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.
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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