Last year (that’s 2025, mind you) was an eventful year in the professional pickleball landscape.
Four players had their contracts terminated with the United Pickleball Association (UPA) for violating contracts. There was mayhem in the Major League Pickleball (MLP) playoffs and the Columbus Sliders knocked off the #1, #2, and #3 ranked teams to win it all. Anna Leigh Waters dominated the competition, earning 39 gold medals in 20 events. If you missed this stat, check it out in my 2025 PPA recap article:
Ranking the Best PPA Pros Based on 2025 Medal Counts
This is a 2025 season recap using medal counts on the PPA Tour. I use my own calculation of points to show who had the best 2025 season (hint: it was Anna Leigh Waters).
What will the 2026 pickleball year have in store for us? This article lists my 26 predictions for what will occur in the 2026 year. Everything from player medal counts, to MLP shakeups, and everything in between. Let’s get into it.
Author’s note: Fellow journalist, Jim Kloss, likes to write his predictions each year, and it seemed like a fun exercise. This article is me putting my twist on what he started.
Eric Oncins will more than triple his 2025 PPA medal count and earn at least 10 medals in 2026
The Texas Ranchers traded for Oncins early in the 2025 MLP season, and that trade proved to be a winner. Oncins got better throughout the MLP season and the Ranchers made the playoffs, winning their first round matchup against the Miami Pickleball Club.
In 2025, Oncins won two bronze medals with Dylan Frazier and a bronze at the Lakeland Open with Anna Bright. He also won two gold medals with Tyson McGuffin on the PPA Asia Tour.
Oncins is one of the biggest rising stars in pickleball, and as he continues to get better partners, he will earn more medals.
Anna Leigh Waters will surpass 200 Gold Medals in 2026
This is the safest prediction I am making. By a mile.
Waters currently has 172 gold medals on the PPA Tour, two ahead of Ben Johns for the overall lead. She just needs 28 golds to hit the 200 mark. There should be 19 or 20 tournaments on the PPA Tour this year (only the first half of the season is set in stone). Let’s estimate ALW takes four tournaments off completely, that means she would need to earn 1.75 gold medals per tournament she plays.
In 2025, Waters played in 17 tournaments and earned 39 golds, averaging 2.3 gold medals per tournament. Averaging 1.75 golds per tournament seems fairly easy – I don’t see Anna Leigh regressing much in 2026 – the year she turns 19.
Directly after the 2025 World Championships, I made a bold prediction (which doesn’t seem so bold in hindsight) that Waters would earn her 200th gold medal at the 2026 World Championships:
The boldest thing about that prediction is that it seems very likely that Waters earns her 200th medal before the 2026 World Championships.
Will Howells will earn at least three medals on the PPA Tour in 2026
Howells catches a lot of flak from fans:
He only played APP in 2025.
He only won MLP with Anna Leigh Waters in mixed.
He is too cocky.
The list goes on and on.
The first two things listed above are true. But those are things that are outside of his control. He may be delusional with his confidence levels (we don’t know yet), but MANY of the greats are.
Let’s look at what he has done since becoming a pro in early 2024.
In MLP, he has a 69% win percentage in his games, going 98-45 in doubles games in two years. His partners were ALW, Zane Navratil, and Noe Khlif (along with Zoey Weil and Mari Humberg for a couple).
On the APP Tour this year, Howells earned 14 gold medals on the year. He won eight men’s doubles, five mixed doubles, and one singles title (where he was the first to triple crown on the APP Tour in three years).
In my opinion, Howells is going to become a top 10 player in doubles by the end of 2027, if not sooner. He has a ton of upside in singles as well. However, he is going to need to prove that he has the goods in 2026, his first year on the PPA Tour.
Ben Johns will NOT earn a Gold Medal in singles
Ben Johns only earned two medals in 2025 in singles, and they were both gold. He won the Mesa Cup and the Atlanta Pickleball Championships.
For context, in 2024, Ben Johns won eight (8) gold medals in singles.
Men’s singles is the toughest event and it has the most parity in pickleball right now. At any given tournament, a 50 something seed could win men’s singles. That is not the case in any other event.
This is no secret – Ben Johns does not enjoy playing singles. The game is getting faster. He is one of, if not the best, cat and mouse players. With modern day paddle technology, cat and mouse is just becoming obsolete.
In addition to not liking singles and being a cat and mouse player, Johns is also known as being a slow starter. He can be upset in the early rounds and that is happening more often recently.
All that to say, the GOAT of men’s pickleball is still a great talent in singles. I just don’t think he has the desire necessary to earn a gold medal in 2026 in singles.
