We have come to the end of 2024. 2025 promises to be a great pickleball year, but before we get there, let’s take a final look at the year that was 2024. A lot happened in 2024, so there is much to talk about.

 

1. Partnership breakups. Prior to the start of 2024, the long time successful partnership of Riley Newman and Matt Wright ended. It turned out to be only the tip of the iceberg. In 2024, we saw the ending of many solid partnerships, including Federico Staksrud/Pablo Tellez, Dylan Frazier/JW Johnson, and Anna Bright/James Ignatowich. But the biggest news came right at the end of the year as it was announced that 2024 would be the last year of the Ben Johns/Collin Johns partnership. The ending of all these top partnerships is the biggest pickleball story of 2024.

 

 

2. The takeover of the young. Pickleball, like so many pro sports, is dominated by younger competitors. But, in 2024, we saw a boom among teenagers emerging at the highest levels of the pro game. Anna Leigh Waters continued her dominating ways, but she was joined at the highest level of the sport by fellow teenagers Hayden Patriquin, Gabe Tardio, Jorja Johnson, Quang Duong, and CJ Klinger.

 

 

3. The game is changing. 2024 saw unprecedented changes in how the game is played. The PPA Tour changed from the Dura ball to the Vulcan. Power became the norm. The change to more power and less dinking was previewed at the Desert Ridge Open early in 2024. Zane Navratil and Erik Lange won a bronze medal through a near exclusive use of the power game. They showed what could be done with the latest paddles and the Vulcan ball and pro pickleball was changed. By the end of 2024, we saw more drives than drops and more speedups than ever before. Look for even more of the same in 2025.

4. The Twoey is the norm. Another big change in 2024 was the growth of the two-handed backhand. Once a rarity, the Twoey became the norm. From players like Connor Garnett (Mr. Twoey Nation himself), to Anna Leigh Waters, to James Ignatowich, to Anna Bright, etc., the Twoey became more the norm and the number of players exclusively using a one-hand backhand decreased substantially. By the end of 2024, even committed “one handers” such as Ben Johns and Federico Staksrud were incorporating the Twoey in their arsenal. Quang Duong showed the aggressive potential of the Twoey in the dink game. Watch for more twoeys than ever in 2025.

 

 

5. The singles lineup explodes. It has always been easier for new pros to compete at the highest level in singles than in doubles. In 2024, we saw this fact proven true again and again. Players such as Kaitlyn Christian, Brooke Buckner, Genie Bouchard, Kate Fahey, Michael Loyd, Hunter Johnson, and Chris Haworth, all enjoyed a lot of singles success. Men’s and women’s singles has never been more unpredictable. Look for more new faces on the medal stand in 2025.

 

 

6. New to the top 20. The top 20 players from year to year always changes. In 2024, we saw new players who were relatively or completely unknown at the start of 2024 become top players by the end of the year. Kate Fahey, Augie Ge, Mari Humberg, and Will Howells are all examples of 2024’s emerging stars.

 

 

7. The rollercoaster that is MLP. MLP ended its year with a great championship playoff between New Jersey and Dallas. But before we got there, we did have to go through a lot of changes to the rules, player moves, and player complaints about the format. There is a lot to look forward to with MLP 2025, but issues with player contracts may end up dominating the conversation.

 

 

8. Tennis anyone? Pickleball continues to absolutely dominate tennis in the recreational arena. We see the effect on the pros. 2024 saw such top tennis players as Jack Sock, Donald Young, and Genie Bouchard join the PPA Tour. Will there be more converts in 2025?

 

 

9. The best pickleball rivalry. One thing that would greatly benefit pro pickleball is the emergence of women who can beat Anna Leigh Waters. ALW is awesome to watch, but every top player in every sport benefits from a challenger to push them. In women’s doubles, 2024 saw the emergence of the Anna Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau v. Anna Bright/Rachel Rohrabacher rivalry. These two teams battled each other for much of the year, with a number of wins going to the underdog Bright/Rohrabacher pairing. These wins cemented this rivalry as the best in pro pickleball. Does every pro pickleball fan want to see this matchup again and again in 2025? The answer is an easy yes.

 

 

10. Thomas, we miss you. Unfortunately, injuries and illness are a part of any sport. In 2024, we saw Thomas Wilson affected by illness, missing much of the year. There are few people in pickleball as nice and good as Wilson. We all root for him to be back to 100% health in 2025. The sport is better with him in it.

 

 

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Finally, where would we be without a list to end 2024? Here’s my top 20 women and men as of the end of 2024. It is much changed from 2023 and 2025 will change it again. The list is primarily focused on doubles play, but does factor in singles, sort of like an MLP player evaluation.

 

 

1. Anna Leigh Waters: Duh. There is still pretty good gap to #2, although it is closing some.

2. Anna Bright: Bright has supplanted Catherine Parenteau as the second best woman player. She is actually pretty solid at singles too, although she does not play it very often.

