Anna Leigh Waters Switched to Franklin: What a $10 Million Paddle Deal Means for Pickleball
The Short Version
- Anna Leigh Waters left Paddletek after seven years for an estimated $10 million deal with Franklin Sports — the largest player sponsorship in pickleball history.
- Her signature paddle, the Aurelius, is Latin for golden and comes in three thicknesses — Waters competes with the 12.7mm, the most poppy version in the C45 line.
- Waters is 19 years old with 181 gold medals, 39 triple crowns, and sponsorships from Nike, Delta, DoorDash, and Ulta — a portfolio that looks more like a tennis star than a pickleball player.
- Ben Johns earned $250K in 2021 and $2.5M by 2024 — Waters' $10M deal signals another leap entirely in what brands are willing to pay to be part of pickleball's growth.
- More money at the top of the sport means bigger prize pools, better facilities, and more grassroots investment — the rising tide that benefits rec players too.
Seven Years, Then Gone
Seven Years, Then Gone
There are partnerships in sports that feel permanent — not because of any contract language, but because the athlete and the brand have become genuinely inseparable in the public mind. Anna Leigh Waters and Paddletek felt like that. She had been with them since she was barely a teenager, since before most people knew her name, since the early days of a career that would go on to produce 181 gold medals and 39 triple crowns. Then, in early January 2026, it was over.
Here's what that career looks like on paper:
Paddletek and Waters mutually announced the end of their seven-year partnership two days before Franklin Sports introduced her as their new headline athlete. The timing left no ambiguity: this was a planned exit, not a falling out. What followed was the kind of sponsorship announcement pickleball has never quite seen before.
What does it mean when the best player in the world changes equipment after seven years — and the deal making it happen is worth an estimated $10 million? It means the sport has arrived somewhere new.
Why Franklin — and Why Now
Why Franklin — and Why Now
The speculation started well before the announcement. The Kitchen reported that Waters was fielding offers from multiple paddle companies — JOOLA, Selkirk, and Holbrook were all discussed as possible landing spots. JOOLA had its hands full with Ben Johns' lifetime deal. Selkirk was already spending significantly on Jack Sock. Franklin, meanwhile, had been building quietly.
The Franklin C45 carbon fiber line had earned its reputation. The paddles had been in top-ten lists since their release, and Franklin had already launched successful signature models for Parris Todd and Hayden Patriquin. More importantly, Franklin was willing to invest at a level others weren't. Industry insiders estimated the deal at upwards of $10 million — a multi-year, long-term partnership that makes Waters the unambiguous face of the brand's pickleball division.
Waters said the existing paddle technology and her confidence in performing with it were key factors. Franklin's president responded to the signing:
"Anna Leigh's remarkable talent, competitive spirit, and passion for the game align perfectly with our mission to support athletes at every level while continuing to grow the sport globally."
— Adam Franklin, President of Franklin Sports
The arrangement goes beyond equipment — Waters is co-designing a broader signature line that will include paddles, bags, and accessories, and Franklin has confirmed she is also working on a new professional-grade ball to complement the industry-standard X-40.
What drove her to Franklin, in the end, is probably what drives most big decisions: the right product, the right people, and the right number.
The Aurelius Paddle
The Aurelius Paddle
The signature paddle has a name: the Aurelius. It's Latin for golden — chosen, we're told, because Waters has become synonymous with gold. The name fits.
Waters marked the signing with a straightforward statement:
"I am incredibly proud to begin this next chapter of my career with Franklin Sports."
— Anna Leigh Waters, January 2026
The Aurelius is built on Franklin's C45 platform: T700 carbon fiber surface applied at a 45-degree angle for spin and precision, a double thermoforming unibody construction for structural integrity and reduced vibration, and a PowerFlex polymer core. Waters competes with the 12.7mm version — the thinnest and most poppy in the line. It received UPA-A certification in early February 2026 and began shipping on March 1.
Three thickness options — 12.7mm, 14mm, and 16mm — mean that rec players and competitive amateurs can find a version of the Aurelius that matches their game. The widebody shape is familiar to anyone who watched Waters compete with Paddletek. The tech underneath it is Franklin's most advanced to date.
Here's how the three Aurelius thicknesses compare in terms of feel and use case:
The 12.7mm is the paddle Waters chose for a reason — it rewards the aggressive, fast-paced style she has built her career on. Whether that translates to rec-level play is a fair question, and one worth asking before you spend the money.
What $10 Million Means for the Sport
What $10 Million Means for the Sport
To understand the weight of this deal, it helps to know where pickleball sponsorships were not long ago. Ben Johns — by most accounts the most dominant male player in the sport's history — started his professional career making $250,000 in 2021. By 2024, he was earning an estimated $2.5 million annually, the majority from endorsements including his lifetime deal with JOOLA. That trajectory — from $250K to $2.5M in three years — is itself remarkable.
Waters' estimated $10 million deal represents another leap entirely. She is 19 years old. She turned 19 in January 2026, the same month she signed with Franklin and Nike — yes, Nike, making her the first pickleball pro to land a multi-year apparel deal with the brand. She also carries sponsorships with Delta Air Lines, DoorDash, and Ulta Beauty. The portfolio looks less like a pickleball player's sponsorship sheet and more like a mid-tier tennis star's.
What does it mean when a 19-year-old in an emerging sport commands the kind of money that took tennis players a decade to reach?
That question doesn't have a clean answer yet. But it signals something important: brands are no longer betting on pickleball's growth — they're paying for it upfront.
Here's a rough picture of how the sport's top sponsorship deals have scaled over the past several years:
The curve is steep. And it's not slowing down.
What It Means for the Rest of Us
What It Means for the Rest of Us
Most of us will never play like Anna Leigh Waters. That's not the point. The point is what happens to a sport when its best player becomes a genuine mainstream athlete — not just famous inside the pickleball world, but recognizable outside it.
More money in the sport means bigger prize pools, better facilities, and more investment in the grassroots programs that get rec players on courts in the first place. It means Franklin will invest in making the Aurelius line accessible at multiple price points, not just the pro model. It means the conversation about pickleball shifts from "how long will this growth last?" to "how big can this actually get?"
The Aurelius is already on courts across the country. Players who bought it in March are forming opinions — some love the pop, some find the 12.7mm too hot for their game, most agree the build quality is there. Franklin made a bet that Waters' paddle would sell itself. So far, it appears to be doing exactly that.
What draws you to the sport is probably not a sponsorship deal. It's the game, the people, the moment when something clicks on the court and you realize you're getting better. The business of pickleball growing around all of that is, in some ways, beside the point. But it's also not nothing — because a sport that attracts $10 million deals attracts courts, coaches, programming, and a whole community of people who showed up because the door was open.
That part, at least, benefits all of us.
