/player\/catherine-parenteau\/\">Catherine Parenteau<\/a>in the final), and<a href=\"\/en\/player\/ben-johns\/\">Ben Johns<\/a>won mixed doubles paired with. After the tournament she also held a clinic in Ho Chi Minh City, contributing to pickleball's growth in Asia.<\/p>\n<h3>Related Articles<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/en\/player\/ben-johns\/\">Ben Johns player profile<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/en\/player\/anna-bright\/\">Anna Bright player profile<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/en\/tournament\/mb-hanoi-cup-2026\/\">MB Hanoi Cup 2026<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/en\/tournament\/ppa-tour-2026\/\">PPA Tour 2026<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Reference Links<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anna_Leigh_Waters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Wikipedia &#8211; Anna Leigh Waters<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ppatour.com\/athlete\/anna-leigh-waters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PPA Tour Official Profile<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/01\/13\/nike-anna-leigh-waters-pickleball-deal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CNBC &#8211; Nike deal report<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.picklewave.com\/players\/477702-anna-leigh-waters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PickleWave &#8211; Match record data<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u30a2\u30ca\u30fb\u30ea\u30fc\u30fb\u30a6\u30a9\u30fc\u30bf\u30fc\u30ba\uff08Anna Leigh Waters\u30012007\u5e741\u670826\u65e5\u751f\u307e\u308c\uff09\u306f\u30da\u30f3\u30b7\u30eb\u30d9\u30cb\u30a2\u5dde\u30a2 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ssp_meta_description":"\u30a2\u30ca\u30fb\u30ea\u30fc\u30fb\u30a6\u30a9\u30fc\u30bf\u30fc\u30ba\uff08Anna Leigh Waters\uff09\u306e\u30d7\u30ed\u30d5\u30a3\u30fc\u30eb\u30fb\u6226\u7e3e\u30fb\u30d7\u30ec\u30fc\u30b9\u30bf\u30a4\u30eb\u3092\u5fb9\u5e95\u89e3\u8aac\u3002\u30d4\u30c3\u30af\u30eb\u30dc\u30fc\u30eb\u9078\u624b\u56f3\u9451\u3002","swell_btn_cv_data":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[110,105,57,113],"player_country":[138],"player_level":[148],"player_hand":[152],"player_gender":[155],"region":[1973],"class_list":["post-1031","player","type-player","status-publish","hentry","category-overseas","tag-anna-leigh-waters","tag-ppa","tag-us","tag-pro-player","player_country-usa","player_level-pro","player_hand-right","player_gender-female","region-united-states"],"acf":{"dupr_rating":"","achievements":"","sns_x":"","sns_ig":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/player\/1031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/player"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/player"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1031"},{"taxonomy":"player_country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/player_country?post=1031"},{"taxonomy":"player_level","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/player_level?post=1031"},{"taxonomy":"player_hand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/player_hand?post=1031"},{"taxonomy":"player_gender","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/player_gender?post=1031"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=1031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}