Anna Leigh Waters is going to lose a singles match in 2026
585 – The number of days since Anna Leigh Waters has lost a singles pickleball match.
May 30th, 2024 – Anna Leigh lost to Salome Devidze in the semis of the CIBC Texas Open at like 11pm.
That was the last time Anna Leigh Waters lost a singles match.
In my opinion, Anna Leigh is going to lose in 2026.
Here are the women I think can do it: Kate Fahey, Seone Mendez, Brooke Buckner, Parris Todd, Judit Castillo, or Lea Jansen.
Yes, I believe there are only 6 women who can beat ALW and I am STILL predicting she loses at least once in 2026.
I believe Seone will sign with UPA within the first month of 2026. She lost 5 & 6 to ALW in her first and only attempt against ALW.
IF ALW goes undefeated in singles in 2026, she will be holding a record of 945 days being undefeated. This number seems outlandish. If anyone could do it, I believe ALW could. But I am betting against it.
Blaine Hovenier will earn his first medal on the PPA Tour
Blaine Hovenier might be the best pickleball player on the planet that doesn’t have a medal on the PPA Tour. It’s difficult to know for sure, but if he’s not, he’s easily one of the best.
Hovenier is known as the hype guy on the So Cal Hard 8s, but he also had some great upset wins in MLP. He and Jalina Ingram beat Alshon and Christian, along with Hunter Johnson and Jade Kawamoto.
Hovenier is a very steady right sider with length and he uses that length well – taking a lot of balls out of the air. If he can find the right mixed partner, or a dominant left side partner in men’s, Hovenier will earn his first medal in 2026.
Matt Wright will yet again earn a medal on the PPA Tour
Matt Wright. He will be 49 years old in 2026. Age is just a number.
In 2025, Wright earned a silver medal with Jaume Martinez Vich at the Bristol Open in August. He also finished fourth at the Rate Vegas Open in October with Eric Oncins.
The former Michigan tennis star and current attorney may not have the athleticism he used to, but he has three things going for him
- He still has some of the fastest hands in the game
- His drops are MONEY – he never misses
- He can still get VERY high level partners that can play a big left side
The winning combination listed above is the reason Wright will earn another medal on the PPA Tour in 2026. Wright has now won medals on the PPA Tour since its inception in 2020 – six straight years. I believe he will make it seven.
Chris Haworth will be the #1 seed in singles in the PPA Finals in May
Haworth has a bronze, silver, and two golds to his name since August. Despite only playing on the PPA Tour for half of the 2025 year, he is now sixth in men’s singles rankings.
There are eight tournaments between now and the 25-26 finals in May and Haworth needs to make up 6,200 PPA Points between him and Hunter Johnson. Just remember, he has a big advantage here: While Hunter Johnson will be trying to replace all of his early 2025 results with just as good or better 2026 results, Haworth will just be adding to his point total. He didn’t play any PPA Tour stops in the first half of 2025.
I think Haworth needs at least three wins and another medal or two, but I am predicting he will have the #1 seed in the Finals in San Clemente.
At least one UPA Asia player from 2025 will play three or more events in the United States in 2026
Specifically, I think either Yufei Long, Marco Leung, Hong Kit Wong, Phuch Huynh, or Jamie Wei comes to the states and does well.
Many of the PPA Asia Trailblazers already have competition experience in the states and they may want to return, especially while the PPA Asia Tour is not running.
Long and Wei have shown tremendous upside, and proved they could hang in the states at the 2025 Orange County Cup. They beat Jorja Johnson and Lacy Schneemann, and followed that witha win over Andrea Koop and Alix Truong to make the quarterfinals.
Long and Wei both have multiple medals on the PPA Asia Tour, so I expect to see more of the Asian players playing both in Asia and the United States.
Nick Kyrgios plays in one PPA Tour event during 2026
Yes. The Nick Kyrgios that just beat Aryna Sabalenka in a “battle of the sexes” exhibition is going to play a PPA Tour event.
The 30 year old Aussie is reaching the end of his tennis career. He is currently ranked 670th in the world on the ATP tour, where he was once ranked as high as 13th (2016).
So why am I predicting he plays on the PPA Tour?
Two answers:
It’ll happen 👀 https://t.co/HB3VrL25IC
— Jack Sock (@JackSock92) December 8, 2025
Nick Kyrgios Joins Stack Athletics as Creative Director: ‘Raw, Expressive, Unapologetic’
“Tennis has its traditions — I’ve never cared about fitting into them,” Kyrgios said of the attititude he’s bringing to the new role.
