2026 PPA Tour Masters recap: Anna Leigh Waters wins 40th Triple Crown

Anna Leigh Waters hits a shot during the 2026 PPA Tour Masters.

Anna Leigh Waters has had a lot of great weeks on the PPA Tour over the years, but this one will go down as arguably her best — both on the court and off. She signed a long-term paddle contract with Franklin (rumored to be worth well in the millions), then followed that up with […]

Pickleballers is now streaming on PickleballTV

Pickleballers, pickleball’s biggest podcast hosted by The Kitchen founder Jared Paul and top pro Roscoe Bellamy, has officially been picked up by PickleballTV and is now airing on the PickleballTV app, YouTube TV and Amazon Prime. The show, which was launched in the spring of 2025, has featured stars from all corners of the pickleball […]

Revamped ‘Engage 2.0’ building momentum, eying a big 2026

Eric Oncins recently signed a paddle and equipment contract with Engage Pickleball.

Robert Elliott has seen it all in the pickleball paddle manufacturing industry. The founder and CEO of Engage Pickleball was one of the first to experiment with adding grit to the paddle face back in the mid-2010s, when he and his wife were among the top players in the U.S. and competing in tournaments throughout […]

Major League Pickleball announces rule changes, standings updates for 2026 season

Major League Pickleball logo

Major League Pickleball on Wednesday released several new rules for the 2026 season, as well as the format for the upcoming free-agency draft. The biggest changes involve allowing teams to use their full six-person lineup in the same match, a new regular-season event format that will crown a winner at all nine regular-season events and […]

Vietnamese paddle brand Facolos signs pro player Gabe Tardio

Gabe Tardio holds a Facolos pickleball paddle.

World No. 2 men’s player Gabe Tardio has signed a new paddle sponsorship deal with Facolos, a Vietnamese brand that will be entering the U.S. paddle market in 2026. Facolos said in a news release that the deal is part of a broader effort to establish the company as a leading Asian pickleball brand with […]

Opinion: Buying and selling 2026 partnerships heading into PPA Tour Masters

Pro pickleball players compete at the PPA Tour Masters in Palm Springs, California.

In what has become a yearly tradition, there are several new partnerships making their debut at the PPA Tour Masters this week in Palm Springs, California. We expect to see most teams stick together for at least the first quarter of the season, so I thought it would be an interesting exercise to take a […]

PPA Tour, Major League Pickleball experienced big growth in 2025

The PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball this week shared their 2025 business metrics, which indicated significant year-over-year growth.

The PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball this week shared their 2025 business metrics, which indicated significant year-over-year growth in revenue, attendance, viewership, fan engagement and media coverage. The Pickleball World Championships in Dallas (which also included the MLP Cup) generated more than $1.1 million alone in ticket and hospitality revenue, according to a news […]

Opinion: Anna Leigh Waters had plenty of sponsorship offers. So why Franklin?

Thursday's announcement that Anna Leigh Waters is joining Franklin Sports ends several weeks of speculation about which paddle she will use going forward.

Thursday’s announcement that Anna Leigh Waters is joining Franklin Sports ends several weeks of speculation about which paddle she will use going forward. When it became clear that she wasn’t going to sign a new deal with longtime sponsor Paddletek, there were a few logical landing spots. JOOLA, Selkirk and even Holbrook were thrown around […]