Earlier this week we rolled out our Top 20 Men's Doubles Power Rankings, which transitioned to individuals rather than partnerships.
Since doubles pairings are fluid and have been shaken up due to injuries, we figured this will provide a more realistic viewpoint of who the best women's doubles players are in the world right now.
These rankings are a subjective view of the entire pro field. Here are some of the factors taken into consideration:
- Recent finishes (specifically 2024 results)
- PPA Points
- APP Points
- Head-to-head competition
- Number of events played
- Injuries
The women’s field is even a little more difficult to rank than the men because of the PPA and APP gap. Obviously the PPA Tour has more talent and the field is deeper, but how much deeper is the question. I did my best to balance the level of difficulty on each tour along with consistent finishes.
On the Outside Looking in
- Jessie Irvine - Irvine is the epitome of consistency on the PPA Tour, literally always finishing 7th or 8th with multiple partners. While she is consistent, she needs a semifinal run or two in order to make the list.
- Jackie and Jade Kawamoto - It is wild to me that I had to leave the Kawamoto sisters off the list, but they only have one medal between them this year on the PPA Tour. They are extremely good players who are very obviously top 20 players, but they just don’t have the results yet to justify putting them in the rankings.
- Yana Newell and Susannah Barr - Yes, they both have medals on the APP Tour, but they only have two. In a weakened APP field, let’s see how these two do in the next few events.
Top 20 Women’s Doubles Power Rankings
20. Mari Humberg - Humberg has had some success on both the APP and PPA Tours. Mari and Jorja Johnson made a big run at PPA Mesa, on their way to a bronze medal. Mari got another bronze medal at APP Miami and followed that up with two more fourth place finishes - one at APP Delray Beach and another at the US Open. Humberg needs to get some wins in MLP and/or on the PPA Tour in order to move up.
19. Lea Jansen - Lea didn't have a great start to 2024 in women's doubles, but has recently had some good success. At PPA Houston, Jansen and Tina Pisnik worked their way to a bronze medal and then a week later, she battled to a fifth-place finish with Lucy Kovalova. Be on the lookout for Jansen to move up the rankings in the next month now that she is playing with a ton of confidence – and she gets to play MLP soon.
18. Allison Harris - Harris did a great job filling in last year for the Miami Pickleball Club in an emergency, which solidified her getting drafted to the Chicago Slice in the Challenger Level this year. Allison has two medals on the APP Tour this year and got a silver medal at the US Open with Simone Jardim.
17. Jill Braverman - Braverman has four Round of 16 losses in 2024 - so why is she listed? She also has two wins, both on the APP Tour. Jilly B won APP Sacramento with Jorja Johnson and also won APP Delray Beach with Megan Fudge. While Braverman doesn't have super consistent results, two gold medals goes a long way.
16. Callie Smith - Callie won a silver medal with Lucy at the PPA Indoor Championships. In addition, she also has three fourth-place finishes on the PPA Tour, falling just short of the podium. Rumor has it that Callie and Lucy are going to be trying out new partnerships to see if they can more regularly make it into the semifinals. Callie will be a highly sought after partner with her positivity and her big left-side play.
15. Lucy Kovalova - Obviously Lucy and Callie are close together in the rankings since they mostly played together in 2024. I gave Lucy the slight edge because she just got a fifth-place finish with Lea and seems to be playing with confidence. Lucy is adding more firepower to her game in order to keep up with the rest of the field and she will be able to continue to find good partners to play with.
14. Megan Fudge - Fudge has finished first, second, third, and fourth on the APP Tour in women's doubles this year. In her only PPA event, Fudge and Allyce Jones finished in 30th place. I don't know if Fudge is going to continue mixing up partners or if she is going to stay with Susannah Barr.
13. Lacy Schneemann - In the last three weeks, Lacy has found the women's doubles podium twice, earning two silver medals. She seems to like to play with players whose name starts with Viv, as she got one silver with Vivienne David and the other with Vivian Glozman.
