NML’s 2026 UPA Power Rankings v. 3.0 – Women
We haven’t done any player power rankings since May, and we haven’t posted anything since the end of the MLP season. Don’t worry, though. We are still paying attention!
Right before World’s seems like a great time to update our player power rankings for the 2026 calendar year. Obviously, a lot has happened since May and a ton of stuff has changed.
Some things stay the same, of course, as Jim Kloss continues to get the Skip Bayless treatment from people who get mad at what he writes yet continue to engage with his content. We always think guys like Jim are good for the sport and it’s not a bad thing for people like him to rage bait people into larger discussions. However, it is hard to understand being so bothered by someone’s content that you choose to engage with it, which results in amplifying the platform each time you choose to do so. It’s one of the funnier things about content in general, and we remain here for it.
Maybe we’ll talk about screaming issue again, at some point, but we weighed in on this in July 2025. And nothing much has changed for us since that time.
The standard disclaimer that most people never read is that these are DOUBLES POWER rankings, not player rankings. It is intended to be a snapshot of a player’s current gender and mixed value in the landscape and is meant to very much encapsulate recency bias into the equation. If you want player rankings, maybe we’ll consider doing that before the 2027 MLP season.
(1) Anna Leigh Waters – A mixed loss to the Johnson’s in NC aside, the biggest compliment ALW received this past year was getting iced out of her partnership with Noe Khlif in MLP.
(2) Anna Bright – Not only is AB the 2nd best female in the world, she has also become very left/right side adaptable thanks to her partnership with Anna Leigh. It has been a big help to her mixed game as she is creating more offence from the right.
(3) Tyra Black – She will be an interesting player to monitor going forward. It felt like the field was catching up to the flaws that her exceptional athleticism has been able to mask, but she appears to be making strides with her unique fundamentals in terms of creating offence.
(4) Jorja Johnson – She is still the best pure right-sider in the game currently.
(5) Parris Todd – She is playing well and is a force to be reckoned with.
(6) Rachel Rohrabacher – It was an odd season of MLP with the scoreboard injury wiping out most of her season. However, she has shown in the new PPA season that she remains one of the best women around.
(7) Kate Fahey – Fahey keeps getting better and we are now seeing her thrive in different partnerships, including playing the left with Lea Jansen and Milan Rane. Not to mention she is in the conversation for best right side women’s doubles players. It would be fascinating to see how high Fahey would go in a complete MLP redraft.
(8) Catherine Parenteau – MLP demonstrated that Catherine cannot be the left-side alpha for an elite women’s team anymore. She is seeing some better results in partnerships with Sofia Sewing and Tyra Black, where she can play that right-side role very well.
(9) Danni-Elle Townsend – Townsend’s stock shot up massively during the MLP season. She has gone back to Australia post-MLP so we won’t haven’t her on the PPA Tour consistently right away. Townsend is already one of the best women in the game but the recent international events showed there is work to be done.
(10) Jackie Kawamoto – It was tough to gauge anything from an MLP season that Jackie spent mostly playing with Hannah Blatt. She remains an elite female despite being a part-time pro on tour.
(11) Tina Pisnik – Tina had an incredibly strong MLP season on the left with Sofia Sewing. One of the truest pros pro in the game, Pisnik is as steady and reliable as they come.
(12) Sofia Sewing – Sewing proved her versatility in MLP playing the right with Pisnik and excelling, but it is more difficult to assess where she is at in mixed. The exclusive Casey Diamond partnership appears to be coming to an end.
(13) Jade Kawamoto – Jade’s power ranking dips because of the relative struggles she and Catherine had in MLP. Jade played well next to Ben but she has limitations in terms of offence creation that make her fairly partner dependent.
(14) Lea Jansen – She had a really good result with Kate Fahey in North Carolina and possibly has been injured since early in the MLP season. Jansen generally remains a player who doesn’t lose to players below her level and has trouble pushing the envelope against players above her level.
