Our ranking of the 15 best pickleball players of all time, led by Ben Johns, Anna Leigh Waters and Simone Jardim, with titles and records.
Each profile lists the player’s events, country, birth date and the titles that matter, followed by what made the player stand out. The list mixes the pioneers of the first U.S. Opens with the stars of today’s PPA Tour. Below the ranking you will find the best player in each event and the names that just missed the cut.
How We Ranked the Pickleball Players
- Titles: PPA Tour titles and wins at the U.S. Open, USA Pickleball Nationals and the Tournament of Champions.
- Dominance: time spent as world No. 1 and winning streaks against the best fields of the day.
- Range: success in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, including triple crowns.
- Impact: whether the player changed how the game is played or helped it grow.
Professional pickleball barely existed before the first U.S. Open in 2016, so players from the early years have far fewer events on their record. We judge them against the fields they faced. The order is our own judgment, not an official one.
The 15 Best Pickleball Players at a Glance
| # | Player | Events | Career |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Johns | Singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles | since 2016 |
| 2 | Anna Leigh Waters | Singles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles | since 2019 |
| 3 | Simone Jardim | Singles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles | 2010s to 2022 |
| 4 | Kyle Yates | Men’s doubles, singles | since 2015 |
| 5 | Catherine Parenteau | Singles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles | since 2016 |
| 6 | Collin Johns | Men’s doubles, mixed doubles | since the late 2010s |
| 7 | Tyson McGuffin | Singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles | since 2016 |
| 8 | Anna Bright | Women’s doubles, mixed doubles | since 2022 |
| 9 | Federico Staksrud | Singles, men’s doubles | since 2021 |
| 10 | Lucy Kovalova | Women’s doubles, mixed doubles, singles | since 2016 |
| 11 | JW Johnson | Singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles | since 2020 |
| 12 | Jennifer Dawson | Singles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles | 2010s |
| 13 | Matt Wright | Men’s doubles, mixed doubles | since 2016 |
| 14 | Riley Newman | Men’s doubles, mixed doubles | since 2017 |
| 15 | Sarah Ansboury | Women’s doubles, mixed doubles | since 2015 |
#1 Ben Johns
- 🏓 Events: Singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles
- 🎂 Born: March 18, 1999, in Gaithersburg, Maryland
- 🌍 Country: United States
- 🏆 Career Highlights: More than 180 PPA Tour titles, Guinness record for most PPA titles, first man to win a triple crown at a major (2019), U.S. Open triple crowns (2021, 2022), 16 straight mixed titles with Anna Leigh Waters
Johns first played pickleball in 2016, at 17, and won the U.S. Open men’s pro singles title the next year. In 2019 he became the first man to win a triple crown at a major, at the Tournament of Champions in Brigham City, and he added U.S. Open triple crowns in 2021 and 2022.
Guinness World Records listed him with 141 PPA titles in October 2024, the most of any player at the time, and his tally passed 180 later. He won more than 30 men’s doubles titles with his brother Collin and 16 mixed titles in a row with Anna Leigh Waters from March 2023 to February 2024. As of 2026 he is still ranked No. 1 in men’s and mixed doubles, now partnering Gabriel Tardio.
#2 Anna Leigh Waters
- 🏓 Events: Singles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles
- 🎂 Born: January 26, 2007, in Allentown, Pennsylvania
- 🌍 Country: United States
- 🏆 Career Highlights: Nearly 200 PPA Tour titles as of October 2026, at least 37 triple crowns, world No. 1 in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, youngest pro in history (12 in 2019)
Waters took up the game in 2017 and turned pro in 2019 at 12, the youngest professional the sport has seen. She first played as a pro beside her mother Leigh, and in 2022 they became the No. 1 women’s doubles team on the PPA Tour.
Her title count rose faster than anyone’s: 165 after the 2025 Vegas Cup and 199 by the Las Vegas event in October 2026. In 2024 she passed Ben Johns’ total of PPA singles titles, and as of September 2026 she was ranked No. 1 in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. She was also the first pickleball player to sign a multi-year deal with Nike.
