Top 10 Best Male Players
1. JW Johnson
If you are looking for someone who is young and talented in pickleball and has already won many championships at such an early age, JW Johnson is a name to reckon with. At the age of 19, he won several championships in both singles and doubles.
He began building his professional career at the APP New York City event and won 3 medals including 2 gold medals which mean he has always been in the top 3 in every match in the last 3 weeks.
Johnson is the typical player with clean hitting, quick streaks on the kitchen line, and without over-emotional or overly fun-loving play. This is what top pickleball players need. This is what makes him one of the best pickleball players in 2022.
Maybe you’ll find this interesting: “Jw Johnson Pickleball: His Life Story, Achievements & Networth”
2. Ben Johns
Ben Johns has loved racquet sports since he was 8 years old. His love for racquet games started with tennis. He started participating in competitions at a young age. However, he grew tired of playing tennis and discovered pickleball at the age of 17.
Since then, he has started playing and competing in prestigious tournaments including the US Open Pickleball Championship for several years. That total of more than 50 gold medals includes 11 Triple Crown Medals in the Men’s Singles, Doubles, and Mixed Doubles levels.
Due to the many achievements achieved from an early age, Benjamin Johns immediately became a star in pickleball. He also has an official endorsement deal with Franklin Sport.
3. Zane Navratil
Zane Navratil is currently 26 years old but has been fond of pickleball since he was 18 years old. In his university days, he studied accounting but liked tennis as his favorite sport. He played division III tennis at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He then moved to Milwaukee and worked as an auditor at Deloitte & Touche and earned a CPA license.
In 2020 he began teaching pickleball full-time and left the business world and started a professional career in the sport. Zane quickly became the first pickleball player in men’s singles according to the 2021 World Pickleball Rankings.
Currently, Zane is teaching pickleball in various places. His relaxed and humorous demeanor has helped thousands of his students develop pickleball careers.
4. Tyson McGuffin
Tyson McGuffin is currently the world’s top player with a high salary. He started getting to know pickleball in 2015. He lives in Washington and started getting to know tennis in college. He later became a tennis coach and pickleball professional player at the Yakima Tennis Club.
His interest in pickleball started when a friend in the tennis club introduced him to the sport. Unexpectedly, his interest in the sport made McGuffin a well-known professional pickleball player. He won the professional Grand Slam tournament and the National Champion and brought his name to the top ranks of the players at the time.
Pickleball Company Selkirk did not waste the opportunity by enticing the young star to become its brand ambassador. Currently, Tyson McGuffin is still the best player and legend in the world of pickleball.
5. Riley Newman
Riley Newman is a professional pickleball player who is currently 27 years old. He was born on Whidbey Island Washington and now lives in Phoenix Arizona. He grew up in a family that loves various sports. His siblings numbered 5 women and 1 man.
As a teenager, he liked many sports such as basketball, soccer, tennis, and baseball. He received a D1 scholarship in Seattle, Washington.
He started getting to know pickleball in 2017 after being introduced by his referee friend, Mark Cook. Having mastered tennis in competitive play it didn’t take long for Riley to become a great player at pickleball. He then won his first 5.0 tournament and won the mixed doubles title alongside his sister Lindsey Newman. He then loved the sport of pickleball until now. He is a player who is almost always in the top 10 in men’s doubles and mixed doubles.
6. Frederico Staksrud
Frederico Staksurd was born in Argentina. He started to like tennis when he was 5 years old. Since young, he has been one of the top 20 tennis players in his country at the U18 level. He then moved to America to study at the University of New Orleans.
He then became acquainted with pickleball in 2021. And with his tennis talent, he won the 2022 PBA Atlanta Open. He has beaten great players like Tyson McGuffin and Rafa Hemmit.
7. Julian Arnold
Julian Arnold was born in San Luis Obispo, California on February 7, 1991. He has been playing tennis since he was 7 years old and was introduced to pickleball in 2021. Previously, he had been a tennis coach for 9 years before finally joining pickleball full-time 6 months ago. He can break into the top 10 at the moment and is a newcomer who is quite frightening for old players.
8. Dylan Frazier
Dylan Frazier has been a professional player since he was 19 years old. He is a student at the University of Missouri. In the last 5 years, his professional career in pickleball has continued to climb until he can break into the top 10 according to the World Pickleball Rankings.
Since he was young he liked various sports such as soccer, basketball, and baseball. But since 2016 he has been to Florida and started to like the new sport of pickleball. Since then he has become a young talent who has won various awards at high-level competitions.
9. James Ignatowich
Just like other players, James Ignatowich started his passion for rackets starting from tennis at the age of 6 years. He is originally from Connecticut and later moved to Tennessee and played tennis at Vanderbilt University’s top level.
After getting bored playing tennis, he then found pickleball which he thought that tennis was a boring version of pickleball. He practices all the time playing pickleball and quickly becomes of the top 10 players in the world in 2022.
10. AJ Koller
AJ Koller was born on April 8, 1989. He is currently 32 years old and lives in Austin Texas. He started professional pickleball tournaments in 2019. Despite this newcomer, his thin stature and lightning-fast hands helped him become a fast-paced career player.