In the last two months Kyrgios became the Creative Director at Stack Athletics AND one of his best friends in the world of tennis, Jack Sock, said it was going to happen to PPA Tour CEO Connor Pardoe in the above X exchange. Don’t forget, Sock and Kyrgios won the Laver Cup together in 2018 as teammates for Team World. Kyrgios will play one event on the PPA Tour in 2026.
Jack Sock will win a singles title in 2026
Speaking of Jack Sock, I have a bold prediction that he will win his first PPA Tour singles title in 2026. This won’t be his first gold on the PPA Tour in history. Remember when he won mixed doubles in a watered down field (pun intended) in the 2023 North Carolina Open with Anna Leigh Waters?
Sock has always had the talent, but the question is if he has the want to. Toward the latter half of 2025, I believe he showed that desire.
Sock earned wins over Roscoe Bellamy (2x), Noe Khlif, John Lucian Goins, and Yates Johnson. He lost to Hunter Johnson in Lakeland (while pickling him in game two). His other losses include Fed, Haworth (2x), Garnett, and JMV.
He is right there. In men’s singles a little luck is needed to win at this point. I think Sock picks up that little bit of luck in 2026.
Genie Bouchard will win a singles title in 2026
The Sock discussion leads me into talking about Genie Bouchard. Both former top level tennis players have now switched to full-time pickleball for the last two years.
Let’s be honest – Bouchard was not very good when she started in 2024. She has admitted this herself.
However, in the latter part of 2025, Bouchard showed she can compete with the best in singles. Her doubles game still has a lot of work to be done, but singles she is right now a top 10 talent.
She has earned two medals on the PPA Tour – a silver in both Vegas and Sacramento. She lost to Anna Leigh Waters (#1) and Kate Fahey (#2) in those gold medal matches.
Bouchard has amassed wins over Kate Fahey (Vegas), Jorja Johnson, Catherine Parenteau, Lea Jansen, and Brooke Buckner in 2025.
All the Canadian former tennis pro needs is a bit of luck and for Anna Leigh Waters to skip a single event, and Bouchard is going to win her first gold in 2026.
Sahra Dennehy will come to the USA to play pro for a bit and earn a medal in singles
Medaling in women’s singles. Sahra Dennehy is becoming quite good at that, despite having only played for about a year.
In 2025, the Aussie won a bronze and silver on the PPA Australia Tour. She followed that up with two bronze, a silver, and two gold medals on the PPA Asia Tour.
The 23-year-old is on a medal earning rampage and I don’t think she plans on slowing down.
I believe whenever she has some time between stops in AUstralia and Asia, Dennehy wants to test herself against the best of the best in 2026. I believe she comes to the states to play for a month or two and earns at least one medal while she is here.
Seone Mendez will be a top 10 ranked woman on the PPA Tour by the end of the year
Speaking Aussies who medal in singles in America… Seone (pronounced See-own) Mendez is a rising talent that should not be overlooked.
Her talents have earned her a silver and gold on the PPA Challenger Series. She also won gold on the APP Tour at the International Championships in December.
Mendez has wins over Kat Stewart and Sofia Sewing on the APP Tour. She played Anna Leigh to a 5-11, 6-11 loss, and pushed Lea Jansen in the quarters at the Daytona Beach Open.
The former pro tennis player seems to be working hard on the pickleball courts and will have to decide sometime soon if she wants to sign with the UPA and compete on the top tour, or if she is going to go another route. I am guessing she signs with UPA and becomes a top 10 ranked woman in singles by the end of 2026.
At least two players who have not won a PPA main draw match before 2026 will earn a medal in 2026
I know this sounds crazy, but pro pickleball is crazy nowadays.
Think Alex Crum or Rafa Lenhard.
Someone you may not have ever heard of is going to win a medal in 2026. And I am betting at least two of them do it.
Who those players are? I don’t know yet. It will be fun to see if this does come true.
Sofia Sewing will be the highest earning player on both the APP Tour and on the Global Pickleball Alliance
Sewing has taken over the reins as the most dominant singles player on the APP Tour. She also travels a ton and has had success in Asia and India (yes, I know India is part of Asia, but in terms of pickleball, they are two separate locations).
Sewing also has upped her doubles game tremendously, earning multiple mixed medals with Casey Diamond (including two golds) and four women’s doubles golds with Shelby Bates and Bobbi Oshiro (combined) on the APP Tour.
The former pro tennis player is on a trajectory to become the undisputed best overall player on the women’s side on the APP Tour. With the Global Pickleball Alliance announcement, Sewing will most assuredly win the most prize money on that tour in 2026.