#3 Simone Jardim
- 🏓 Events: Singles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles
- 🎂 Born: November 7, 1979, in Santa Maria, Brazil
- 🌍 Country: Brazil, United States
- 🏆 Career Highlights: World No. 1 woman (2016 to 2020), 4 straight U.S. Open singles titles, 2 U.S. Open triple crowns
- 🏛️ Hall of Fame: Pickleball Hall of Fame, inducted 2024
Jardim was the best woman in the sport for five straight years and ranked world No. 1 from 2016 to 2020. She won the U.S. Open women’s singles title four years in a row and took two U.S. Open triple crowns, winning singles, doubles and mixed doubles at the same event.
Before pickleball she was head tennis coach at Michigan State University from 2009 to 2016. In December 2021 she announced that she would stop touring after the 2022 season, and in 2024 she was inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame.
#4 Kyle Yates
- 🏓 Events: Men’s doubles, singles
- 🎂 Born: April 11, 1995, in Florida
- 🌍 Country: United States
- 🏆 Career Highlights: Grand slam of men’s pro doubles (2016), 6 U.S. Open men’s pro doubles titles, WPF No. 1 doubles player (2018)
- 🏛️ Hall of Fame: Pickleball Hall of Fame, inducted 2024
In 2016 Yates won the men’s pro doubles titles at the U.S. Open, the Tournament of Champions and the USAPA Nationals, a grand slam of the sport’s three biggest events. He went on to win six U.S. Open men’s pro doubles titles.
He was the top-ranked doubles player of the World Pickleball Federation in 2018. When he was inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame in Mesa, Arizona, on November 14, 2024, he was 29 and the youngest inductee so far.
#5 Catherine Parenteau
- 🏓 Events: Singles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles
- 🎂 Born: August 26, 1994, in Montreal, Canada
- 🌍 Country: Canada
- 🏆 Career Highlights: 55 PPA Tour titles (10 singles, 38 doubles, 7 mixed), U.S. Open champion (2021, 2022), Tournament of Champions singles title (2023)
Parenteau played college tennis at Arkansas and Michigan State before she turned pro in pickleball in 2016. Her PPA profile lists 55 titles, 38 of them in women’s doubles, which makes her one of the most successful doubles players in the sport.
She won U.S. Open titles in 2021 and 2022 and the singles title at the 2023 Tournament of Champions. Her 10 PPA singles titles show she could win alone as well as in doubles. As of 2026 she is still on tour.
#6 Collin Johns
- 🏓 Events: Men’s doubles, mixed doubles
- 🎂 Born: June 15, 1993
- 🌍 Country: United States
- 🏆 Career Highlights: More than 30 PPA men’s doubles titles with Ben Johns, world No. 1 doubles team (2022 to 2024 seasons), U.S. Open men’s pro doubles champion (2021, 2022)
Collin Johns played professional tennis and reached No. 978 in the ATP singles rankings before he followed his younger brother into pickleball. With Ben he formed the best men’s doubles team of its era.
The brothers finished the 2022, 2023 and 2024 seasons as the No. 1 doubles team and won the U.S. Open men’s pro doubles title in 2021 and 2022. They split as a team in 2025 after more than 30 PPA titles together.
#7 Tyson McGuffin
- 🏓 Events: Singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles
- 🎂 Born: December 16, 1989; hometown Lake Chelan, Washington
- 🌍 Country: United States
- 🏆 Career Highlights: Triple crown at the 2023 Tournament of Champions, former world No. 1
McGuffin played college tennis at Scottsdale Community College and turned pro in pickleball in 2016. He became one of the best-known faces of the early PPA Tour and reached world No. 1.
At the 2023 Tournament of Champions he won singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles, the first man other than Ben Johns to win a PPA triple crown. As of 2026 he is still competing.
#8 Anna Bright
- 🏓 Events: Women’s doubles, mixed doubles
- 🎂 Born: Date not published; from Pompano Beach, Florida
- 🌍 Country: United States
- 🏆 Career Highlights: More than 39 PPA Tour titles, world No. 1 in women’s doubles, 24 titles with Anna Leigh Waters, first overall pick of the 2026 MLP draft
Bright turned pro in 2022 and quickly became the best doubles player in the women’s game after Anna Leigh Waters, her regular women’s doubles partner. The pair won their 24th title together at the national championships.
As of 2026 she is ranked No. 1 in women’s doubles and No. 2 among women overall. In October 2026 she and Hayden Patriquin beat Waters and Ben Johns in the mixed final in Las Vegas, and the St. Louis Shock made her the first overall pick of the 2026 Major League Pickleball draft.
