The Opendoor Pickleball World Championships brought so many highlight reels. But there’s one that sparked a lot of discussion online featuring the World No. 1, Anna Leigh Waters.

The moment occurred when Waters played mixed doubles with Ben Johns during the quarter finals against Christian Alshon and Rachel Rohrabacher. In the video, Waters hit her chest after winning a point and yells “get off me” early in game two.

The crowd immediately laughed and cheered. In person, they seemed to enjoy her energy and fighting spirit. But online, she received quite a lot of negative comments. Classic social media, people saw one clip taken out of context and called it an “outburst.”

Contrary to popular belief, Waters wasn’t actually yelling at her opponents Alshon and Rohrabacher. She was clapping back at Alshon’s coach, Jesse Cooper.

“Anna Leigh saying ‘get off me’ wasn’t towards Christian or Rachel,” revealed Anna Bright on a recent Let Her Cook Podcast. “That was actually towards Jesse. She told me that Jesse was saying ‘get on her, get on her.’ So that’s why she said that.”

During the match, Cooper was repeatedly encouraging Alshon to target Waters. And while that kind of thing can irritate some players and throw them off their game, for Waters, it only fueled her. Anytime she starts talking to herself, getting feisty, and hyping herself up, she somehow plays even better.

The next point, she was even more animated with her celebration. Even though it was a battle for the remainder of the game, Waters and Johns won the match in two.  

“Honestly, I think it hurt them against Anna Leigh. I think that fired her up,” said Kate Fahey on the podcast. “If anyone said ‘go after her’ or ‘stay on her,’ it would have definitely made me mad too. It would make anyone mad.”

However, people saw the “get off me” clip online, made their assumptions, and started name calling. And I can’t help but wonder if a male player did the same thing in a match, would he receive the same criticism?

The women in pro pickleball – and all female athletes in general – receive so much more hate when they yell, scream, and show emotion on court compared to the men. Kate Fahey is notoriously criticized for her screaming, but when Alshon roars, he’s seen as passionate in the comments.

Though Waters wasn’t yelling at her opponents, even if she was, who cares? Shouldn’t she be allowed to chirp and hype herself up like Hayden Patriquin does? When Patriquin does it, it’s funny. And when Waters does it, she gets hate comments.

Anna Leigh Waters should be allowed to be as competitive and vocal as they want. Of course, that’s within reason (basically, don’t be a jerk) but yelling something funny like that makes for good spectating. It shows her passion, grit, and drive. And if she needs to yell “get off me” to win the point, the G.O.A.T. should be allowed to do so.

To keep up to date on all things pickleball, follow us on Instagram.