With the conclusion of the PPA Finals, we are now halfway through the 2026 PPA calendar year. With 10 PPA tournaments in the books, we can now update our player rankings. Who is now in (and out) of the top 20? These rankings are based doubles play, with singles factoring in only tangentially.

 

1. Anna Leigh Waters. No surprise at #1. Waters continues to win and dominate. Not much to be said, except that the gap between #1 and #2 is, if anything, getting wider.

 

2. Anna Bright. Bright was being challenged for the second spot in late 2025. Continuing to play with Waters has benefitted Bright, as it makes her appear more dominant than she is, when a lot of her success is due to her partner. With that said, Bright has played better than anyone else not named Waters in 2026.

 

3. Tyra Black. Spots 3-6 are fairly even. Black has improved as a right side player; previously, her forehand dinking was a significant liability in mixed doubles, but she is at least decent now. Her power and defense continue to be first-rate.

 

4. Rachel Rohrabacher. She seemed to take a step back after being dumped by Bright, but has now found her footing lately. She has improved her forehand volley, and thus can now play well on the left.

 

5. Jorja Johnson. Inconsistent play in much of 2026 has moved her down a bit. She was challenging for the #2 spot, but right now her play has dipped below her standards. I expect her to play really well in MLP next to Waters and this may well help her later in the year in PPA play.

 

6. Parris Todd. She has played well with Rohrabacher. Her left side player has improved some, but overall she would benefit by sticking to the right side and allowing her backhand (her favorite shot) to be up the middle.

 

7. Catherine Parenteau. Parenteau continues to be steady. The quality of her partners has dropped the last two years, matching her results. Still solid but no longer a very top player. Players 7-10 are all fairly equal.

 

8. Tina Pisnik. Pisnik is similar to Parenteau. Good defensive player, best on the right, more of a resetter than a counterpuncher. The women’s game now is such that to be a very top player requires power and the ability to counter aggressively.

 

9. Jade Kawamoto. Jade and her sister Jackie have started to play fewer tournaments. Will this trend continue? Her results are solid when she plays. Very good defender, lacks top offense.

 

10. Jackie Kawamoto. Same basically as her sister.

 

11. Kate Fahey. Fahey has not improved as much as many people think at doubles. She is a very top singles player, but at doubles she is in the fourth tier. She lacks the consistency of the top 10, and does not have the same level of defense.

 

12. Danni-Elle Townsend. I struggled with where to place DET. She has not played a lot against PPA US competition. But with that said, based on what I have seen of her play, I could not put any of the rest of the top 20 ahead of her. She has a lot of offense and good mechanics. She has to develop more consistency and win more firefights to move up.

 

13. Lea Jansen. Good player but nothing special that would move her higher. Probably is at her peak, so she will likely move slowly down the rankings going forward.

 

14. Etta Tuionetoa. Tuionetoa has not been playing that regularly. She has some good highlights at times, but again not a lot of consistency. She could move up or down quite a bit depending on how committed she is to playing a full schedule.

 

15. Mari Humberg. Good left side player, which is notable as so many women either focus on right side play or have a style better suited to right side play. Humberg is one of the few who uses a one-hand backhand exclusively. That can be an advantage at the kitchen line when volleying, although a two-handed backhand is an important weapon to have for certain shots.

 

16. Lacy Schneemann. Can play both sides. A very inconsistent player. Her ceiling is high, but at times she plays to a very low floor. Basically, you never know from match to match or tournament to tournament with Schneemann.

 

17. Sahra Dennehy. Another Aussie makes the list, and I had the same issues ranking her as I did with Danni-Elle Townsend. She is a better singles player than Townsend, but not as good at doubles. Very good offensively, she needs to improve defensively and with her consistency.

 

18. Meghan Dizon. She has been up and down the last two years. She was playing better in early 2026, but played very poorly at the PPA Finals. Hard to say where her game is going, but I would guess she will fall off from here.

 

19. Zoey Wang. A lot of potential and talent, but results have not matched. Wang has had more success lately in singles, which should help her get better partners in doubles.

 

20. Cailyn Campbell. A young player who has been steadily improving. Starting to get better results. Very good power, needs to work on all the little things like dinking, counters, resets, etc. Expect to see her move up the rankings as time goes on.

 

Other players to watch: Isabella Dunlap (good singles player, starting to get better at doubles); Kiora Kunimoto (better than Dunlap at singles, needs to improve at doubles); Jamie Wei (similar to Schneemann, but not as good. Likely to improve); Alix Truong (inconsistent, seemed to be improving, played very poorly at the PPA Finals); Jessie Irvine (veteran player who has fallen off, does not seem all that interested); Kaitlyn Christian (very good at singles, just has not progressed as expected at doubles).

 

Next up: Top 20 men

 

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