Agent says Waters will earn over $3 million in 2024 as pickleball's highest-paid athlete
It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Anna Leigh Waters is earning serious money.
All she does is win, and her fan base is growing exponentially with every tournament appearance.
Who wouldn't want to be associated with the top-ranked female player on the planet?
According to a story published by Forbes on Wednesday, the 17-year-old will be the highest-paid pickleball athlete - male or female - in 2024.
"She will earn more than $3 million this year," confirmed Waters' agent, Kelly Wolf, in a phone interview with Forbes contributor Adam Zagoria. "She has become the face of pickleball and both the PPA Tour and MLP know that."
Zagoria writes that Waters has endorsement and sponsorship deals with a host of companies that contribute to her impressive income.
He cites Fila (clothing and shoes), Paddletek (pickleball paddles), Carvana (motor vehicle sales), Lock Laces (elastic shoelaces), Pickleball4America (events including the US Open Pickleball Championships), Shiseido (suncare products), Cetaphil (facial cleansing products and moisturizers), Biofreeze (topical pain relief) and Collectbobbles (bobblehead).
"There’s nobody else out there that has all these deals that she has right now,” said Wolf. "Anna Leigh is her own little cottage industry, to be quite honest."
Earlier this year, pickleball's most decorated male player, Ben Johns, confirmed to CNBC that he's earning at least $2.5 million from his pickleball salary and endorsement deals this year.
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