3. Jorja Johnson: She is very solid all around, winning with different partners. Very versatile left/right side, and she added some sneaky Twoey speedups to her game. More room to grow and improve. Can she one day challenge for #1?

4. Catherine Parenteau: Still a very good player, although a few small cracks showed in 2024. She is no longer the second best singles player, and indeed has probably dropped out of the top 5 in singles. She struggled in mixed with Jack Sock, but will now do better with other partners.

5. Rachel Rohrabacher: I see a bit of a dropoff from 4 to 5. Rohrabacher is improving but has a few bigger holes in her game than the other top 5 players. Rohrabacher has a long stroke to her forehand, which limits its effectiveness. She also tends to short arm forehands under pressure, leading to errors. 

6. Kate Fahey: What an explosive climb up the rankings! Fahey went from a virtual unknown to being the second best singles player and a greatly improved doubles player. Many will likely doubt how high I rank her, but I look for her to play some left side in 2025 and continue to improve.

7. Tina Pisnik: A very solid year for Pisnik earns her a high ranking going into 2025. She is very solid in mixed and women’s doubles. She will be a little better at mixed as she is best on the right side, but tends to play too much left side in women’s doubles. She is better at defense than offense, so the move in the game toward more offense may give her some issues in 2025.

8. Tyra Black: Another good year for Black, as she had success with a wide variety of partners. She is somewhat limited in mixed, as she is much better on the left than the right side. She needs to improve on her forehand crosscourt dink and speedup. She is a very good singles player, although we do not see her play much singles.

9. Lea Jansen: Jansen showed some versatility, playing good right side pickleball in MLP. She has always had power but 2024 showed a lot of improvement in dinking and defense. She took a bit of a step back in singles, but much of that can be attributed to the increasing competition.

10. Etta Wright: 2024 was a definite step back for Wright. She still has all the shots but the success was somewhat lacking. Some of this could be attributed to her partners not being as good in 2024 as before. Meghan Dizon had a poor year, struggling with illness for part of it and never seeming to recover her full skills until near the end of the year. Expect 2025 to be a bounce back year for Wright.

11. Parris Todd: Another player with a bit of an up and down 2024, but she closed the year well. She has skills at doubles and singles. She could use some more consistency, but that is true of just about all of this second ten.

12. Jackie Kawamoto: She had an excellent showing in MLP. Kawamoto and Jansen teamed up to be the heart of New York’s team. She is super steady and is an excellent partner for just about anyone.

13. Mari Humberg: Another player who went from unknown to well known in 2024. She medaled early in 2024 with Jorja Johnson in Mesa, then enjoyed a great year in MLP.

14. Jessie Irvine: Jimmy Miller won for the worst prediction of 2024, when he said Irvine was washed up, and she won gold a week later in mixed doubles with Gabe Tardio. Irvine played steady pickleball in 2024.

15. Vivienne David: A poor year for David, in large part as she so clearly missed her mixed doubles partnership with Thomas Wilson. She also needs to better adapt her game to the power style of 2024. Can she bounce back in 2025?

16. Chao Yi Wang: Wang is an up and comer. She made great strides in singles, and her performance in Challenger MLP showed off her doubles skills. She was the best woman player in Challenger and deserves promotion to Premier. She needs better partners in PPA events to show off her skills.

17. Lacy Schneemann: An inconsistent player, Schneemann’s ceiling is high but her floor is low. She alternates top 10 level play with relatively poor play. She also was just so-so at MLP. She has trouble deciding her best style, switching between playing a defensive style vs. an offensive style.

18. Callie Smith: At 33, Smith is now an older, veteran player. With so many young players entering the sport and improving, Smith is inevitably going to decline in the rankings, albeit slowly. She has tried to be more offensively oriented in her game, to keep pace, but I expect 2025 to mimic 2024.

19. Lucy Kovalova: At 32, she has the same basic profile as Callie Smith, although Kovalova is more of a defensive oriented player.

20. Meghan Dizon: Dizon had a poor 2024, especially by her standards. She played very poorly at MLP. Her long time partnership with Etta Wright was not as strong in 2024. Her play did noticeably pick up toward the end of 2024. It remains to be seen if 2024 was a fluke or a true trend downward.

Top 20 Men:

 

1. Ben Johns: Still #1, but the gap is the smallest it has ever been. His days of dominating with many triple crowns are over. Especially in singles, his time as #1 is coming to an end. But not just yet.

2. Federico Staksrud: The battle to be top 5 on the men’s side is a fierce one. Staksrud gets the nod at #2 due to his super consistent play throughout 2024. He needs to improve a bit at mixed doubles. Could he change from Rohrabacher to Bright?

3. Christian Alshon: The most improved player of 2023 was also one of the most improved of 2024. He looked like he might take the #2 spot, but his play was slightly held back by injuries. If he can be 100% healthy in 2025, he may even challenge for the top spot.

4. JW Johnson: He is right there with the three players ranked just ahead of him. He benefitted in 2024 from playing with the same partners so much of the time in men’s (Dylan Frazier) and mixed (Jorja Johnson). Playing with a long term partner adds about 3-5% to your game, a significant margin at the pro level. Johnson may take a slight step back in 2025, as he looks like he may switch around with men’s doubles partners.

