Press Release: 2021 Minto US OPEN Pickleball Championships

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Professional Pickleball National Champions Mother/Daughter Duo Focused On Minto US Open Pickleball Championships

NAPLES, FL (April 15, 2021) -- The 2019 Women’s Doubles Professional Pickleball National Champions, Leigh Waters and her fourteen-year old daughter Anna Leigh are excited to play together at the Minto US OPEN Pickleball Championships April 17-23. 

In 2018, the mother/daughter duo won the US Open Women’s Doubles Age 19+ Bronze Medal. 

At the US Open in 2019, Anna Leigh won a Gold Medal playing with Fort Meyers based Kyle Yates in the Mixed Doubles Age 19+ bracket. It was her last tournament playing as an amatuer. She was 12 years old and won 4 Gold Medals.  (Video - 2019 US Open Kids Day Exhibition Begins At 4:20 Kyle/Anna Leigh vs Simone Jardim/Irina Tereschenko) 

This year Kyle, who has won six US Open pro doubles titles (with 4 different partners), and Anna Leigh are playing in the very competitive Mixed Doubles Pro bracket.  

Last year in April, when the US Open was canceled due to COVID, TeamWaters conducted a 1hr 30+ minute live stream Q&A session on their Facebook page. They only played in one 2020 tournament.

In March, Leigh and Anna Leigh launched the video series “Tuesday Talks Car Conversations with Anna Leigh” available on YouTube and Instagram.  In their April 6th episode, they discussed the 2021 US Open.

Photo: Pickleball Fire Magazine Cover

In the Pickleball Fire Magazine March/April 2021 issue, TeamWaters are featured and Leigh published her first instructional article, “Attacking Dinks”.

In the fall of 2017, Anna Leigh and Leigh evacuated to Leigh’s father's home in Pennsylvania due to Hurricane Irma. While there, he introduced them to pickleball.

“Anna Leigh started playing pickleball the same day I did in Pennsylvania,” Leigh explains. “I can’t tell you what an absolute privilege it is to get to play with her. She amazes me every time I step on the court with her. She is smart, encouraging, and her skills just keep getting better. Having her by my side on the court is so comforting and I have total confidence in her. We have that mother/daughter intuition that helps us play as a true team on the court. Winning a Major title together is something that we set out to do.”

Digital Press Kit (Interviews, Tournament Videos, Highlights, Photos, Schedules)

Lynn Cherry, Pickleball Podcast: “Actually, the media kit was really helpful. It really made it very fast to prep and the timestamps on the (interview) videos were great because I could get to exactly what I wanted to see or hear. I think that is really key!”

###