Leigh Waters said those experiences are why she doesn’t regret having allowed her daughter to turn professional before she even became a teenager.
“I had a cardboard cutout of Andre in my basement when I was growing up playing junior tennis,” she joked. “He was an idol of mine. So now [Anna Leigh is] hanging out with Andre and Steffi” Graf.
Hanging out with celebrities is great, Waters said, but she has one major bucket list item she wants to eventually check off: competing in the Olympics.
“I always grew up watching the Olympics, and I always looked forward to maybe competing one day for the United States,” Waters said. “At that time, it was tennis or soccer. But to compete in an Olympic sport and maybe be a part of the reason why it’s an Olympic sport, I think would be even more special.”
Pickleball isn’t part of the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. The new sports are flag football, squash, baseball, softball, cricket and lacrosse.
Adding pickleball in the future, however, seems possible based on its growing popularity.
According to the 2026 Sports & Fitness Industry Association Participation Report, it was the fastest-growing sport for the fifth consecutive year. More than 25 million people played pickleball in 2025, up 479% since 2020.
That growing interest has been monumental for the success of the pro tour.
“Revenues are way more, more people are playing, more people are watching, TV is now getting introduced to the game,” Pardoe said. “This weekend we’re on Fox national. Last weekend we were on CBS. So I think the game, it’s really professionalized. It’s really changed.”
“It’s been fun to see big sponsors like Carvana and others come into the sport, gambling coming into the sport, and seeing these players really be able to make careers out of this,” he said.
Pardoe said that when the league started in 2019, Waters was paid $1,000 for winning a gold medal event.
“This year I’ll pay her over 2½ million dollars.”
He didn’t hesitate when he was asked about the importance of marketing a superstar like Waters. She’s the total package when it comes to performance on and off the court.
“Having Anna Leigh is a dream come true,” he said. “When you think about having to start a professional tour, a professional sport, the first thing that people say to you is: ‘Well, who are your stars? Who are the best people that are playing?’ And the fact that we have someone like Anna Leigh, who is so young and so dominant and interesting and fun to follow and charismatic … I met her when she was 12 years old, and you instantly knew she had it.”
Waters was homeschooled all through high school, and at this moment, she has no plans to attend college. She says she’ll consider it after she retires from the sport, though that could literally be in decades.
Her goals right now are simple: maintain her No. 1 overall pickleball ranking for as long as possible, help grow the sport and continue to build her empire off the court.
Maybe one day she’ll even aim to move out of her parents’ house. But when you’re traveling 30 to 40 weeks a year, it really doesn’t make much sense to put down roots.
And this could be just the start.
“I feel like sometimes I’ve lived a full life, and I’m only 19,” she said. “Because I turned pro at such a young age, I’ve experienced in my pickleball career what a lot of people would experience at 30-something. But I’m 19, and I’ve had almost a 10-year career at this point. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, though.”
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