Multiple Anna Leigh Waters billboards popping up in New York City, including one in Times Square

Alex Lantz

Director of Content

Last Edited

May 30 2025

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News

Multiple billboards featuring Anna Leigh Waters -- the No. 1 women's pickleball player in the world -- have started popping up in New York City recently, including one in Times Square that Waters and her family saw for the first time in person this week.

Waters has been the face of the PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball for some time, but now she's becoming the face of pickleball as a whole, according to Ryan Harwood, the GM of the New Jersey 5s who also runs a media and marketing firm in New York City along with 5s co-owner Gary Vaynerchuk.

Waters has been a member of the 5s for multiple seasons, and in Harwood's opinion she has the power to transcend pickleball and take the sport to new heights. So they wanted to promote her in one of the most visible public spaces in the U.S.

"She's the Tiger Woods, she's the Serena Williams, she's the Roger Federer of pickleball," Harwood said Friday morning. "Every sport has superheroes that younger kids and even adults look up to. People admire their work ethic and the stories of records that will never be broken. That's how sports become sports, and why everyone loves them so much."

The billboards in New York City promote Waters' accomplishments in pickleball and tout her as "the most dominant athlete in the world."

The one that is in Times Square has been up for a few weeks and is actually already outdated -- it says Waters has 148 gold medals on the PPA Tour and 33 triple crowns, but she had another triple crown at the Atlanta Pickleball Championships this month, so her totals are now 151 golds and 34 triple crowns.

"She wins more in her respective sport than any other athlete in the world right now. That's why we're saying dominance," Harwood said. "We wanted to get her the recognition she deserves as someone who is as good as she is."

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