#9 Federico Staksrud
- 🏓 Events: Singles, men’s doubles
- 🎂 Born: Date not published; grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina
- 🌍 Country: Argentina
- 🏆 Career Highlights: 9 PPA singles titles and 5 men’s doubles titles in 2024, world champion in men’s doubles (2025), Masters singles champion (2025, 2026), world No. 1 in singles
Staksrud moved to the United States at 18 to play college tennis, at the University of New Orleans and Tennessee Wesleyan, and was working at a software company when he took up pickleball. He turned pro in 2021 and reached world No. 1 in singles in 2024.
That season he won nine singles titles and five men’s doubles titles and took a medal at all 24 PPA Tour events. In 2025 he won the world championship in men’s doubles with Hayden Patriquin, and he won the Masters singles title in both 2025 and 2026.
#10 Lucy Kovalova
- 🏓 Events: Women’s doubles, mixed doubles, singles
- 🎂 Born: 1992, in Prešov, Slovakia
- 🌍 Country: Slovakia
- 🏆 Career Highlights: Triple crown at the 2018 USA Pickleball Nationals, Tournament of Champions mixed doubles gold (2017, 2018), 23 PPA Tour titles, former world No. 1
Kovalova came to the United States to play tennis at Wichita State and entered her first pickleball tournament at the 2016 U.S. Open. Within two years she was among the best women in the world.
At the 2018 USA Pickleball Nationals in Indian Wells she won singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. She also took Tournament of Champions mixed gold in 2017 and 2018, reached world No. 1 and won 23 PPA titles.
#11 JW Johnson
- 🏓 Events: Singles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles
- 🎂 Born: November 6, 2002, in Arlington, Virginia
- 🌍 Country: United States
- 🏆 Career Highlights: At least 25 PPA Tour titles in all three events, youngest man to win a PPA singles title (19), 10 titles with Dylan Frazier
Johnson grew up in Pittsburg, Kansas, and Naples, Florida, and became the youngest man to win a PPA singles title, at 19. At the Tournament of Champions he ended Ben Johns’ long singles winning streak.
His quick hands at the kitchen line made him one of the best doubles players of his generation. He won 10 titles with Dylan Frazier and has PPA titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
#12 Jennifer Dawson
- 🏓 Events: Singles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles
- 🎂 Born: Date not published
- 🌍 Country: United States
- 🏆 Career Highlights: Triple crown at the 2017 Minto U.S. Open, more than 20 titles at the U.S. Open, Nationals and Tournament of Champions
- 🏛️ Hall of Fame: Pickleball Hall of Fame, inducted 2023
Dawson came to pickleball after three decades as a tennis pro and coach and played college tennis on a scholarship at the University of San Diego. The Pickleball Hall of Fame credits her as the first professional triple crown winner, for singles, doubles and mixed doubles at the 2017 Minto U.S. Open.
She won more than 20 singles and doubles titles at the U.S. Open, the Nationals and the Tournament of Champions. With her husband Steve she owns the Bobby Riggs Racket and Paddle Centre in California, and she was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023.
#13 Matt Wright
- 🏓 Events: Men’s doubles, mixed doubles
- 🎂 Born: Date not published; lives in Wichita, Kansas
- 🌍 Country: United States
- 🏆 Career Highlights: 7× U.S. Open champion, 4× USA Pickleball Nationals champion, 8 PPA titles with Ben Johns, 8 PPA titles with Riley Newman, former No. 1 in men’s and mixed doubles
Wright played No. 1 for the University of Michigan tennis team and was introduced to pickleball in 2016. He became a pro while keeping a full-time job as a corporate attorney in Wichita.
He won seven U.S. Open titles and four national titles in men’s and mixed doubles and was ranked No. 1 in both on the PPA Tour. When Collin Johns was injured in 2023, Ben Johns picked Wright as his partner, and the two have won eight PPA titles together.
#14 Riley Newman
- 🏓 Events: Men’s doubles, mixed doubles
- 🎂 Born: Date not published; from Whidbey Island, Washington
- 🌍 Country: United States
- 🏆 Career Highlights: USA Pickleball national champion in men’s doubles and mixed doubles (2021), former world No. 1, 8 PPA titles with Matt Wright
Newman played tennis on a scholarship at Seattle University and coached there before he found pickleball in 2017. He climbed to world No. 1 and spent several seasons near the top of the men’s and mixed doubles rankings.
