Now that we know Anna Leigh Waters didn’t renew her equipment contract with Paddletek, we’re officially on ALW Decision Watch until further notice.

Every major paddle company in the game has likely had at least one conversation with the Waters camp by now, and rumors have been circulating for weeks about who she intends to sign with.

But from everything we’ve been told, a decision still hasn’t been made, and talks are ongoing with multiple brands.

Waters’ next event will be the PPA Tour Masters in Palm Springs in one week. If a deal isn’t done by then, all eyes will be on her first match (Jan. 13) to see what paddle she’s using – and what she’s wearing (her apparel deal with FILA is also up, and new apparel deals have been floated … more on that below).

As a free agent, would she continue to use a Paddletek – the paddle she’s familiar with and has had success with for years? Perhaps a blacked-out model? Would she use something else as leverage in contract negotiations?

Time will tell, or maybe we’ll have an announcement before then. But for now, let’s take a look at the brands that have emerged as the top contenders, and make a hypothetical case for and against each of them.

Note: We’ve heard a bunch of companies thrown out as possible landing spots, but these are the ones that have the most smoke around them.

The obvious brands

FRANKLIN

Franklin has been a major player in pro pickleball since pro pickleball has existed. They had Ben Johns as the face of their paddle brand at one point, and now they have several top men’s and women’s players on their roster, including JW and Jorja Johnson, Hayden Patriquin, Parris Todd and others.

Why it will be Franklin: They already have a great paddle – we have the C45 series in our current Top 10 paddles on the market – and the C45 Tempo model is a very similar shape to Waters’ signature Paddletek Bantam ALW-C. We’ve also heard that Franklin has a new paddle in the works, and it seems like a safe bet that they will continue to be at or near the top in terms of paddle technology on a yearly basis going forward.

Why it won’t be Franklin: Waters has been the face of Paddletek for several years, and there are benefits that come along with that – she’s in nearly every commercial and promotion that the brand does. Would she want to join a brand that has several other star players already on its roster? That’s not to say Franklin wouldn’t give her the star treatment that she has earned, but they also have obligations to promote their other pro players, and it’s not out of the question that those players will be beating Waters on the court at least some of the time in 2026.

JOOLA

Nobody has invested more in the pro game than JOOLA over the past few years. They have over 50 pro players on their roster, including the No. 1 men’s player in Ben Johns and No. 2 women’s player in Anna Bright.

Why it will be JOOLA: They consistently release paddles that are at the top of the game in terms of performance, and they have proven that they can market a paddle around a player successfully – both the Ben Johns signature paddle and the Anna Bright signature paddle are extremely popular. They also are big in the pickleball apparel space, and we can easily imagine an Anna Leigh x JOOLA apparel line selling well.

Why it won’t be JOOLA: Waters has traditionally played with a widebody paddle, and JOOLA’s current widebody model is Anna Bright’s signature paddle. So it becomes a little bit tricky from a marketing standpoint if JOOLA was to try to make an Anna Leigh Waters signature paddle. There’s also the same issue that exists with Franklin – she’d be joining a crowded roster filled with great players, and Johns is already the face of the brand.

SELKIRK

This one seems less likely from everything we’ve heard, but we know they’re a big player and they would certainly have the budget for it.

Why it will be Selkirk: The brand has scaled back the number of pros on its roster this year, perhaps freeing up capital to make a big splash like this? The current face of the brand is Jack Sock, who definitely has star power but hasn’t had the results many (including us) anticipated. Waters could breathe new life into the brand from a marketing standpoint and be the face of Selkirk for the next decade.

Why it won’t be Selkirk: Is there still some lingering bad blood after Waters dropped Catherine Parenteau (Selkirk’s best performing pro) last spring? Maybe Selkirk’s decision to drop several pros this year is an indication that they don’t want to spend big money on the pro game anymore? And just generally it’s hard to imagine Waters with a Boomstik or any other Selkirk paddle in her hands. Something about it just doesn’t seem right.

Other possibilities

IS NIKE READY TO GO ALL IN ON PICKLEBALL?

We’ve been waiting for the sports equipment and apparel giant to make their move into pickleball, but it hasn’t happened yet – other than slapping the word pickleball on one of their tennis shoes. Is this the opportunity they’ve been waiting for? Perhaps they could sign Waters to an apparel and shoe deal, then enter the paddle market down the road?

Why it will be Nike: A Nike partnership would be fitting for Waters, who is the biggest name in pickleball. In 2025 alone she appeared in multiple billboards in Times Square in New York City, threw out the first pitch at a Chicago Cubs game, did several live interviews with major media outlets -- like this one on ESPN's Sportscenter -- and also was our most popular guest on Pickleballers this year. If Nike is serious about getting into the sport (a big if), they simply couldn’t pick a better representative. There has been some chatter in pickleball circles wondering whether anybody outside of Ben Johns actually sells paddles. I think there’s some validity to that, which is probably in part why Paddletek was unwilling to match whatever monetary offers Waters is getting. But to this point nobody has built a clothing or shoe line around a pro player, and I think that’s where the true marketing potential is with Waters right now. I could easily imagine many players at my local club rocking some new Anna Leigh Waters x Nike pickleball outfits.

Why it won’t be Nike: Perhaps we are overestimating how much Nike cares about pickleball. In the grand scheme of their operation, pickleball seems quite small. And anytime they have tried to enter the niche sports equipment market, it hasn’t gone particularly well. They tried making tennis rackets once upon a time and failed, and outside of prime Tiger Woods, very few golfers ever played with Nike clubs – and they ultimately stopped making them in the late 2010s.

PADDLETEK

Wait a second, is Paddletek still in the running here? Nobody has told us they’re not, and just because her last contract expired doesn’t mean she can’t sign a new one this week.

Why she will go back to Paddletek: It’s familiar, the two parties still have a good relationship (we think), she knows she can win with the paddle, and she gets to continue being the face of an established brand. Seeing Waters playing with anything other than a Paddletek might be like watching Michael Jordan play for the Washington Wizards. It just doesn’t feel right.

Why she won’t go back to Paddletek: It’s possible the two sides simply aren’t close when it comes to the monetary piece of this. Paddletek could use whatever money they save by not re-signing Waters to get multiple other top players, and they still have Christian Alshon, who is a Top 5 player in men’s doubles, mixed doubles and men’s singles. So maybe they think losing Waters won’t have a major impact on sales.

Calling our shot

Before we make a prediction, we can’t stress this enough: There’s probably an agent/lawyer/brand rep on the phone right now still making their case. The ink is likely not even on paper yet, let alone dry.

But if we had to make an educated guess based on everything we’ve heard, this is what we’d go with: She signs a paddle deal with Franklin and an apparel deal with Nike, with the understanding that Nike will eventually release their own paddle and she will switch to that.

Have photos been taken with the brands mentioned above? Yes. Have contracts been signed with those brands? As of Monday morning, we were told no.