As 2024 comes to a close, we look forward to 2025. In the past year, we have seen so many new things in pickleball, from the splash made by Kate Fahey, to the emergence of the Anna Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau v Anna Bright/Rachel Rohrabacher rivalry, to an awesome MLP Final, to the end of the Ben Johns/Collin Johns partnership. What will 2025 hold in store for us? Rest assured, 2025 will provide us with a lot of thrills, but also twists and turns that no one can predict. Well, I will give it a shot anyway.

Here’s my 25 predictions for 2025:

 

1. 2025 will be the last year when Ben Johns is the undisputed best player in the world. Johns is still the best player, but the world is catching up. The gap between Johns and the rest of the field has narrowed, and there are many potential players with a legitimate shot at #1. I will give 2025 to Ben, but 2026 will see a new #1.

 

2. Players with exclusively one-handed backhands will continue to disappear, to the point where by the end of 2025, if a player never uses a Twoey, it will be notably unusual.

 

3. In the Dylan Frazier/JW Johnson breakup, JW will be successful, but Dylan will drop. Johnson is a much better mixed player than Frazier, and this indicates he will have more men’s doubles success than Frazier, when both take on new partners. Frazier will try some left side play, but by the end of 2025 he will have gone back to his best path to success, playing the right side.

 

4. Matt Wright will win no medals in 2025, unless Ben Johns partners with him. I expect Johns to play the vast majority of events with one or two partners (Gabe Tardio or Christian Alshon are top candidates). But Johns may play one or two with Wright. Absent that, Wright is done winning medals. He has had a long and successful career but Father Time is undefeated.

 

5. James Ignatowich falls out of the top 10. I did not rank him as a top 10 player for 2024, but the general public still sees him at that level. He was a top 10 pick in MLP. If there was a redraft, he would not go top 10. By the end of 2025, the general public will see what I see now.

 

6. Kate Fahey will continue her climb up the rankings. She will defeat Anna Leigh Waters in singles, and she will start shifting over to some left side play in women’s doubles. By the end of 2025, she will be challenging for a spot as a top 5 overall player, not just singles.

 

7. Collin Johns will slowly fade down the rankings. Without Ben as his partner, a big question is who Collin will partner with. He is already fading in the mixed doubles rankings (down to #22 among men). He will begin a long, slow fade in the men’s rankings. He will get some good players as partners starting out (Andrei Daescu? Dekel Bar?) but he will not have great success, and he will fade more as his partner quality decreases. I do not have him as a top 20 player now, and the general public will agree by the end of 2025.

 

8. Chirping in pro pickleball will lead to a physical confrontation in 2025. Chirping was a bigger issue in 2024 than ever before. There is what I call positive chirping (Jack Sock’s smiling antics, for example), and negative chirping (Matt Wright’s vocal "out" calls, for example). I don’t mind positive chirping, which is done all in fun. I would outlaw negative chirping, as it is only designed to anger an opponent. At some point, the chirping is going to lead to something physical.

 

 

11. TV will be more interested in pickleball, but 2026, not 2025, will be the year it takes off. Expect to see more made for TV celebrity events in 2025. Those will draw more interest to pickleball. PPA will be more successful in getting events on TV in 2025, but the exposure from the celebrity events will help get pro pickleball a big TV upgrade in 2026.

 

12. Lots of indoor pickleball facilities opened in 2024 and more are set to open in 2025. But, the story in 2025 will be about pickleball facilities closing. While the number of people casually playing rec keeps growing, the number of people willing to pay $100/month or more is not enough to sustain all the facilities being opened. Small facilities (with less than 20 courts) will be the most in trouble. Large facilities (with 30+ courts) will become a bigger thing, to take advantage of economies of scale.

 

13. Following up on #12, facilities with a stadium court will also start to be a thing. The facilities opening to date have all tended to be similar. They have 10-15 courts, all individually fenced off, with fairly small additional amenities. None of these facilities can accommodate a tournament or other big event. We will see bigger facilities, with more courts, more amenities and stadium courts, so that a tournament can be held there.

 

14. Paddle wars will heat up. While some members of the industry call for the game to slow down, most players love the hottest new paddle. Manufacturers respond to public demand. We already have one lawsuit by JOOLA v USAP; expect 2025 to bring more of the same.

 

15. The game will continue to speed up. The genie is out of the bottle. Attempts to slow the game down will be unsuccessful. Long dink rallies will continue to diminish in frequency. Speedups off the bounce and drives will continue to proliferate.

 

16. More tennis players will enter the game, including pro tennis players. We saw 2024 bring us Genie Bouchard, Jack Sock, and Donald Young. Look for more in 2025.

 

17. Following up on #16, Donald Young and not Jack Sock, will emerge in 2025 as the best pro tennis to pickleball convert on the men’s side.

18. By the end of 2025, there will be at least one top 25 player who seemingly came out of nowhere. Whether this is a foreign player, or some American teenager remains to be seen, but expect to see someone surprise who presently would be met with a “who is that?” 

 

19. In 2025, CJ Klinger will be regarded as the best lefty in the game. There is already a reasonable argument to be made for it now, but during 2025, the general public will agree that Klinger is the best lefty player.

 

20. The over/under on triple crowns for Ben Johns in 2025 is 1.5. I can see him sneaking one in, but the days of him winning triple crowns in bunches is over.

 

21. Federico Staksrud will stop playing mixed with Rachel Rohrabacher, to seek more success with another partner. I predict it will be Kate Fahey.

 

22. Jorja Johnson will end 2025 regarded as the second best female player. I already have her at #3, although I do not think the general public is there yet. Johnson improved a lot in 2024, and at her age, there is room for even more improvement. She added some tricky speedups in 2024 off the Twoey. I expect her to show even more versatility in 2025. I do not see it happening, but I would love to see Johnson and Anna Bright team up.

 

23. Anna Bright will settle on one mixed partner in 2025 and have a lot of success. 2024 was a bit of a down year for Bright in mixed. She stopped playing with James Ignatowich, and her success rate decreased. I would like to see her with Andrei Daescu, and stick with it. She could also pair well with Gabe Tardio or Hayden Patriquin. But, she needs to pick one and stick with it, to gain familiarity.

 

24. In 2025, at least by the end of the year if not sooner, Hunter Johnson will be regarded as the best singles player.

 

25. Last but not least, my super early pick to win MLP 2025 is St. Louis.

 

Well, there you have it. Some hot takes and some mild guesses. Either way, the PPA Tour and pro pickleball will be fun to watch in 2025.

 

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