The St. Louis Shock AND the Dallas Flash are going to have a different roster than 2024 and 2025
There are two franchises that have maintained their same starting roster since the beginning of the 2024 Major League Pickleball season: the St. Louis Shock and the Dallas Flash.
Shock: Fahey, Tardio, Patriquin, Bright
Flash: Ge, Black, Johnson, Johnson
In my article outlining which teams have to drop which players in 2026, I pointed out that both franchises will have to drop one of their stars. The Shock have to drop either Tardio, Patriquin, or Bright. The Flash have to drop either Black, or one of the Johnsons.
A Way Too Early Look at the MLP Offseason – Who Has to be Dropped?
Now that the 2025 Major League Pickleball (MLP) season is officially over, this is a deep dive into the details of player and team keeper and drop decisions in the offseason, headed into the 2026 MLP year.
Sure, they have a chance to re-buy the player that they drop, but I am predicting that BOTH teams look different in 2026 for the first time in two years.
Both Layne Sleeth and Alix Truong will move up from Challenger Level to Premier Level and become regular starters
Both Sleeth and Truong are players who are better than multiple Premier Level starters, but are currently in the Challenger Level.
Unfortunately for Sleeth, she had to have a minor hip surgery in December, and will be recovering for the next few months.
Sleeth has moved herself into the conversation of top five best defensive women in the game.
Truong is top 10 in women’s mixed doubles on the PPA Tour and showed a ton of promise toward the latter half of the 2025 PPA year. She won double gold at a PPA Asia Tour stop with Zoey Wang and Federico Staksrud. I would be shocked if she is not one of the nominees for Breakout Player of the Year for the 2025 120 Life Dink Awards.
Both the ladies I mentioned are Premier Level talents and it would surprise me greatly if a Premier team didn’t trade for either of them before the 2026 season.
At least four players under the age of 18 will get playing time in MLP
The 2025 MLP Cup introduced a Junior MLP Team made up of Cam Chaffin, Tama Shimabukuro, Ella Yeh, and Elsie Hendershot. They nearly beat the Bay Area Breakers.
Kioria Kunimoto and Will MacKinnon just won the PPA Challenger Raleigh event in December in mixed doubles.
While we are used to phenoms at a young age in pickleball, this new age may even be better. I am predicting at least four players under the age of 18 get significant playing time in MLP this year.
The Palm Beach Royals will qualify for the playoffs in their inaugural season in Major League Pickleball (MLP)
The Palm Beach Royals were announced as an expansion franchise for 2026 on August 1st:
MLP Adds New Expansion Franchise, the Palm Beach Royals
The team was reportedly purchased at “the highest team valuation in league history.”
They are entering the Premier Level with zero players, which puts them a little bit behind the eight-ball. Both the Chicago Slice and New York Hustlers started the 2025 season with zero players, and they finished 11th and 16th (last), respectively, and both missed the playoffs.
What makes the Royals different? Money. In talking with several league front office executives, it seems the Royals have a lot of money and they are willing to spend it to be successful.
With the Royals control ownership group being led by two former D1 tennis players at the University of North Carolina, in Zach Hunter and Taylor Meyer, the drive for winning seems to be high. Despite their AI generated logo (I kid, I kid), I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see them pay a pretty penny for a couple of starts in the upcoming 2026 draft and I certainly think they will make the playoffs in their first year in operation.
Major League Pickleball will get a major broadcasting deal for the 2026 season
The CEO of the PPA Tour, Connor Pardoe, and MLP Commissioner, Samin Odwanhi, posted on Instagram from a meeting they held with some FOX executives in April, 2025.
Does that mean a big-time TV deal is imminent? Absolutely not.
In fact, 2026 is probably going to be the hardest year in recent history to get a nationally broadcasted deal for pickleball. Why, you ask? The FIFA World Cup from June 11 – July 19. So the entire World Cup will be played during a five week period that MLP is also running.
With all of that being said, it feels like momentum is on our side, and I am predicting MLP gets a national broadcasting deal in 2026.
The GPF and UWPF will merge by the end of August and pickleball will be on track for the 2032 Olympics
Listen, I hate acronyms as much as the next guy. However, when it comes to international pickleball governance, the industry is frought with them
GPF = Global Pickleball Federation
UWPF = United World Pickleball Federation
Long story on international pickleball and how the sport gets into the Olympics:
One Step Closer to Pickleball in the Olympics – The GPF and UWPF Move to Establish a Single Global Governing Body
The Global Pickleball Federation (GPF) and the United World Pickleball Federation (UWPF) have entered into discussions on unifying to become one single entity and to become the world’s governing body over pickleball. This brings the sport one step closer to being eligible for the Olympic Games.
