At the pro level, pickleball is only getting faster and more aggressive.

What used to be a soft dinking game at the net has continued to evolve into fire fights with major adrenaline highs.

Lots of discussion on the speeding up of the game comes from paddles getting hotter, of course, but we would be remiss to disregard World No. 1 Anna Leigh Waters’ revolutionary aggressive style to not be a major factor in the quickening game. 

Waters and her mom and coach, Leigh, didn’t arrive on the scene planning to change the game. They just competed with a unique style that caught every opponent by surprise - and it worked out.

“When my mom and I first started playing pickleball, we played this super aggressive game style, and that was not how pickleball was played. Everybody was hitting these soft shots and soft dinks and we were out there wailing at it because that’s what we were used to by playing tennis,” said Anna Leigh, during an interview on the In Search of Excellence podcast. “Everybody said we need to change our game and said we won’t get better playing like this.”

This power game not only allowed the mother-daughter duo to reach the top of the ranks, it also laid the foundation for Waters’ game that truly makes her unstoppable. 

“There were maybe three people total who said the way we were playing was okay, and one of them was Ben Johns. Everybody else was saying we were never going to get better doing this,” shared Anna Leigh. “I think some people still have that opinion now, but it’s a lot different. People are saying you can play more aggressively. You don’t hit every shot hard, but when you get the shot, you should go for it. Whereas when we first started playing, if you got the shot, you still were expected to hit a soft shot back.”

The 18-year-old superstar summarized the primary reason behind her early success rather concisely.

“We figured out that was our strength and we used it,” she stated. 

But how do players figure out what their strengths are? As the game continues to evolve, what is Waters' advice to newbies who might be shaking things up at their local court? 

“The first step of pickleball is not to listen to what anybody’s telling you. Just go out and play how you want to play. The first couple months, don’t listen to anybody. You’ve got to know the rules, but other than that, just play how you want,” she said. “And then maybe after a couple of months of figuring out your game style and what works for you, you can start watching instructional videos and doing things like that.”

And if power is your strength, watching Waters’ videos is certainly a good place to start.

“If you’re starting to play pickleball, figure out what your strengths are, and then figure out how to make them better,” she advised. 

And if it all goes well, you might just end up revolutionizing the sport like her. 

Want more pro tips? Follow us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).