On the same afternoon that Vivienne David announced her retirement from professional pickleball, Anna Leigh Waters and her longtime paddle sponsor Paddletek appeared to mutually signal that their partnership has come to an end after seven years together.

According to Paddletek’s post, Waters signed with the Michigan-based company in 2018 at just 11 years old.

Since then, she has captured 172 PPA titles to become the winningest pickleball athlete of all-time.

It was a memorable run for both player and paddle company that, unsurprisingly, seems to be coming to an end.

Alarm bells began ringing in late December when The Dink’s Alex Weaver first reported that Waters had been removed from the Paddletek website.

Then, after weeks of speculation from fans and content creators, Waters was pictured on Monday using what appeared to be a Franklin paddle in a now-deleted Instagram post.

The post and corresponding screenshots were by no means confirmation that any new paddle deal had been reached, but they collectively implied that the superstar would not be returning to Paddletek in 2026.

One day later, it looks like that suspicion has been all but confirmed.

If no new deal is announced this week, all eyes will be on Waters at next week’s Carvana PPA Tour Masters powered by Invited to see which paddle she wields and whose apparel she wears.

For paddle updates on more pros, check out this article that is updated daily.