Short story version: There needs to be one international governing body for the International Olympic Committee to think about adding a sport to the Olympics. The GPF and UWPF merging would mean that would come true, and if my prediction is correct, that means pickleball could be in the Olympics, come 2032.
Gambling Trading “stock” in professional pickleball will start in Q1 and actually stay relevant from now on, using Polymarket
The Hard Rock Cafe in Florida. Kalshi futures market. DraftKings Sportsbook.
What do all of these have in common? They have all offered gambling on pickleball in the past. Additionally, NONE of them offer gambling on pickleball currently.
Despite announcing a partnership with Kalshi in September, 2025, Polymarket became the exclusive “predictions market” partner of the PPA Tour and MLP in October.
🚨Coming soon 🔜 @PolymarketSport
The world’s largest prediction market meets the fastest-growing sport in America! 🙌
We’re proud to announce that @Polymarket is now the official prediction market for the @PPAtour and @MajorLeaguePB 🤝 bringing fans a new, interactive way to… pic.twitter.com/SU5DEdS5oU
— Carvana PPA Tour (@PPAtour) October 23, 2025
And now, Polymarket is legal in the United States, per Front Office Sports. It is only a matter of time before the platofrm is up and running and including the PPA Tour and MLP. My prediction is you can be “predicting” on pickleball by the end of March.
The domino effect of Anna Leigh Waters leaving Paddletek will last at least into April
Anna Leigh Waters is BY FAR the most marketable player in pickleball. She had a billboard in Times Square state she is “the most dominant athlete in the world.” And the billboard is probably right.
A Times Square billboard dubs Anna Leigh Waters “The Most Dominant Athlete in the World”.
It’s hard to deny it when you look at the resume. Pure greatness. pic.twitter.com/0S0C6kvEAp
— The Dink Pickleball (@Pickleball) June 7, 2025
For someone of her stature, Waters is going to move the needle BIG TIME for her next paddle sponsor. The sponsorship is surely going to cost her next paddle company easily into the millions annually, which may force other athletes’ contracts to not be renewed.
As KOTC podcast host, and California Black Bears President and GM opined in a recent X post, there will surely be a domino effect in the paddle sponsorship game:
Paddle sponsor predictions (100% guesses)
Catherine Parenteau- Luzz (Friday could be a dark horse here)
ALW- Franklin (Don’t sleep on Nike being involved somehow. Darkhorse: Callaway)
Gabe: Facolos
QD: Wika
Jorja and JW: Pikkl (complete guess assuming if Franklin signs…
— Jimmy Miller (@JimmyMiller_PB) January 2, 2026
Long story short, wherever ALW goes, there will most definitely be some fallout for other athletes. Those athletes are then going to have to test the waters (no pun intended) with other brands. That will take time, and I am predicting that this domino effect will last at least three months in a game of musical chairs being played between pro players and paddle manufacturers.
Quang Duong will re-sign a UPA contract by November
Quang Duong left the UPA (PPA and MLP) after unceremoniously having his contract terminated by the league in the middle of the MLP season. He was cited for breach of contract by participating in non-UPA sanctioned events.
UPA Terminates Quang Duong’s Contract After ‘Multiple and Repeated Violations’
Duong took an unapproved trip to Vietnam, missing the MLP Mid-Season Tournament in Grand Rapids, MI.
Since having his contract terminated, Duong has been playing mostly overseas in Asia, specifically Vietnam. Less than a year after signing with the paddle company Sypik, Duong and Sypik parted ways.
Prior to this paddle issue, Duong also had issues with his contract at Selkirk, earning him a cease and desist letter for breaching his contract.
Look, Duong is a top tier player. He can’t prove that by playing in lower tier tournaments. If he is not playing and winning on the biggest pickleball stage in the world, it is going to be difficult to continue earning large sponsorship dollars. My prediction is that Duong is back playing on the PPA Tour/MLP by November, 2026, on a largely incentive based contract.
There will be multiple lawsuits filed regarding paddle technology patents in 2026
There have been a few patent lawsuits in the paddle industry in the past few years. Most recently, CRBN filed suit against Vatic Pro for patent infringement on December 17th:
CRBN Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Vatic Pro
The suit, filed December 17 in California Central District Court, pertains to Vatic’s V-Sol Power pickleball paddle, a full-foam core model that debuted this September.
With the amount of technology that is patented, combined with the competitiveness of the pickleball paddle industry, it is my hunch that multiple (two or more) lawsuits will get filed in 2026.
And with that, those are my 26 predictions for 2026. We will check back in at the end of the year and see where I was correct and where I missed the mark.
Nguồn: thedinkpickleball
