Anna Leigh Waters and Anna Bright playing women's doubles pickleball.
Anna Leigh Waters appears to be using a Franklin paddle and wearing Nike apparel in a since-deleted social media post. @poloclubofbocaraton Instagram

Waters pictured with Franklin paddle and Nike apparel in now-deleted social media post

Pictures from a now-deleted social media post appear to show Anna Leigh Waters playing with a Franklin paddle and dawning Nike apparel, as the pickleball community speculates about who the 18-year-old’s new paddle and apparel sponsors will be.

The post, published Monday morning by the Polo Club of Boca Raton’s Instagram account, appears to show Waters using a Franklin paddle with a strikingly similar shape to her Paddletek Bantam ALW-C model while wearing a variety of Nike products, most notably the multicolored Nike Zoom Challenger pickleball shoes.

She is shown playing doubles alongside Anna Bright against Tanner Tomassi and Richard Livornese Jr.

A screenshot from the original post that appears to show Waters using a Franklin paddle and wearing Nike apparel.
A screenshot from the original post that appears to show Waters using a Franklin paddle and wearing Nike apparel. @poloclubofbocaraton Instagram

Waters, of course, is a free agent in the paddle and apparel markets after her previous contracts with Paddletek (paddle) and Fila (apparel) ended in 2025.

 

These photos, then, point to a real possibility of the 172-time PPA gold medalist signing an apparel deal with Nike and a paddle deal with Franklin.

While it’s important to note that nothing has been announced yet, an official announcement is expected in the coming days.

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