5. Gabe Tardio: Tardio grew taller in 2024 and his game grew as well. His ceiling is super high. He established himself as the best right side player in 2024. His wins with Jessie Irvine in mixed were particularly impressive. Going forward, he needs to play more left side if he wants to move up the rankings.

6. Hayden Patriquin: Like Tardio, Patriquin is another teenager with a lot of upside. His biggest drawback is himself. He can get impatient and make too many simple errors. Ben Johns is #1 in part because he is the most patient player in the sport; Patriquin needs a dose of that patience. He has all the shots.

7. Andrei Daescu: Daescu had a pretty solid year, with wins and good performances except during his suspension from play. He had a disappointing MLP season. He is a strong left side player, and thus has a good record at mixed.

8. Riley Newman: 2024 was a down year for Newman. He had some contract issues, and a bit of a layoff to start the year. He never seemed to get totally on track, and the Wilson illness deprived him of one of his favorite partners. For 2025, he needs to settle on another top 10 player for men’s and mixed, and he needs to play a lot, to get back to his old standards.

9. Will Howells: This will be my most controversial pick, but I am comfortable with it. Howells has dominated play in APP, albeit at a lower level of competition than PPA. But, he really showed his skills at MLP. As a late pick, he played as well as a low first round pick. Sure, he played mixed with Anna Leigh Waters (an obvious advantage), but he also had a solid men’s doubles record with Zane Navratil. He is another young player who is improving.

10. Pablo Tellez: In 2024, Tellez cemented himself as perhaps the most versatile player on the men’s side. As a lefty, he is a popular partner as so many people want to play the left side, especially in men’s doubles. He had success with a wide variety of partners.

11. Dylan Frazier: The split of the Johnson/Frazier partnership is likely to hurt Frazier much more than Johnson. Johnson is a much stronger mixed player, as Frazier struggles a bit on the left. Frazier can have more success if he stays on the right and partners with a strong left side player; but, if he is looking to play more left side in men’s doubles, I do not see him enjoying the same level of success he had with JW.

12. Dekel Bar: Bar is another versatile and underrated player. Similar to Tellez, he is a comfortable partner for just about anyone. He played solidly in mixed with Tina Pisnik, was steady in MLP, and has a decent level of success with different partners in men’s doubles.

13. Tyson McGuffin: A good, all around player. Good at singles, solid right side defensive player, but he can also play with power. Another player who deservedly is sought after as a partner. He is actually starting to be overlooked a bit, but his 2024 was very, very solid.

14. CJ Klinger: Yet another of the rising teenage stars. I may have him slightly too low here. Like Will Howells, he had a good MLP year, although CJ’s MLP year did not stand out as much as his men’s partner (Jack Sock) played so poorly. A move by Klinger up toward the top 5 in 2025 is certainly possible.

15. Augie Ge: From unknown to #15, that sums up Ge’s 2024. He broke through at Desert Ridge early in 2024, with a fourth place finish in mixed with Tyra Black. Ge was an integral part of the Dallas Flash winning MLP. He is very solid in all aspects of the game. The main thing he needs to move up is to get better partners, especially in men’s doubles. He should be more sought after as a partner than he has been to date.

16. Quang Duong: Again, yet another of the rising star teenagers. He is loaded with power, which serves him well at singles.  He needs to learn to channel his power a little better at doubles. He developed a better dink game in 2024, adding a very strong topspin power backhand dink. While the game has decisively moved more towards power, in doubles finesse still matters. Duong needs more finesse and touch. But, his ceiling may be the highest of anyone on this list.

17.  Connor Garnett: Garnett is top 5 in singles, and was decent in men’s doubles in 2024 once he found a steady partnership with Tyler Loong. He needs to improve at mixed doubles.

18. James Ignatowich: 2024 was a disappointing year for Ignatowich. He started out the year looking like a top 6-7 player, but finished it getting double pickled by Daescu/McGuffin at the PPA Finals. Everything seemed just a little off for Ignatowich in 2024. We will see if this is a trend or an aberration.

19. Jaume Martinez Vich: JMV had a solid year. He is very good at singles and was the top male player in Challenger MLP. He can play either side. He seemed to hit a ceiling in 2024, so the question is whether he can improve in 2025.

20. Tie between Zane Navratil and Hunter Johnson: This tie is caused because each player had a significant but different success in 2024. Navratil showed what a valuable teammate he is in MLP, and he also won medals in PPA play with a wide variety of partners. These successes showed he is a solid partner to match up with. Johnson, on the other hand, emerged as a super strong singles player, as well as showing improvement in doubles. Johnson is a player to watch for 2025.

 

That puts a wrap on 2024. Pickleball continued to explode in popularity in 2024, and that included the popularity of PPA and MLP play. We are set for a great 2025. Next up are the predictions for 2025. Check back to pickleball.com to see that one.

 

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