12. Tina Pisnik - Pisnik has had more success in mixed doubles than she has in gender doubles. However, Pisnik just got a bronze medal with Lea Jansen at the PPA Houston Open. Pisnik hasn't missed the quarterfinals this year in the seven events she has played. In those events, she has a fourth-place finish and her average finish is 5.7. She accomplished it with four different partners as well. Pisnik is an elite player who will do very well in MLP as well.
11. Milan Rane - Rane has two golds and two silvers this year on the PPA Tour. Although she is tiny, she is powerful. The crazy thing about Rane's run is that each of her four medals were won with a different partner. She won with Bobbi Oshiro and with Jorja Johnson. It will be exciting to see Milan playing regularly on the PPA Tour now that she is signed so that we can compare her to the PPA players.
10. Vivienne David - Similar to Pisnik, Viv David is a very consistent finisher in 2024. She only had one bad finish and that was at The PPA Masters back in January. Since then, Viv has made it to the quarterfinals or better in every single one of her tournaments. Most recently, she finished in second place with Lacy Schneemann at PPA North Carolina, and followed that up with another bronze with Jackie Kawamoto at PPA Houston.
9. Hurricane Tyra Black - Tyra is working very well with Parris Todd and the duo has been super fun to watch. Tyra and Lea were supposed to play together in 2024, but that lasted exactly one tournament. Since then, Black and Todd have earned two bronze medals and finished in fifth place at PPA Houston. Look for Tyra to win a lot in MLP with Jorja Johnson on her team.
8. Jorja Johnson - Speaking of Jorja, the 17-year old has two gold medals this year on the APP Tour, along with two silvers. In addition, Johnson finished third at the PPA Mesa Open with Mari Humberg. Johnson is a force to be reckoned with and it will be exciting to see her play against the best players in the world regularly on the PPA and MLP tours.
7. Parris Todd - Parris is slightly ahead of Tyra because in addition to all of their medals and accomplishments together, Parris won a silver medal with Jorja Johnson at APP Punta Gorda and a bronze medal with Yana Newell at the US Open. Todd is a very powerful player who is also very versatile and mentally strong.
6. Meghan Dizon - Dizon has been playing extremely well with Etta Wright as the consistently third-best women's team on the PPA Tour this year. Results this year with Etta: two silvers, three bronze medals, and a fourth at PPA North Carolina. I have Dizon slightly behind Etta because Dizon is a little streakier, but she is easily a top 10 women's doubles player right now.
5. Etta Wright - Etta has looked extremely good this year and I think that is due to her health being 100 percent. She took off PPA Austin with Meghan, for what I assume was for rest. Etta is an elite-level left-side player, easily top five in that category on the women's side.
4. Rachel Rohrabacher - Rohrabacher has had the clearest rise in women's pickleball in the last 9-10 months. When she was drafted to the Squeeze, she was relatively unknown. Here are her 2024 PPA results: four gold medals, a silver, and a bronze. I have Rohrabacher slightly behind Bright due to her streakiness, but I am just splitting hairs here.
3. Anna Bright - Bright has the same results as Rohrabacher, except she also got a fourth-place finish with Viv David in Mesa, when Rachel couldn't play. Bright has power, great defense, intensity, and is a great teammate. A lot of these top PPA partnerships may start deviating in the rankings once we see some MLP results.
2. Catherine Parenteau - Four golds and one silver for Catherine and Anna Leigh on the year. Parenteau has taken off the month of April to rest, which impacts her standing a bit. Rohrabacher and Bright have won two tournaments without Catherine and ALW there. However, resting will probably help her maintain her high level of play for the remainder of the year.
1. Anna Leigh Waters - Anna Leigh is the best women's doubles player in the world. She obviously has the same results as Catherine, but she also added a win in the US Open a couple of weeks ago with her mom. It would take multiple losses at the hands of Rohrabacher and Bright to even consider moving Anna Leigh away from the number one spot.
