Jack Sock and Cason Campbell compete in men's singles pickleball.
Cason Campbell and Jack Sock competing at the 2024 Mesa Arizona Cup. PPA Tour

UPA-A releases approved paddle lists for 2025

The United Pickleball Association of America has released the lists of paddles with provisional approval and interim certification ahead of next week’s Zimmer Biomet Masters powered by Invited.

Paddles on either list will be eligible for use in pro competition at PPA and MLP events until full 2025 UPA-A Certification becomes a requirement on July 1.

You can find the full list of manufacturers and paddles with provisional approval here, and the list of paddles with UPA-A interim certification here.

This news doesn’t come without its share of complications, however.

In December, ten paddle manufacturing companies co-signed a letter addressed to UPA-A president Jason Aspes requesting (among other things) a reprieve of at least one year from UPA-A paddle certification requirements to allow for a “thorough, transparent, and unbiased certification process” to be developed. They also threatened to not pay any certification fees until processes were changed.

Six of those co-signing companies (Selkirk, Head, Engage, Vatic Pro, Holbrook, and Komodo) all have paddles with provisional approval, which signals that they did end up paying the $2,000 fee to undergo the provisional certification process.

Three of the other companies (Gearbox, Gamma, and Babolat) did not apply for any form of UPA-A certification. Those brands not being available for use impacts several players competing next week, notably Wyatt Stone and Michelle Esquivel.

Reload—the final co-signee—did apply for certification but has yet to pay, so it is not on the list.

It’s also worth mentioning that Selkirk—which boasts an impressive player roster featuring Quang Duong, Catherine Parenteau, Dylan Frazier, Rachel Rohrabacher, James Ignatowich, and Jack Sock—has only two approved paddles currently on the list: the Epic and Invikta shapes of the Project 008. Their signed players will, therefore, be able to use only those two paddles until more Selkirk models hit the list.

All of this only continues to set the stage for next week’s tournament, which is the first Slam of the year on the PPA Tour. Main draw action kicks off Tuesday on Pickleballtv.