UPA Player Power Rankings Women – January 2026
We published you our initial top 30 UPA men’s power rankings on Friday. We are back today with our initial top 30 UPA women’s power rankings for 2026. Let’s go!
Update: to be clear, just like our men’s power rankings, this is a doubles only list and they are not supposed to be pure rankings.
(1) Anna Leigh Waters – She is an absolute animal on the court. The best in the business. Need we say more?
(2) Anna Bright – The consensus #2 female in the world. The first part of 2026 will be interesting to see if she can go undefeated with ALW in women’s.
(3) Jorja Johnson – She has to be third on this list because of how well she is playing in mixed. She and brother JW form the 2nd best mixed pairing in the world, and she has to be considered the best pure right side women’s player.
(4) Tyra Black – She has cleaned up her kitchen game and solidified herself as one of the best women in the game in 2025. The mixed is still a work in progress, but she is a beast on the left in women’s.
(5) Rachel Rohrbacher – Rohrabacher had a strong finish to the season in mixed with Andrei Daescu and she has proven to be a threat in women’s doubles with Catherine Parenteau.
(6) Catherine Parenteau – The staying power has been impressive for Parenteau as she continues to prove to be a top threat in women’s and mixed. The partnership with Tardio is one of the more interesting ones to come in 2026.
(7) Jackie Kawamoto – Speaking of staying power, the Kawamoto’s showed us in 2025 that they are not going anywhere. Jackie’s mixed results are not quite as strong as her women’s results, but you can’t deny that she and Jade are a top 3 women’s team in pro pickleball right now. They steamrolled Tyra and Parris at World’s.
(8) Jade Kawamoto – Jade is as integral to the success of the Kawamoto pair as Jackie is for Jade. As the steadier Eddy of the twins, she is a rock on the right side and plugs the middle with her lefty forehand. To have both Kawamoto’s in the top 10 of these power rankings to start 2026 is an incredible feat for the twins who continue to have full-time jobs.
(9) Parris Todd – Todd has solidified her status as a bonafide top 10 female doubles player. Her aggressive style lends itself better for women’s doubles as her firepower remains high end and she has put in the work to be a consistently elite performer on tour.
(10) Tina Pisnik – There isn’t a lot of flash to Pisnik’s game. She makes balls and makes you work. The preference for her on the left limits her upside in our opinion, but she keeps getting results.
(11) Jessie Irvine – It sure helped Jessie that she had Tardio as a primary mixed partner in the second half of 2025. Irvine has not fallen off like we thought she might a couple of years ago. The upside is limited, but she showed she can still hold her own very well in 2025.
(12) Etta Tuionetoa – It feels like Etta has not been able to reach her maximum potential as a player. She has all the tools, but she struggled with her consistency again in 2025. The Ranchers also decided to move on from her to shake up their roster, essentially choosing Pisnik over Tuionetoa as their keeper going into 2026.
(13) Kate Fahey – She remains more of a ball maker than a shot taker, but she finally started to see some better results in the second half of 2025 in both mixed and women’s. The success of the St. Louis Shock could come down to how much Fahey is able to up her game in 2026.
(14) Meghan Dizon – This one may need to be higher for Dizon, who ended up having a quality 2025 and finished the year with a bronze in Daytona. She also showed what she was made of in MLP with the New Jersey 5’s and has been a sold performer on the PPA.
(15) Kaitlyn Christian – This ranking spot is more the result of her big Daytona finals appearance with Andrei Daescu. However, that run felt similar to Augie Ge’s run with JW as a good run with an elite player in the game is unlikely some magical turning of the corner to mask a generally unimpressive 2025 in doubles for Christian.
(16) Lacy Schneemann – It was a very strong start to the 2025 year for Schneemann but the second half of the year was not as kind to her. Consistency has always been the question for Schneemann, who is capable of beating just about anyone on a given day.
(17) Lea Jansen – Jansen had a solid year in 2025 and won a championship with the Sliders. She beats the players she is supposed to and hasn’t proven to be much of a threat to the players she is not supposed to beat.
(18) Mari Humberg – After a meteoric rise in 2024, it was a far less impressive 2025. She remains limited on the left as she works on implementing a two-handed backhand. Humberg’s lack of consistency combined with the field figuring out her game has left Humberg as a far less intriguing player to start off 2026.
(19) Vivienne David – After a surprise retirement to start the year, David will no longer be on this list going forward. There was a time not too long ago where Vivienne was the best right-side female in the game. She is one of the nicest people on tour and we’re sorry to see that she is done with pro pickleball.
(20) Callie Smith – Callie is what she is at this point. Good hands and a high-powered forehand allow her to still be a top 20 women’s player.
(21) Chao Yi Wang – We are wondering if the deeper talent pool means we should be holding off on quicker final assessments of players like Wang. Nevertheless, our view on Wang is that she isn’t going to make a top 10 push in 2026. Middling hands and inconsistent play do not usually lead to elite results despite having all the necessary shots in her toolbox.
(22) Lucy Kovalova – She can still compete at a decently high level in women’s, but it is hard to see where she is at as a mixed player tied to Matt Wright’s aging movement.
(23) Milan Rane – She is a steady performer who has exceeded our expectations in terms of ceiling as a player.
(24) Brooke Buckner – Consistency in pickleball is comparable to shooting in basketball or throwing accuracy for quarterbacks in football. There are some players that can make drastic improvements (i.e. Kawhi Leonard, Josh Allen) but most of the time the consistency holds them back even when they have the necessary physical skills. That’s been the Brooke Buckner story so far in her doubles career.
(25) Alix Truong – The ceiling has proven to be higher than we may have thought a couple of years ago. She has had some quality results in the second half of 2025, including a gold medal at the PPA Vietnam Open with brother, Jonathan.
(26) Allyce Jones – Say what you want about Allyce, but she gets the absolute maximum out of her abilities due to her grit and work ethic. She’s never an easy out, but her physical talent has limited her ceiling as a player.
(27) Maggie Brascia – It’s too bad Maggie seemingly chose not to make pickleball a priority. It would have been interesting to see how good she could have gotten. Although, it looks like the Brascia sisters have re-signed with the UPA until 2028.
(28) Ewa Radzikowska – The most accomplished MLP player in Challenger history, Radzikowska remains one of the most underrated players on tour. She has limitations with her age and need to be on the left.
(29) Cailyn Campbell – The power rankings start to get very dicey here and you realize why there’s such a parity issue with 19 Premier MLP teams. There’s a lot of different women you could choose from. We decide to go with Campbell, who has mostly shown upside in the MLP context. Can she dial in the consistency?
(30) Elsie Hendershot – She is unlikely to stay in the top 30 next go around, but we wanted to highlight a player we are quite high on. It is not realistic or fair to expect strong early results from a physically and emotionally maturing 12-year-old trying to navigate the pro scene. However, the talent looks to be legitimate, and we are buying the stock.
Honorable mentions: Mya Bui, Victoria DiMuzio, Zoey Weil, Alex Walker, Layne Sleeth, Ella Yeh, Ting Chieh “Jamie” Wei, Jalina Ingram
Sofia Sewing is by far the most intriguing non-UPA signed female. She’s getting really good results on the APP across all 3 disciplines without the best partners. She would probably be just outside the top 20 for us in these power rankings right now.
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
