The top 20 men's pickleball players, ranked by anonymous pro

Alex Lantz

Director of Content

Last Edited

Jul 03 2025

Men's Mid-Season Player of the Year

Ben Johns -- No surprises here. The field has made up ground on the GOAT, but despite a handful of losses in men’s doubles and mixed doubles early in the season, Johns is still the best and most consistent men's player. He has 5 golds in men’s doubles and 6 golds in mixed doubles on the PPA Tour through the first half of the year.

Men's Mid-Season Most Improved Player

CJ Klinger -- He comes in at No. 8 overall on our list, but he’s still on the rise and we wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a contender for a Top 5 spot by the end of the year. He has been a threat in men’s doubles for a while now, but also made the semifinals in mixed with Mari Humberg at the PPA Tour Orange County Cup recently. Watch out.

The Kitchen's Top 20 Men's Players -- July 2025

1. Ben Johns – If we had done this list 2 or 3 months ago, we might have considered putting Alshon or Daescu ahead of Johns (or at least had to think about it more). Johns has been beaten 3 times in men’s doubles and twice in mixed this season, but 3 of those 5 total losses came in the month of February. Since March he has won gold in 4 of the 5 tournaments he’s played in both divisions.

2. Federico Staksrud – He’s without a gold medal in doubles this season, but has been ultra consistent in men’s doubles, making it to 6 finals and earning one bronze on the season. Outside of Johns, he’s the most reliable men’s player on tour.

3. Andrei Daescu – There was a moment earlier in the season where it looked like Daescu had surpassed or was coming very close to Johns’ level, at least in men’s doubles. He has 5 golds in men’s doubles on the season, but the last of those came at the PPA Tour Red Rock Open in March (an event Johns didn’t play). He also got one of those golds by playing with Johns at the PPA Tour Cape Coral Open. I’m starting to wonder if the Daescu-Alshon pairing is heading the wrong direction.

4. Christian Alshon – You could convince me that Alshon and Daescu should be flipped on this list due to Alshon having better results in mixed, but our anonymous pro said they should be in this order, so that’s what we’re going with. Alshon has 7 total medals in men’s doubles (3 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze) and 5 total medals in mixed (0 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze). That’s a lot of hardware, but I think there’s a chance his game is trending down right now based on a poor showing (by his standards) at MLP Daytona Beach and the fact that he didn’t hit the podium in any division at the PPA Tour Orange County Cup.

5. Hayden Patriquin – Patriquin and Staksrud have played most of the season together, so it’s hard to separate them in a list like this. But here’s our logic: When Patriquin played a one-off event with Johns at the PPA Tour Tucson Open in February, they got bronze. When Daescu played a one-off event with Johns at the PPA Tour Cape Coral Open, they won easily. Therefore, Daescu > Patriquin.

6. JW Johnson – Not having JW in the top 5 feels like a snub based on the eye test, but we just couldn’t quite put him ahead of any of the players listed thus far. He and Jorja Johnson are clearly the second best mixed doubles team, but in men’s it has been a bit up and down this season with CJ Klinger. They won gold at the PPA Tour Atlanta Pickleball Championships, but outside of that Johnson has 1 silver and 3 bronze medals on the season. He could very easily move up this list in the second half of the year, though.

7. Gabe Tardio – Johns says Tardio is the best right side men’s player in the game, and that may be so, but it’s hard to gauge where he should fall on this list when he gets to play with the best player in the world every week in men’s doubles.

8. CJ Klinger – 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. Dekel Bar – Has been out the past couple weeks, but before that was having a solid season. He has a gold in mixed with Parris Todd and a silver in men’s doubles this year.

10. Dylan Frazier – I’m a card carrying member of the Dylan Frazier fan club, but it might be time to have a serious conversation about our guy. 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 to this point. He has two bronze medals in men’s doubles and one bronze medal in mixed this season.

11. Will Howells

12. Tyson McGuffin

13. Jaume Martinez Vich

14. Riley Newman

15. Eric Oncins

16. Pablo Tellez

17. Quang Duong

18. Jay Devilliers

19. James Ignatowich

20. Augie Ge

Notably absent: Collin Johns, Noe Khlif, Matt Wright, Connor Garnett, Tyler Loong

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