If you’ve spent any time around a public court over the last three years, you’ve probably heard the high, sharp thwack of a pickleball paddle hitting a perforated plastic ball, mixed with the cheers of players who range from teens on spring break to retirees who trade their morning walks for three-set matches. As a pickleball supplier who’s shipped gear to rec centers in 47 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces over the last five years, I get asked this question almost weekly: “Are there actually professional pickleball players, or is this just a casual game for people who like beer and low-stakes fun?” Pickleball
Before I get into the specifics, let’s ground this in what defines a pro athlete, because that’s where most casual onlookers get stuck. For a long time, pro status was tied to a rigid set of rules: you had to earn a living entirely or primarily from your sport, compete in structured, regulated tours that distributed prize money, and have a clear ranking that separated you from weekend warriors. For pickleball, that line didn’t start to blur until about 2019, when the sport exploded from a niche pastime in the Pacific Northwest to one played by 8.9 million people in North America alone, per the Sports & Fitness Industry Association’s 2024 report. That growth didn’t just mean more people playing—it meant investors and tournament organizers started to see it as something bigger than a backyard activity.
Now, let’s talk about the core group we’d call professional pickleball players today. The primary tour that leads this is the Association of Pickleball Players (APP) Tour, which launched its first full season of sanctioned, prize-money-eligible events in 2020, and the Major League Pickleball (MLP) league, founded in 2021. Both tours have structured divisions: Men’s, Women’s, and Mixed Doubles, with skill-based tiers that start at 2.5 (recreational players) and go up to 5.0, the pro level. As of 2024, the APP Tour has a full ranking system, with top players like Tyson McGuffin and Anna Leigh Waters holding the number-one spots in their divisions, and MLP has rosters of 12 teams, each with pro players who sign contracts with the league. These aren’t people who play on weekends for fun—they train 30 to 40 hours a week, travel 30+ weekends a year to tournaments, and earn six-figure incomes from prize money, sponsorships, and league salaries.
But let’s get real: this isn’t a sport where you can quit your day job and play pickleball full-time, not yet. The average prize money for an APP or MLP tournament is around $15,000 for a first-place finish in singles, and only the top 20 players in each division make enough to cover their expenses, let alone live on. Sponsorships are a big part of their income, too, and as a pickleball supplier, I can tell you that most of our top pro players are active partners for our brand—they test new paddles, demo our balls at tournaments, and post on their social media about our gear. For example, Anna Leigh Waters, the 17-year-old phenom who’s won 18 national titles, signed a multi-year deal with a major pickleball brand in 2023, and we’ve worked with her team to ship custom paddles and gear for her training camps. That’s not casual. That’s professional.
The confusion many casual players feel about pro pickleball comes from how different it is from traditional racket sports. If you watch a pro tennis match, the court is twice as big, the racket is way more powerful, and the ball moves at 100+ mph. Pickleball is a slower game overall, with shorter points, and the rules are simpler—so it’s easy to write it off as “too easy” for pros. But anyone who’s played a 5.0 pro in a rec league knows that’s not true. The spin on their serves is so tight it makes the ball dip mid-air, they can hit a third-shot drop that lands 2 inches from the non-volley zone, and they communicate with their partner faster than most people can order coffee at a food truck. I’ve seen our brand’s pro demo team take on a group of senior rec players at a local court last year, and even the top senior players couldn’t return a single third-shot drop. That’s skill. That’s professional level.
Another point that makes pickleball’s pro scene unique: it’s not just about young, super-athletic players. You’ll see 50-year-old pros who’ve been playing pickleball since it was invented in 1965 (by three dads on a Washington state island who wanted a game for their kids), and they compete at the same level as many 20-year-olds. That’s part of why the sport is so popular, and why the pro scene is growing fast. The APP Tour now has 15 events a year, with prize pools that topped $2 million in 2024, up from $500,000 in 2020. MLP, meanwhile, has a broadcast deal with CBS Sports, which airs their playoffs every year, and attendance at finals events has topped 10,000 people—more than some minor league baseball games in small cities. That’s not a backyard activity. That’s a professional sport with a growing audience.
But let’s be honest, there’s still a gap between “pro level players” and “full-time professional athletes.” Most pro pickleball players have side income: some teach private lessons, some work at pickleball clubs, some have other jobs. For example, Tyson McGuffin, the number-one men’s singles player on the APP Tour, used to be a full-time high school math teacher before he turned pro in 2021. Now he still does a few math tutoring sessions a week, because he says it keeps his mind sharp for strategy. That’s a big difference from, say, a pro basketball player who never has another job. But the definition of “professional” is evolving for this sport, just like it did for competitive skateboarding or esports, which were once written off as casual hobbies before they got full-time tours and leagues.
As a pickleball supplier, I’ve seen this growth firsthand. When I started in 2018, I sold mostly cheap paddles to rec centers and individual players who played once a month. Now, 60% of my business goes to tournament organizers, pro players, and rec centers that host weekly pro-am events. Last year, we shipped 10,000 custom gear packages to the APP Tour’s national championship in Phoenix, and worked with MLP’s team to outfit all 12 teams with branded paddles and balls for their season. I also host a monthly pro player clinic at my company’s training facility in Austin, where we have pro players from the APP and MLP teach rec players, and every month, 50+ people show up—many of them asking how they can get good enough to play pro.
If you’re a weekend warrior who’s never watched a pro pickleball match, I get why you’re skeptical. I used to think the same thing, until I brought a pro player to a local rec court I play at with my dad two years ago. We were beating him 8-3 in a game to 11, thinking we had it easy, and then he switched into pro mode. He started hitting those tight third-shot drops, switching sides of the court without us noticing, and by the end of the game, he had a 11-1 run that left us standing there with our paddles in our hands, wondering what just happened. That’s when I realized: pro pickleball is real. It’s not as big as tennis or golf yet, but it’s on its way, and it’s full of talented, dedicated players who treat it like a full-time job.
So, to answer your question: Yes, there are professional pickleball players. They train hard, compete in structured tours, earn prize money and sponsorships, and are just as skilled as athletes in many other niche racket sports. The pro scene is still young, and it’s not for everyone, but it’s growing fast. If you’re interested in learning more about pro play, or need gear for your own training or tournament, don’t hesitate to reach out. We work with players at every level, from recreational beginners to pro tour athletes, and can help you find the right gear to take your game to the next level.
References
Pickleball Balls Sports & Fitness Industry Association. (2024). 2024 Pickleball Participation Report.
Association of Pickleball Players. (2024). Official Tour Ranking & Season Summary.
Major League Pickleball. (2023). MLP League Contract & Sponsorship Report.
National Pickleball Association. (2022). History & Evolution of Competitive Pickleball.
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