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The 2024 Nike Dink Awards Results: Pro Player Categories

by Luke Burton on

The fans have spoken! In fact, 13,000 of you have spoken. That's more than double the votes we received last year. Thank you to all who voted and for keeping The Nike Dink Awards the official people's choice awards for pickleball.

If you didn't catch the nominees for this year, click the link below.

Nike Dink Awards 2024 Nominees
The full list of nominees for the Nike Dink Awards 2024 are officially here! Take a look at the full list below. Voting takes place on Jan 1 - Jan 14 at dinkawards.com Nike Named Title Sponsor of The Dink Awards 2024Pickleball’s official fans’ choice awards is just

Here's the schedule for The Nike Dink Awards winners:

  • Monday — Pro Player Categories
  • Wednesday — Creator Categories
  • Friday — Entertainment Categories

Newsletter subscribers see them first, so enter your email to join the rest of The Dink fam:

Go Next Level — Men's Player of The Year (6,796 votes)

Winner: Ben Johns

Nominees and Vote Percentages:

  • Ben Johns: 34.3%
  • Federico Staksrud: 28.0%
  • Hayden Patriquin: 22.2%
  • JW Johnson: 10.4%
  • Christian Alshon: 5.0%

Go Next Level — Women's Player of The Year (7,021 votes)

Winner: Anna Leigh Waters

Nominees and Vote Percentages:

  • Anna Leigh Waters: 55.9%
  • Anna Bright: 20.0%
  • Jorja Johnson: 10.5%
  • Rachel Rohrabacher: 7.1%
  • Catherine Parenteau: 6.4%

Men's Senior Player of the Year (5,370 votes)

Winner: Steve Deakin

Nominees and Vote Percentages:

  • Steve Deakin: 26.5%
  • Altaf Merchant: 21.2%
  • David Weinbach: 19.7%
  • Jaime Oncins: 19.6%
  • Scott Moore: 13.1%

Women's Senior Player of the Year (5,544 votes)

Winner: Lee Whitwell

Nominees and Vote Percentages:

  • Lee Whitwell: 43.8%
  • Angela Simon: 18.9%
  • Beth Bellamy: 16.5%
  • Natalie Bagby: 10.8%
  • Sheri Courter: 10.0%

Men's Most Improved Player (7,015 votes)

Winner: Gabe Tardio

Nominees and Vote Percentages:

  • Gabe Tardio: 33.2%
  • Quang Duong: 29.2%
  • CJ Klinger: 17.6%
  • Augie Ge: 12.2%
  • Will Howells: 7.8%

Women's Most Improved Player (6,694 votes)

Winner: Hurricane Tyra Black

Nominees and Vote Percentages:

  • Hurricane Tyra Black: 31.9%
  • Kate Fahey: 31.7%
  • Mari Humberg: 15.2%
  • Tina Pisnik: 11.1%
  • Kaitlyn Christian: 10.1%

Rising Star — Next Gem (6,383 votes)

Winner: Jack Munro

Nominees and Vote Percentages:

  • Jack Munro: 36.3%
  • Alix Truong: 28.2%
  • Layne Sleeth: 12.3%
  • Eric Oncins: 12.1%
  • Noe Khlif: 11.0%

Upset of the Year (6,705 votes)

Winner: Daescu & Bright Upset Waters & Johns

Nominees and Vote Percentages:

  • Daescu & Bright Upset Waters & Johns: 26.5%
  • Johnson & Schneeman Upset Waters & Catherine Parenteau: 25.9%
  • Duong & Alshon Upset Johns & Johns: 23.6%
  • Michael Loyd Upset Over Ben Johns: 15.2%
  • Salome Devidze Upsets Anna Leigh Waters: 8.7%
Luke Burton

Luke Burton

Luke is the Chief Growth Officer at The Dink as well as the producer for the pickleball podcast Tennis Sucks. He picked up pickleball in 2020 and now plays competitively in the state of Florida.

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