The top 20 men's pickleball players, ranked by The Kitchen
Last Edited
Nov 12 2025
Category
News
The Kitchen recently updated our list of the current top 20 men's players who compete on the PPA Tour and in Major League Pickleball. To help us through the process, we collaborated with an anonymous men's pro player who regularly plays with and against many of the top players.
We wanted this list -- which our anonymous pro may or may not be on -- to reflect doubles ability only.
Because this is such a tough exercise, we set some general guidelines to help us make decisions:
- Gender doubles results carried more weight than mixed doubles results (about a 70-30 split).
- Ranking is based on 2025 results + vibes from our pro player consultant on who they would least like to see on their side of the draw in a tournament.
- PPA Tour results carried more weight than MLP results (again about a 70-30 split) due to the smaller sample size in MLP (1 game to 11 and not as many events).
Our ranking of the top 20 women's players -- which we made with the help of a women's pro -- can be found here.
The Kitchen's Top 20 Men's Players -- November 2025
↔️ 1. Ben Johns (previous ranking: No. 1) – Early in the year it looked like several players were catching up and even making a case to be ahead of Johns on this list. But he slammed the door shut on any such talk with a vintage Ben Johns summer, winning six straight men's doubles titles with Gabe Tardio. He's also currently riding an eight-tournament winning streak in mixed doubles with Anna Leigh Waters.
⬆️ 2. Hayden Patriquin (previous ranking: No. 5) – Patriquin and Staksrud have played most of the season together, so it’s hard to separate them in a list like this. But the recent switch they made to put Patriquin on the left in that partnership helped them get over the hump to win their first men's doubles gold of the season at the Pickleball World Championships. He also has a silver (with Tyra Black) and a bronze (with Anna Bright) in mixed doubles since our last ranking in July, so he makes a big jump this time around.
↔️ 3. Andrei Daescu (previous ranking: No. 3) – Daescu's performance at the Major League Pickleball Finals in August is burned into our minds. He turned into Superman and led the Columbus Sliders to the title -- it was one of the most impressive performances we've ever seen in MLP. He also has continued to have solid results in men's doubles with Alshon on the PPA side, although that pair hasn't won a gold medal since the PPA Tour Red Rock Open in March (an event Johns didn’t play). The only knock on him is his mixed results aren't as good as some of the other top players, but he's also not playing with Anna Leigh Waters, Anna Bright or Jorja Johnson regularly. In the two tournaments he played with Bright this season, he has a silver and a bronze.
⬆️ 4. JW Johnson (previous ranking: No. 6) – He picked up his second gold medal of the season in men's doubles at the wooden paddle tournament in September (with Dylan Frazier), and he and CJ Klinger are now regularly in the medal hunt in any PPA event they play. He also has the best mixed results of anybody on this list not named Ben Johns.
⬆️ 5. Gabe Tardio (previous ranking: No. 7) – Johns says Tardio is the best right side men’s player in the game ... who are we to disagree? He also has a silver, a bronze and fourth place finish in mixed doubles in the past three months, all with Jessie Irvine.
⬇️ 6. Federico Staksrud (previous ranking: No. 2) – He's been extremely consistent in men's doubles and mixed doubles all season. Outside of Johns, he’s arguably the most reliable men’s player on tour -- the floor is extremely high -- but he hasn't had as many peak weeks as Tardio, Daescu or Johnson.
⬇️ 7. Christian Alshon (previous ranking: No. 4) – Alshon has 10 total medals in men’s doubles (3 gold, 5 silver, 3 bronze) and 5 total medals in mixed (0 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze) this season. That’s a lot of hardware, but the three gold medals in men's doubles and all of his mixed doubles medals came in the first half of the season. He also didn't finish the MLP season very strong, so he moves down slightly in our latest ranking.
↔️ 8. CJ Klinger (previous ranking: No. 8) – Our most improved player this season without a doubt. He's become one of the most deceptive players on tour, and is now consistently a threat to win any match he plays.
⬆️ 9. Dylan Frazier (previous ranking: No. 10) – Before this season he was a clear top 5 player and even made it to No. 1 in the points standings at one point. But this year has clearly been a regression. He has a gold (with Johnson) and two bronze medals in men’s doubles and one silver and one bronze medal in mixed this season.
⬆️ 10. Eric Oncins (previous ranking: No. 15) -- Won two golds over in Asia with Tyson McGuffin and has also made it to the semifinals twice since August with Matt Wright.
↔️ 11. Will Howells (previous ranking: No. 11)
⬇️ 12. Dekel Bar (previous ranking: No. 9)
⬆️ 13. Riley Newman (previous ranking: No. 14)
⬆️ 14. Jay Devilliers (previous ranking: No. 18)
⬇️ 15. Tyson McGuffin (previous ranking: No. 12)
⬇️ 16. Jaume Martinez Vich (previous ranking: No. 13)
⬆️ 17. Noe Khlif (previous ranking: unranked)
⬆️ 18. Matt Wright (previous ranking: unranked)
⬆️ 19. Connor Garnett (previous ranking: unranked)
↔️ 20. Augie Ge (previous ranking: No. 20)
Notably absent: Pablo Tellez, James Ignatowich, Tyler Loong
Join Pickleball’s Greatest Community
Subscribe to our FREE newsletter to be the most well-informed pickleball fan on the court, featuring news, giveaways, and much more!
Gear Picks
Rep The Kitchen with our new exclusive merch!
