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Every sport has its best female competitors – Serena Williams for tennis, Simone Biles for gymnastics, but what about pickleball?

If you want to learn more about the best female pickleball players in the world, then here are the world’s top 10! Check them out below to find out more about each player’s accomplishments, records, and history in pickleball!

1. Anna Leigh Waters

The current world number 1 female pickleball player is Anna Leigh Waters with 15400 points in the Pro Women Singles ranking.

Anna Leigh Waters has recently taken the world pickleball society by storm.

Even though she’s only 15 years old, Anna Leigh Waters has been playing ever since 2017, when her grandfather first taught her how to play pickleball while they waited for Hurricane Irma to pass so they could return to their Florida home.

Over the next 2 years, Anna Leigh Waters continued to play alongside her mother and in 2019, the duo won the Florida Grand Slam title after defeating 2 very seasoned and talented pickleball experts.

Since then, Anna Leigh Waters has continued to win tournament after tournament, picking up 12 career gold medals to date.

2. Catherine Parenteau

Just behind Anna Leigh Waters in the current Pro Women Singles world rankings is Catherine Parenteau with 11698 points.

Catherine Parenteau is from Montreal, Canada, and first started playing tennis at the age of 14 and was later introduced to pickleball by her former tennis coach, Simone Jardim, in 2016.

Just 6 months later, she was competing at the US Open pickleball championship and won the 5.0 mixed bracket.

Since then, Catherine Parenteau has gone on to win the US Open championship three separate times and has thirteen independent PPA Tour titles, competing in both the Women’s Singles and Women’s Doubles.

3. Lea Jansen

Lea Jansen is the current world’s No. 3 in Women’s Singles and only just turned Pro back in 2021.

Originally from Spokane, Washington, Lea Jansen first started playing pickleball in 2019 after competing in tennis tournaments since the age of 8.

Despite only turning pro in 2021, Lea Jansen already has medaled at some huge pickleball tournaments and events including the Rocky Mountain Championship and Orange County Cup.

Her fiery competitiveness has already made her a big personality in the pickleball world, and her current score is 8368 points in the Pro Women Singles.

4. Anna Bright

Another fiery pickleball player known for her backhands is Anna Bright.

Anna Bright has made the top 5 best female pickleball players in the world with a score of 7775 points, despite only coming onto the scene in early 2022.

With 3 medals already under her belt (and two of them being gold), Anna Bright definitely means business on the court!

Like most pickleball players, Anna Bright has a history in pro tennis and now she is using her fantastic talents to make waves in pickleball championships and tournaments.

Watch this space – Anna Bright is coming for the top!

5. Jorja Johnson

Another young teen to make the top 10 best female pickleball players in the world is 16-year-old, Jorja Johnson.

Jorja Johnson is currently sitting in the middle of the list with a score of 7525 points, just behind Anna Bright.

Jorja Johnson is originally from Kansas but after she moved to Florida, she soon discovered pickleball after being introduced to the sport by a neighbor.

After 2 years of playing recreationally, Jorja began to join her mother Julie Johnson at tournaments around the country.

In fact, the Johnson family has a few pickleball players in the family including Jorja’s brother JW.

Jorja Johnson’s amazing victory is how she has managed to collect 19 pro pickleball medals in just 6 months, with the medals spread across mixed, women’s doubles, and women’s singles.

3 of those 19 medals are gold, with the rest split evenly between bronze and silver.

6. Salome Devidze

At No.6 with a score of 6964 points is Salome Devidze.

Salome Devidze is a professional pickleball player known for her tight line calls which have made her quite the controversial player.

She has already won out against other seasoned players like Jorja Johnson and Catherine Parenteau with her line calls breaking down the momentum of her opponents and allowing Salome Devidze to take the win.

Despite this, no one can deny Salome Devidze’s skill at the sport.

She originally played as a professional tennis player for Georgia (that’s the country, by the way, not the state!) and her skills in that sport have clearly transferred over, allowing her to win a gold medal despite being relatively new to the sport of pickleball.

7. Parris Todd

Parris Todd has broken onto the world’s top 10 female pickleball players with a score of 6067, and a calculating method of play.

Parris Todd is known for keeping her cool on the court and this has helped her become a pro pickleball player in 2022.

Parris Todd first started out playing professional tennis and has over 85 different tennis titles to her name.

She was first introduced to pickleball 10 years ago when her grandparents took up the sport themselves. However, Parris finally gave the sport a go herself in 2021 and is already winning medals in 2022.

8. Irina Tereschenko

Next up is Irina Tereschenko with 5949 points!

Irina Tereschenko is a known professional player and coach for a range of racquet sports, with over 20 years of experience under her belt.

Throughout her amazing career, she has won a total of 35 gold medals across different tournaments and championships. However, Irina has only been playing pickleball professionally since 2015.

9. Callie Smith

Callie Smith (sometimes referred to as Callie Jo Smith) is a former professional tennis player who has now taken up pickleball.

She first turned pro in 2019 and has since earned a total of 6 PPA titles.

She is currently sitting at No.9 in the World’s Women’s Singles table with a score of 4676 but has broken the Top 5 in all three Women’s Pro pickleball divisions.

She also competes in the Women’s Doubles and often teams up with another pro, Catherine Parenteau.

10. Megan Fudge

Another relatively new pickleball pro is Megan Fudge but despite only recently taking up pickleball as a pro, she already has a gold medal under her belt from the APP Atlanta Metro Open.

She has also broken into the world’s top 10 best female pickleball tables with a score of 2894.

Megan Fudge originally started out as a pro tennis player before becoming a pro tennis coach, and now is a pro pickleball player herself.

Final Thoughts

So, those were the top 10 best female pickleball players!

As you can see, each player has their own story to tell, and each has plenty of skill and training behind them to help them become some of the very best pickleball players in the world!

We based the list on the current rankings so this list is bound to change with every new championship or tournament, as new players come onto the scene and veterans make their comebacks.

So, keep an eye out for these names during the next tournament – they are sure to make a huge splash!

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