These paddle brands are dominating at the pro level

Ranking the top men's and women's duos in Major League Pickleball

May 21, 2026

 

Something cool is coming to a court near you, just as temperatures start to heat up across the country. JOOLA is hitting the road this summer with the debut of the 2026 JOOLA Pops Summer Tour, a multi-city pickleball celebration stretching from Texas to the East Coast.

The reason: Summer is better with pickleball.

The JOOLA Pops tour will coincide with the launch of a limited-edition collection of "JOOLA Rally Rocket" paddles, inspired by the iconic red, white and blue popsicles that scream summer. Check out the paddles and learn more about the tour below.

Also in this issue:

  • We can’t believe the match ended this way 😱

  • We’re giving away 10 BRAND NEW Paddletek Honeyfoam paddles 🙌

  • Ranking the Top 10 men’s and women’s duos in MLP 📋

  • These paddle brands have won the most medals this year 🥇

Let’s get cookin’. 🧑‍🍳

GIVEAWAY

Win a BRAND NEW Paddletek Honeyfoam TKO-X paddle!

We are excited to partner with Paddletek to give away 10 of their brand new Honeyfoam TKO-X pickleball paddles. 🍯

This paddle was just released last week and is already generating buzz in the equipment industry.

HOW TO ENTER

▪️Enter your information HERE & receive up to 500 additional bonus entries 👊

▪️LIKE this post & COMMENT “HONEY” once you've completed Step 1 🙌

*** You MUST complete both steps to be eligible. ***

BONUS MULTIPLIER: JOIN & INVITE 5 friends to our Facebook community and ALL of your entries are DOUBLED! ✅

We will choose 10 random winners on May 26!

CONTROVERSY OF THE WEEK

Should this call have ended the match? 🤔

This controversial ending to a gold-medal match came across our desk this week, and it has provoked some heated discussion in the comments.

The guy in the tan shirt above had gone for an Erne, but never touched the ball. The problem: He may have crossed the plane of the net (it was very close), which is technically a fault under USA Pickleball rules. The ref called it immediately and the match was over.

On one hand: If he did cross the plane of the net, it is technically a fault.

On the other hand: Is this really how a high-level match should be decided? This seems like one of those situations where the ref could swallow the whistle and let the players decide the match.

🔗 Check out the clip on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok

FEATURED STORY

JOOLA celebrating summer with limited-edition Pro V paddles, ice cream truck tour across country

On Wednesday JOOLA unveiled it’s latest paddle: A limited-edition version of the Pro V and Double Vision models, inspired by a summer classic: The red, white and blue popsicles loved by kids and adults everywhere.

The specialty paddles will be available in all of the JOOLA Pro V models -- Agassi, Perseus, Scorpeus, Hyperion and Kosmos -- and will be released to the public and available on JOOLA's website on May 26.

To coincide with the launch of the new paddles, the JOOLA team will also be hitting the road in an ice cream truck, stopping in several cities from Texas to the Midwest to the East Coast. Players can try the new Rally Rocket paddles, enter in exclusive giveaways, compete in carnival-style games and cool off with a free popsicle.

The 2026 JOOLA Pops Summer Tour officially kicks off in Dallas at the season's first Major League Pickleball event, which starts Friday. Here are the scheduled stops:

May 23-25: Dallas, Texas
May 30–31, June 1: St. Louis, Missouri
June 4 & 6: Chicago, Illinois
June 13-14: New York, New York
June 18: Baltimore, Maryland
June 20–22: Montgomery County, Maryland
June 25: Annapolis, Maryland
June 26: Delaware Beaches
June 27: Ocean City, Maryland

Don’t see your city on the list? Don’t sweat it. The JOOLA Pops truck won’t be limited to scheduled stops; surprise appearances are part of the fun.

Follow JOOLA on social media and check JOOLA.com for real-time updates on where the truck is headed next.

THE PROS

Ranking the best men’s and women’s duos in Major League Pickleball

The Major League Pickleball season kicks off this week with the season-opening event in Dallas.

There are 20 teams total this year, and the league has done away with the Premier/Challenger designations, so all teams are competing in one league this year.

That means the talent has been consolidated, and almost every team has strong players and names fans will recognize.

Today we’re taking a look at some of the men's and women’s partnerships we'll see on the court this summer and ranking the top duos.

  1. St. Louis Shock: Hayden Patriquin/Gabe Tardio — The No. 1 spot in this ranking is not up for debate at this time. Patriquin and Tardio went 39-4 together last season (24-1 in regular-season matches) and both players have improved since then.

  2. Columbus Sliders: Andrei Daescu/CJ Klinger — These two started slow last season, but got it together when it mattered most toward the end of the year and in the playoffs. They were 14-6 together in the regular season, but 8-0 in the playoffs against the stiffest competition.

  3. Los Angeles Mad Drops: Ben Johns/Max Freeman — We might be higher on this team than other pundits, and part of the reason for that goes back to the beginning of 2025, when Johns and Freeman were rumored to be playing at least one PPA Tour event together after Ben and his brother, Collin, split up. That didn't end up coming to fruition because Freeman was in the middle of a contract dispute at the time, but it's clear that Johns has always been interested in playing with Freeman — and he probably had a say in the Mad Drops trading Hunter Johnson for Freeman in the offseason.

  1. New Jersey Fives: Anna Leigh Waters/Jorja Johnson — This team broke the internet. After the St. Louis Shock spent over $1 million to select Anna Bright with the first pick of the 2026 draft, the Fives dropped a measly $800K to snag Jorja. This gives Anna Leigh Waters her best MLP partner to date, pairing her with another Top 5 women’s player. Waters and Johnson last played together at the PPA Tour Daytona Beach Open in December, where they won gold (not surprisingly).

  2. St. Louis Shock: Anna Bright/Kate Fahey — The St. Louis Shock’s women’s doubles team is composed of two of the most competitive people on tour (or possibly in the world). Fahey and Bright will be in their third season playing together and they are hungry for a title.

  3. Los Angeles Mad Drops: Catherine Parenteau/Jade Kawamoto — You know what you’re going to get with this duo — consistent, high-level play. This team just finished fourth at the PPA Tour Finals and went 28-10 together in MLP last season.

    🔗 Find our Top 10 men’s duos here and our Top 10 women’s duos here

GEAR

JOOLA and Franklin are dominating at the pro level

There have been 240 medals handed out in 10 PPA Tour events in the U.S. in 2026.

Almost 1/3 of those medals (32.5%) were won by a player using a JOOLA paddle, continuing the brand's dominance when it comes to the pro game.

Franklin (22.1%) also maintained a strong presence on the medal stand, aided by world No. 1 women's player Anna Leigh Waters making the switch to the brand in January.

Here's how the numbers shook out for every brand and every medal in the tournaments from January-May:

While the big brands have kept their place at the top, a few newcomers had good showings on the pro tour this spring.

Brands on the podium for the first time ever in 2026 include Friday, Facolos and Arronax.

Another thing we always like to look at is which unsponsored players had success, and which paddles they chose to use without being paid to use them. There were several big-name players who were without a paddle sponsor at one time or another this spring, including JW Johnson, Jorja Johnson, Catherine Parenteau, Rachel Rohrabacher and Alix Truong.

What do all those players have in common? They all reached for a JOOLA paddle while winning at least one of their medals. That’s usually an indicator that a paddle is pretty good.

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