Anna Leigh Waters Named 2026 MLP MVP After 60-4 Season

Anna Leigh Waters has been named the 2026 Major League Pickleball MVP, presented by Amway, capping a regular season that saw her go 60-4 and lock up the No. 1 seed with the New Jersey 5s.

On its own, an MVP award is a headline. For Waters, it is another line in an already overflowing résumé. She heads into this season already the winningest player in pickleball history: 181 career gold medals, more than any player, male or female, and 39 Triple Crowns, sweeping women's singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles gold at a single event. She holds the world No. 1 ranking in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles simultaneously, a level of across-the-board dominance the sport has not seen from anyone else. She signed with Nike in January, becoming the first pickleball athlete to land a deal with the brand.

A Different Kind of Trophy

Against that backdrop, an MLP MVP title reads less like a surprise and more like an inevitability. It is, however, a genuinely different kind of achievement. MLP is a team format, and the award reflects a regular season where Waters was, by the league's own measure, its single most valuable player across every roster, not just her own team's results.

What Comes Next

With the No. 1 seed secured, the postseason is next. Waters has not lacked for individual hardware. A team title, and whatever she does with the New Jersey 5s in the playoffs, is the piece still left to write this season.