In 2021 he won the national men’s doubles title and the mixed doubles title with his sister Lindsey. With Matt Wright he won eight PPA men’s doubles titles.
#15 Sarah Ansboury
- 🏓 Events: Women’s doubles, mixed doubles
- 🎂 Born: Date not published; from Turlock, California
- 🌍 Country: United States
- 🏆 Career Highlights: Women’s and mixed doubles gold at the first U.S. Open (2016), women’s and mixed doubles gold at the 2016 USAPA Nationals
Ansboury was a tennis coach at Pacific University when she found pickleball in 2014, and she turned pro a year later. In 2016 she won women’s and mixed doubles gold at the first U.S. Open.
She won the same two events at the 2016 USAPA Nationals, which made her the top doubles player of that first pro season. She later became one of the best-known teachers of the game and managing director of the Professional Pickleball Registry.
Best Pickleball Player in Every Event
If you want one name per event, these are our picks. For how the game started on Bainbridge Island in 1965, see our history of pickleball.
| Event | Player | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Men’s singles | Ben Johns | U.S. Open singles champion a year after he took up the game |
| Women’s singles | Anna Leigh Waters | Passed Ben Johns’ total of PPA singles titles in 2024 |
| Men’s doubles | Collin Johns | No. 1 doubles team with his brother for three seasons |
| Women’s doubles | Anna Bright | World No. 1 in women’s doubles as of 2026 |
| Mixed doubles | Ben Johns | 16 straight mixed titles with Anna Leigh Waters |
| Early pro era | Simone Jardim | World No. 1 woman from 2016 to 2020 |
| Grand slam | Kyle Yates | Won all three major men’s doubles titles in 2016 |
| Rising star | JW Johnson | Youngest man to win a PPA singles title |
Honorable Mentions
Seven more players who came close and could make a top 15 on another day.
- Leigh Waters: Formed the No. 1 women’s doubles team on the PPA Tour with her daughter Anna Leigh in 2022.
- Gabriel Tardio: Bolivian-born pro who turned pro at 17 in 2022 and won 20 of his first 28 PPA titles with Ben Johns.
- Hayden Patriquin: Won the 2025 world championship in men’s doubles with Federico Staksrud.
- Jessie Irvine: Long-time PPA pro who won a mixed doubles title with Gabriel Tardio.
- Wes Gabrielsen: Inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame as a competitor in 2022.
- Alex Hamner: Inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame as a competitor in 2020.
- Enrique Ruiz: Inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame as a competitor in 2019.
More About Pickleball
- History of pickleball
- Pickleball lingo and slang
- Pickleball equipment list
- Common pickleball injuries
- Pickleball quiz
- Pickleball Instagram captions
FAQ
Who is the best pickleball player of all time?
In our ranking it is Ben Johns, ahead of Anna Leigh Waters and Simone Jardim. Johns has won more than 180 PPA titles and was the first man to win a triple crown at a major.
Who are the top 10 pickleball players of all time?
Our top 10 is Ben Johns, Anna Leigh Waters, Simone Jardim, Kyle Yates, Catherine Parenteau, Collin Johns, Tyson McGuffin, Anna Bright, Federico Staksrud and Lucy Kovalova.
Who is the best female pickleball player?
Anna Leigh Waters. As of October 2026 she had nearly 200 PPA titles and was ranked No. 1 in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Before her, Simone Jardim was the top woman from 2016 to 2020.
Who has won the most PPA titles?
Anna Leigh Waters, who reached 199 PPA titles in October 2026. Ben Johns is second with more than 180, and he held the Guinness record with 141 titles in October 2024.
Who was the youngest pickleball pro?
Anna Leigh Waters, who turned pro in 2019 at 12. JW Johnson became the youngest man to win a PPA singles title, at 19.
Which pickleball players are in the Hall of Fame?
From our list, Jennifer Dawson (2023), Simone Jardim (2024) and Kyle Yates (2024). Yates was 29 when he was inducted, the youngest member so far.
Who is the best men’s singles player right now?
Federico Staksrud of Argentina is the strongest men’s singles player of recent seasons. He won nine singles titles in 2024 and the Masters singles title in 2025 and 2026.
