NML’s 2026 UPA Power Rankings v. 2.0 – Men
We have you the 2nd edition of our 2026 women’s power rankings yesterday. Today, it is the men. Again, feel free to get as pissed off as you want, but be pissed off for the right reasons. These are power rankings, not player rankings!
(1) Ben Johns – As we said about ALW, the ability these two to adjust and immediately shut down a weakness that an opponent has identified and exploited is so, so impressive. Ben is still the unquestioned best men’s player in the world.
(2) Hayden Patriquin – He is the left-side alpha for the #2 men’s team in the world and #2 mixed team in the world.
(3) Gabe Tardio – His men’s results are unbelievably consistent, but his mixed results have been more erratic. He’s still a very good mixed player for a right side men’s specialist.
(4) Christian Alshon – Alshon has shown the mixed ceiling and the men’s ceiling in 2026, and the floor has been about as high as he could have asked for going into the year.
(5) JW Johnson – Similarly to Jorja, we have to wonder if JW is not evolving as quickly as the rest of the field and the slight dip in his results can be attributed to that.
(6) Andrei Daescu – The staying power for the big Romanian has been top notch. He is not the best player in the world, but he is darn close.
(7) Federico Staksrud – The high floor and limited ceiling has Fed landing right around where most people expected he would heading into 2026.
(8) Eric Oncins – We’ll be curious how long Oncins and Frazier continue to run their partnership out. Oncins has been a beast in men’s and mixed, and it feels like he just needs to find an upgrade in men’s to compete with the big boys.
(9) CJ Klinger – it was not an ideal finish to the first half of 2026 with some rough losses in Atlanta and the PPA Finals. The mixed has taken a step back from a results standpoint as well.
(10) Jay Devilliers – From one of the most overrated players in the game to one of the most underrated. It’s funny how things go. Jay’s grind and never say die attitude has allowed him to evolve with the game as other legacy players like Tyson McGuffin and Riley Newman fall behind.
(11) Dylan Frazier – We can talk about an upgrade for Eric Oncins all we want, but it is quite possible the only upgrades on the right side ahead of Dylan are locked up in top 4 partnerships. Dylan remains a legit, right side men’s doubles player, with spotty mixed results.
(12) Tama Shimabukuro – The results for Tama went from interesting and frisky to holy shit this guy might be one of the best players in the world soon. The question for Tama is whether he can find more traditional ways to create offence as the field becomes more accustomed to his unconventional style of play.
(13) Noe Khlif – The Tina Pisnik of the men’s game. Noe has shown some unexpected upside in mixed and has provided versatility in men’s on the left and right side.
(14) Jaume Martinez Vich – Health has been the biggest question for Jaume, but he and Jay were able to string together consecutive high-end results not too long ago.
(15) Jack Sock –The improvements are obvious in his game as shown by his improved results in men’s and mixed. He wanted it more in Sacramento than we have ever seen him want it before in pickleball, which included a win over Oncins/Frazier. Can he keep it up for an entire calendar year?
(16) Pablo Tellez – He may not be able to hit a half decent looking backhand dunk but Pablo’s men’s doubles has gotten better over the past 6 to 12 months. 2026 might be Pablo’s most consistent year in men’s from a results standpoint.
(17) Dekel Bar – It has been a slog for Dekel in 2026 after his health issues in 2025. However, he had a good Utah performance with Wyatt Stone, where they upset Oncins/Frazier handily. We’ll see what the second half of 2026 brings for big D.
(18) Will Howells – It is not fair that an ankle injury has derailed the start of Howells’s PPA career. In the little that we have seen, Howells looks to be about as competitive as we expected and is right in the mix.
(19) Riley Newman – It’s really hard for us to take much away from PPA Finals results where the focus of players with the format seems questionable at best. It has been a pretty dismal year overall for Riley and, outside of the PPA Finals, there isn’t much reason to believe some drastic turnaround will happen for a player who has refused to evolve with the game.
(20) Connor Garnett – Garnett would have been a number of spots lower, but for his run with Roscoe Bellamy in Atlanta. The one-dimensional nature of Garnett’s game has not been conducive to the continued evolution of pro pickleball. We’ll still be interested to see if his resurgence in Atlanta and the PPA Finals was a blip, or a sign of better things to come.
(21) Yuta Funemizu – We are still TBD on whether his one of a kind grip and play style can be successful at the highest level of the game. However, he is showing that he can be a strong, right side complement in men’s doubles.
(22) Len Yang – Yang burst onto the scene in his 2nd tournament as a PPA signed player with a big win over JW/CJ with a CJ partner of his own, Collin Johns. He just won another title with Collin in Asia against Tama and Armaan Bhatia. It’s possible Yang has more ceiling than we gave him credit for in the MLP draft process
(23) Augie Ge – The results have been better recently for Augie Ge.
(24) Armaan Bhatia – Some people are very high on Armaan, who is a guy that profiles as someone that can be an elite, left-side player. The results keep ticking up for Bhatia.
(25) Jonathan Truong – His results have faded a bit in this first half of the 2026 season, but we still like what we have seen from the younger Truong on tour.
(26) Max Freeman –Another TBD guy as the results do not match the talent and athleticism he demonstrates. Will we look back on Freeman in 2027 as the Zoey Wang of men’s doubles?
(27) Wyatt Stone – We wondered whether Wyatt Stone might be pickleball’s most underrated player, and he won’t be for long if he keeps seeing an uptick in results with better partners.
(28) Nico Acevedo – Nico has burst onto the scene towards the end of the 2025/2026 season with some very impressive men’s and mixed results. The body of work isn’t there yet, but these are power rankings and we can’t deny the early returns of his PPA results.
(29) Tyson McGuffin – The staying power has been world class in the 2020s, but we may finally be on our way to closing time for the most electrifying man in sports as a relevant doubles player in the sport. For a guy who has worked so hard during his career, we will forever be confounded by his choice not to develop a twoey in some capacity.
(30) Hunter Johnson – Hunter might very well be an is what he is doubles player, at this point.
Notable Omissions
Blaine Hovenier – One of the most fun and entertaining guys on tour, Hovenier’s improvement remains slow and steady.
Collin Johns – The only legacy guy on this omissions list whose stock is on the rise. Genuinely commendable from the former #1 ranked PPA man.
AJ Koller – There is a steady theme with this list of Notable Omissions from the power rankings, and it has guys who have been around the block. Koller probably should have been drafted to an MLP team, but he’s not helping his case with his 2026 results.
Tyler Loong – Speaking of not evolving of his game, it appears as 2026 might be curtains on the competitive careers of a handful of legacy guys, including Tyler Loong. A silver in mixed in a depleted PPA finals field doesn’t change much for us.
Matt Wright – Father Time may finally have caught up to the mouthy, always entertaining attorney.
Zane Navratil – Sometimes the game simply passes you by.
Will MacKinnon – He’s still very young and raw, but, through no fault of his own, MacKinnon is currently netting out to be one of the most wildly overhyped talents to arrive on the PPA Tour.
Eungwon Kim – We really like his game and wonder if he would be better suited on the left side of a men’s doubles partnership.
Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments or email us at nmlpickleball@gmail.com! You can also follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook @nmlpickleball
