At just 18 years old, Anna Leigh Waters is already the winningest professional pickleball player in history. Learn more about how Anna Leigh got her start after going pro at twelve, how she handles pressure, and who she wants as a guest on her new YouTube series.

TOGETHXR: First of all, congrats on recently becoming the winningest pickleballer in history, especially doing it in such grand fashion with the Triple Crown. How did it feel to achieve such a huge milestone? 

ALW: It was really crazy, to be honest. I knew I was in the running for it at that tournament, but a lot of different things had to happen. I had to win everything, and Ben [Johns] had to lose. I'm never cheering for him to lose, obviously, because he's my mixed doubles partner — but he ended up losing his other match, so it was the perfect opportunity for me to take the lead. That feeling after the tournament was pretty surreal. It wasn't until a couple of weeks later that it really started to sink in, because it's all adrenaline when you're playing in the finals and winning. It feels great, but things don't really sink in. So, looking back on it is really cool. It was definitely a milestone that I didn't think I would achieve as soon as I did. 

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TOGETHXR: Now that you've hit this milestone, what's the next goal you're going after? 

ALW: I would love to stay on top and continue to win, but I feel like I'm starting to focus a little bit more on social media and growing my platform — trying to get people to see me more off the court and who I am as a person. Everybody knows that I've won a lot and am very good on the court, but they haven't really found out much about me off the court or heard me talk much, so we're definitely trying to do that. Also, trying to grow the game — that's something I love, especially with the kiddos. I love guiding kids at clinics or hitting with them. Something that's more futuristic is playing in the Olympics — that would be cool. Winning a gold medal would be a really big goal of mine when [Pickleball] is in the Olympics. 

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TOGETHXR: Something that casual players or pickleball newcomers might not understand is that there are multiple professional Pickleball leagues. So, one weekend you might be playing in PPA, and the next weekend you might be doing an MLP event, where you’re playing directly against your partners from the weekend before. Is it weird to be on a team with someone one week and then the next week, you're facing them across the net?

ALW: Yeah, I think it kind of depends on the player because some players have longer-term partners, year-round partners, and other players mix it up every tournament. There's an understanding that you're going to play against the people that you also play with. When you play people that you've been playing with for a while, and know you’ll continue to play with for a while, I think that's when it gets kind of weird. You know their game so well, you know them as a person, you're more relaxed... You don't want to make them mad — there's so much that goes into it. I think people also handle it differently. But yeah, it's an interesting situation, because I'll say you're playing with somebody different, so you don't want to tell them your partner's weaknesses, you know? So you just tell them enough to get by, to win the match, but don't give them everything.

TOGETHXR: You went pro at age 12, which is obviously very rare to be a professional at such a young age. Did you ever feel pressure as a young athlete to perform at an elite level?

ALW: I wasn't really thinking about stuff like that. I was just like, “Let's go beat up on some 25-30 year olds. Like, let's go have fun.” So I feel like for the first, two, three years, I really wasn't thinking about that. I won a lot in those couple of years, so it gave me that extra confidence. By the time I started having those thoughts, I had had a lot of wins and a lot of good things that happened to me that I could look back on. So that worked in my favor, but it wasn't really until I was ranked number one in the world that I was like, "Okay, now I'm expected to win." There's a big difference between when you're fighting for that number one spot — you have a lot less pressure, but then once you're number one, now, you're the one that has the number one spot to lose. So it flips the switch, and you have to figure out how to handle all these different pressures. It took me a couple of years to figure that out, but I feel like I've gotten a pretty good handle on it. 

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TOGETHXR: Do you have any self-care strategies or recovery strategies that you use to stay on top of the mental side of the game? 

ALW: Listen to your body and your mind. I might think, oh, I need a rest day, but then I’m like, "No, no, I need to train.” I know myself well enough to tell if I'm saying that because I just want to bail out and take a break, or because I actually need it. That's definitely been a process I've had to learn, because I've had some little injuries in the past where I've avoided taking breaks and just tried to push through it — but I've learned now that you need mental breaks sometimes to take a little time for yourself. I try to make time for myself as much as possible. I had this time where my eye wouldn't stop twitching, because I was so stressed out and nervous. I took a week off, and it was fun. Your body gives you signs when you need to take breaks. 

TOGETHXR: You recently started your own YouTube series on your channel called In the Kitchen with Anna Leigh Waters. We love the double entendre there. Have you always had a passion for cooking? What made you want to start this series? 

ALW: We were just talking about content ideas, and that one just seemed so natural because I've always loved to cook and bake — that's always been a passion of mine. I used to live in North Carolina, and my grandmother was like a typical Southern cook. She taught me how to cook, and we had a lot of fun together, which is where it started. When we moved to Florida, and I was a little older, I started doing stuff on my own and trying recipes, and it just blossomed into cooking with my family. I was also thinking that everybody and their brother has a podcast now, so I didn't really want to do that, but this is a way to interview and hang out with people, and we're cooking and doing something fun. 

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TOGETHXR: Do you have a dream guest star for the series? 

ALW: I think I have a lot of dream guests, to be honest. One that comes to mind is Carlos Alcaraz or [Jannik] Sinner. I love watching them compete, and I'm a big fan. Or Roger Federer.

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TOGETHXR: There are a lot of misconceptions about pickleball as a sport: that it's boring, it's not athletic, it's for old people, etc. What's one misconception about pickleball that you wish you could debunk forever and never have to hear again? 

ALW: That it’s not a sport. I usually say, “Watch any of my points, and you'll realize that it's a sport.” 

Your favorite album of 2025: I'm going to go with Pentatonix Christmas, because I absolutely love listening to that at the end of the year. 

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One non-pickleball female athlete that you think is killing the game right now: I would say…Coco Gauff.

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One product you're obsessed with right now: I'm obsessed with makeup right now, so anything from Ulta. 

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Your biggest pet peeve: My biggest pet peeve is when I'm practicing pickleball, and they don't say the third number of the score. When people only say 2-0, but they don't say the third number of the score.

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Best piece of advice for other young athletes: Do what you love — and don't let anybody tell you how to play the game differently if that's how you want to play it.