#TeamWaters Ready To End 2021 With A Bang

 

 

Team Waters Ready to End 2021 with a Bang

The end of the year is synonymous with the word "busy." The holidays are looming and it just seems that there is always a rush to get everything done before the New Year rings in. Well, the professional pickleball tour is no different. The biggest, baddest, coolest pickleball tournaments and events are all coming up between now and December 2021. And, Anna Leigh and I (Leigh Waters), the mother-daughter duo making up Team Waters, are here for it! (Read More)

PPA 2021 Champtionships Las Vegas

 

Singles

4:31:47 Anna Leigh Waters vs Lea Jansen (Game 1, Game 2 not streamed) 9:58 Gold Medal Match - Anna Leigh Waters vs Catherine Parenteau

Doubles

3:13:20 Leigh Waters/Anna Leigh Waters vs Corrine Carr/Callie Smith 6:05:56 Leigh Waters/Anna Leigh Waters vs Simone Jardim/Lucy Kovalova 3:23:36 Gold Medal Match - Anna Leigh Waters/Leigh Waters vs Jessie Irvine/Catherine

Mixed Doubles

1:17:40 Ben Johns/Simone Jardim vs Kyle Yates/Anna Leigh Waters 2:02:50 Lucy Kovalova/Matt Wright vs Tyson McGuffin/Leigh Waters 5:12:34 Kyle Yates/Anna Leigh Waters vs Jessie Irvine/Jay Devilliers

Pickleball’s popularity is soaring in the Lehigh Valley. Two of the sport’s phenoms got their start here

 By STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS THE MORNING CALL

Two Lehigh Valley natives among the best in the world

Mention the name Anna Leigh Waters among local pickleball players, and the recognition is instant.

That’s because at just 14 years old, Anna Leigh is already a pickleball superstar. The Allentown-born teen started playing the game in 2017, when her family was evacuated from their Florida home during Hurricane Irma. As they waited out the storm here in the Lehigh Valley, Anne Leigh’s grandfather, Neil, taught her the game alongside her mom (and Neil’s daughter), Leigh Waters.

“I grew up in Center Valley and played tennis for Southern Lehigh,” Leigh said. “I won states one year, and I also played softball, so I was very immersed in the Lehigh Valley sports scene. And as it turned out, we were the first people to play on the Grange courts ... the first time we played we were like ‘we want to play again.’”

Not long after picking up the sport, mother and daughter turned pro. They now rank among the best in the world, winning gold in tournaments across the country, including the U.S. Open. Anna Leigh is also a fierce competitor in singles and mixed doubles, and holds the distinction of being the youngest professional pickleball champion in history.

“We’ve really kind of had this mother-daughter intuition where we know what the other is going to do, so we can anticipate the next call. And I think that’s been one of the things that’s helped us be so successful,” Leigh said.

While the two are busy showcasing an aggressive style of play that has won them a legion of new fans around the world, they look forward to coming back to play at Grange Park again soon.

“It’s just fun to get back to the people that like started it all for us and taught us how to play,” Leigh said. “We’ve made a lot of new friends up there and it’s just like coming home.”

Professional Pickleball Teen Wins 4th Consecutive Title

West Orlando News

Anna Leigh Waters, who is the World #1 Ranked Singles Champion at age 14, won her 4th consecutive Professional Pickleball Singles Championship earlier this month at the PPA Texas Open Shootout. Waters defeated Lea Jansen in the 3 out of 5 Gold Metal Match: 11-9, 11-5, 11-6. She won three medals at the PPA Texas Open Shootout.

The Delray Beach, Florida based teen also won a Silver medal in Pro Women’s Doubles with her mother, Leigh Waters.

Anna Leigh Waters also won a Bronze medal in Pro Mixed Doubles with JW Johnson, who is 18. Johnson is also from Delray Beach. 

Anna Leigh is the youngest to win a Professional Pickleball Singles title. In August, she won professional singles titles at the PPA Takeya Showcase in Newport Beach, CA and she won the Tournaments of Champions in Brigham City, UT. In September, Waters won the PPA Orlando Cup that took place locally, and now in October she has won the PPA Texas Open Shootout in Rockwell, TX.

The mother/daughter pickleball duo picked up the sport back in 2017 when they evacuated their home in Florida due to Hurricane Irma and stayed with Leigh’s parents for a couple of weeks. Leigh’s dad introduced them to the sport and from there they were hooked. “I think we played like morning, noon and night for two weeks straight while we were up there and the rest is history,” said Leigh.

The fourteen year old  is rated #1 in Pro Women’s Singles on the September 28, 2021 Dupr Top 25 Player List.

PPA 2021 Texas Open Shootout

Anna Leigh wins her 4th consecutive Pro Women's Singles Title 

Singles

1:52:57 Anna Leigh Waters vs Lea Jansen Gold Medal Match (Highlights)

5:53:20 Anna Leigh Waters vs Catherine Parenteau 

Doubles

5:03:12 Jessie Irvine/Catherine Parentau vs Anna Leigh Waters/Leigh Waters (Highlights)

Lucy Kovalova/Simone Jardim vs Leigh Waters/Anna Leigh Waters (Video coming soon)

Lucy and Simone Won The Gold Medal Match: 5-11,2-11,11-8,11-7,11-7

JW Johnson and Anna Leigh Win Bronze Medal

Mixed Doubles

0:01 Leigh Waters/Tyler Loong vs Katie Fagan/Damian Spizzo 17:28 Dekel Bar/Vivienne David vs JW Johnson/Anna Leigh Waters 1:17:26 Ben Johns/Simone Jardim vs JW Johnson/Anna Leigh Waters 5:50:42 Dekel Bar/Vivienne David vs JW Johnson/Anna Leigh Waters (Bronze)

• AJ Koller/Lea Jansen vs JW Johnson/Anna Leigh Waters 
• Dylan Frazier/Andrea Koop vs JW Johnson/Anna Leigh Waters 

Press Release