He was introduced to pickleball in 2018 in Las Vegas and later became known as a player with an excellent defensive style. He previously played hockey for 16 years and therefore has strong and stable wrists. Koller is not a man of many words but he prefers to prove his worth on the court.
Together with Dylan Frazier, he won a bronze medal and started his professional career. Since then Koller has been a monster in pickleball in both men’s and mixed doubles.
Read more: “How much do pro pickleball players make? Who is the highest-paid player“
Top 10 Female Players
1. Anna Leigh Waters
Who would have thought that the female best pickleball player in the world right now is a 15-year-old girl? Anna Leigh Waters is a professional pickleball player who was born on January 26, 2007. She is gifted with natural talent and began honing her pickleball skills after fleeing to Allentown, Pennsylvania from her home that was hit by Hurricane Irma in 2017.
She then defeated US Open Triple Crown champion Simone Jardim two years later. Since then, she and his mother Leigh Waters have won major tournaments such as the USAPA Nationals and the US Open Pickleball Championships.
2. Salome Devidze
Salome Devidze is a pickleball player originally from Georgia. She was born on January 2, 1986, in Tbilisi, Soviet Union. She was a former tennis player with the highest world ranking at number 254 in 2004 and won the ITF Circuit tennis tournament in women’s doubles. Currently, she is a new pickleball player and immediately sticks out to his highest ranking number 2 in 2022.
3. Anna Bright
Anna Bright may only be 22 years old. However, her passion for playing pickleball has brought her to 3rd place in pickleball women’s in 2022. She is an agile young player who likes to make killer backhand shots on the kitchen line. In her first professional tournament, she won the gold medal partnering with Johnson and defeating senior pair Simone Jardim/Corrine Carr.
4. Lea Jansen
Lea Jansen is a newcomer whose career continues to climb until she can reach the top 10 of the world women’s pickleball player rankings. She was born on July 9, 1992, and currently resides in Austin, Texas. She started his professional pickleball career in 2021.
She is a fiery personality on the pitch which makes her an exciting newcomer to PPA. She was born in Spokane, Washington, and competed in tennis since she was 8 years old and became a mainstay player at Washington State University.
She then switched to pickleball in the summer of 2019 and toured in 2021 and won two PPA gold medals at the Orange County Cup and Rocky Mountain Championships.
5. Catherine Parenteau
Catherine Parenteau was born in Montreal, Canada 27 years ago. She started his career playing tennis when he was 4 years old. She later played competitive tennis at Michigan State University and the University of Arkansas.
She was introduced to pickleball by professional player Simone Jardim in 2015 and shortly thereafter she competed in the US Open and won the 5.0 mixed bracket. Since then, her career in pickleball has continued to climb.
6. Jorja Johnson
Jorja is the sister of JW Johnson. Despite being only 15 years old he has played in Major League Pickleball with the Hard Eights and has amassed 19 professional medals and made her become one of the top female pickleball players in 2022. She moved from Kansas to Florida and started his love of pickleball and now competes professionally with his older brother.
7. Parris Todd
Parris Todd started loving rackets at the age of 5. She was raised by a family that didn’t even know anything about tennis. She then trained to develop talent in the world she loved until, at the age of 8, Paris’ father took her to the Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida and intended her daughter to become a world-class player. Her career in the world of tennis continues to grow until he gets 85 trophies throughout his career.
Her career then developed until he was offered a fashion model with one of the largest retailers in the US. When the pandemic then put a damper on his career, pickleball came along and Todd started to love this new sport. In 2021 she has become a new female pickleball player with a brilliant career.
8. Irina Tereschenko
Irina Terschenko was born in Moscow, Russia, on March 3, 1983. She currently lives in Fresno, California. She has been in the racquet world for over 20 years and is one of the top 10 female pickleball players in the world.
She has won the 2021 Women’s Pro Singles at the 2019 US Open Women’s Doubles, the 2016 Women Pro Singles and the 2018 Women’s Doubles at the USAPA National as well as the Women’s Pro Singles at the 2016 Tournament of Champions. As well as holding a 2020 PPA title for women’s singles.
9. Megan Fudge
Megan Fudge may be another newcomer to pickleball. She is from England as a former tennis pro player who played a lot at the University of Illinois. She is known to have volley shots that quickly kill in front of the net. She already has a family and children who also love pickleball.
10. Simone Jardim
Simone Jardim is a pickleball player who has Brazilian ancestry. She was born in Santa Maria on November 7, 1979. She was a former head tennis coach at Michigan State University from 2009-2016. After starting her career in pickleball in 2015, she is the first woman to have won more PPA titles than all famous pickleball players in the world and was ranked 1st in the world from 2016-2020.
She is known as the top female player in doubles and mixed doubles. She has won the US Open singles title for 4 consecutive years (2016-2020). Simone won at least 32 PPA titles to date and has partnered with other world players such as Ben Johns and his student Lucy Kovalova.
Which one is the best player? Share Your Opinion
If you pay attention, most of these professional pickleball players mostly start their career in tennis. But that doesn’t mean they don’t need practice in pickleball. Precisely those who have loved rackets from an early age can be a motivation if you want to become a professional pickleball player with a high income. The list of players above is governed by the World Pickleball Rankings update 2022 and is subject to change at any time. So let me know which is your favorite player.
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