Anna Leigh Waters, who is World No. 1 on the Pro Tour of Pickleball, has quickly made a name for herself after she accidentally became a pro at age 12.
During a Tuesday appearance on the “Welcome to the Party” podcast, the 19-year-old Waters explained that she got into pickleball because her mom, who previously played pro, needed a last minute partner in a tournament.
“It kind of happened by accident,” Waters said. “I started at the lowest level which was 3-0 at the time and every tournament I would go up 0.5… then I realized I needed prescription glasses and that made me become a lot better.
“… My mom was playing professional pickleball at the time and one of her partners ended up dropping out of the pro tournament at the last minute and she was like, ‘You want to play with me?’… We got silver in the tournament and loss to a team that was maybe the second and third best player in the world at the time. I was 11 and my mom was like, ‘I think you got potential.’ I turned 12, kept training and then five months later we beat the No. 1 team in the world.”
At the end of 2019, Waters and her mother were ranked the No. 1 doubles team in the world.
Considered to be the best player in the sport, alongside Ben Johns on the men’s circuit, Waters has won 181 gold medals and 39 triple crowns — golds in singles, doubles and mixed at the same pickleball tournament, per The Athletic.
In January, Waters turned 19, signed with Vayner Sports for representation, and became the first pickleball pro to land a multi-year sponsorship deal with Nike.
Waters, who has 186,000 Instagram followers, secured brands deals with Delta Air Lines, DoorDash and Ulta Beauty. She is also a Franklin Pickleball athlete and makes a reported $2 million per year from the United Pickleball Association, according to CNBC.
Waters was one of the four players in the Pickleball Slam 4, which took place in Hollywood, Fla. on Wednesday, who did not come from a tennis background and played for the $1 million prize.
Former tennis stars Andre Agassi and James Blake defeated Waters and former WTA Tour World No. 5 Genie Bouchard by a 3-1 margin in the exhibition for the winner-take-all purse.
In the singles competition, Waters beat Blake in straight sets, while eight-time Grand Slam champion Agassi defeated Bouchard in three sets.
Waters attended the 2026 NFL Honors ceremony and the Super Bowl in February.