(15) Lacy Schneemann – The floor remains higher for Lacy than it was in the past, but it doesn’t seem like she has really been able to push the ceiling.
(16) Kiora Kuniomoto – Some very strong mixed results with Elliott Schupp in Mesa and CJ Klinger in Chicago combined with a some near miss wins in women’s recently. Getting good results with a variety of partners is a very positive indicator of future success. We have to wonder if California’s decision to trade her could be a major regret come MLP draft time next year.
(17) Mari Humberg – She has reached is what she is territory and we doubt there is much more ceiling in her future.
(18) Meghan Dizon – She has become a part-time player on tour and it is starting to show with the results. Nevertheless, she remains a higher end right side female.
(19) Alix Truong – The variance in her results remain about as big as anyone. She has also been traveling a ton between the US and Asia for events, which has to take a toll on the body.
(20) Sahra Dennehey – Dennehey was another breakout MLP player this season for California and a more under the radar overall breakout player. Her results continue to tick up.
(21) Layne Sleeth – We have clearly underrated Layne Sleeth’s ball-making prowess previously as there’s something to be said for players that don’t miss and play standout defence. She just brings a relatively high floor and has had some really results since coming back from injury.
(22) Jamie Wei – She proved she is a legit female player with the Slice during the 2026 MLP season. We aren’t as enamoured by her lack of soft hands as they may hold her back from elevating her game into the upper echelon of women.
(23) Elsie Hendershot – Do we think Elsie is better than a good handful of the players lower than her on these power rankings? No. Do we think Elsie has the potential to be one of the best women in pickleball one day? Yes, we do. It remains slightly concerning that her PPA results aren’t coming a little faster.
(24) Cailyn Campbell – The teenagers are always interesting, and we’ll be curious to see if Campbell can figure out how to bring a more consistent higher level to her game.
(25) Jessie Irvine – Another is what she is player. You know what you’re going to get with Jessie.
(26) Etta Tuionetoa – No one’s stock on the female side is falling more than Etta’s these days.
(27) Milan Rane – She had a fine MLP season with Orlando before getting traded and showed out with Kate Fahey in Chicago..
(28) Zoey Weil – A good season of MLP made her a buy candidate at the trade deadline for California. Weil is another stock up female from the MLP season. The question is whether she can be more than a high floor, low ceiling type of player on tour.
(29) Isabella Dunlap – the doubles results have been up and down since our last power rankings, but she has had some better recent results.
(30) Kelly Goodnow – At only 14-years-old, her talent doesn’t appear to be as high as what Hendershot has demonstrated, but we continue to like what we see from Goodnow. She should have been drafted to an MLP bench for the sole fact she is an athletic, young teenager.
Notable Omissions
Brooke Buckner – She only played mixed with JW Johnson in MLP, which is a nice insulating mixed partner. To Buckner’s credit, her level improved markedly in the latter half of the year with Dallas. It isn’t really translating into great PPA results.
Kaitlyn Christian – Nothing excites us much about Christian’s doubles game. It is fine enough, but we’re getting close to 3-years as a full-time pickleball pro and it appears she may be relatively capped out from a doubles standpoint.
Estee Widdershoven – She may be more of the Zoey Weil, high floor / low ceiling type of player, but she had a solid first MLP season with Miami. She is a stock up player.
Carlota Trevino – She recently signed with the PPA and has been crushing the Challenger scene as well as seeing some strong APP results.
Callie Smith – Maybe the most is what she is player of the names we have mentioned as the game passes her by
Allyce Jones – There are a chunk of women on this list who are more or less capped out, and Jones fits that mold. She has maximized her tools as much as anyone on tour, but there’s only so much one can do when the game keeps evolving.
Chao Yi Wang – She has dropped out of the top 30 of our power rankings. She just ain’t it, unfortunately.
Lucy Kovalova – She deserves a legacy mention but she doesn’t play MLP and her results overall don’t want top 30 power rankings consideration.
