What Nike’s deal with pickleball phenom Anna Leigh Waters says about tennis fashion

Nike has signed pickleball phenom Anna Leigh Waters in a head-to-toe deal aligned with its approach to sponsorship across racket sports, including the lucrative business of tennis fashion.

Waters, 18, is the first pickleball professional to sign with the company. She has won 181 Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) titles and 39 triple crowns, awarded for winning singles, doubles and mixed doubles golds at one tournament. She is known across her sport as the greatest women’s player of all time, holding the world No. 1 ranking in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

She has also been the sport’s representative in a number of tie-ups with former tennis legends. In April she partnered with Andre Agassi at the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships in Naples, Florida, winning one match. On April 15, Agassi and Waters will be on opposing teams at the fourth edition of the Pickleball Slam, which will also feature former top-five tennis players Eugenie Bouchard, who now plays pickleball, and James Blake.

A representative for Waters said that it it is a multi-year deal. Neither Nike nor the representative commented on the terms.

Waters’ arrival runs in parallel with trends in tennis fashion. Her deal with Fila, which is disappearing from tennis’ elite circles having once been a key player, lapsed in 2025. Nike’s elite tennis roster is also diminishing, but its deal with Waters speaks to a focus on a handful of the very best players and biggest names, including Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Aryna Sabalenka, Naomi Osaka and Zheng Qinwen.

In all, Nike has represented 12 of the current ATP top 20 and all of the current WTA top five during their careers, But a number of established stars and rising talents have switched to different brands the past few years. Of the current ATP top 20, only three now wear its apparel; of the WTA top five, just two.

In an email last August, a Nike spokesperson described its tennis strategy as “supporting the game at every level and partnering with some of the most iconic and talented players in the world.”

Jack Draper was world No. 5 when he moved to athleisure brand Vuori last August, when his contract with Nike expired. Two sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the deal publicly, told The Athletic that it is worth around $5 million per year. Neither Vuori nor Draper’s representatives commented on terms.

Nike pays top dollar to its biggest names, but its payment structure can be based on performance, both in terms of results and reliability. Hard Court reported this month that it has stopped paying some players further down its roster, with their contracts only extending to clothes, and shoes in head-to-toe deals. A representative for Nike did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

Former Nike athlete and six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Świątek joined the Federer-backed Swiss company On in 2023. Rising stars Ben Shelton and Joāo Fonseca are also part of its roster, with the former saying in a 2024 interview that he “didn’t want to be one of 50 Nike guys.”

Others to have left Nike the past few years include Grand Slam champions Markéta Vondroušová, who was not offered a new deal at the end of an injury-hit 2022, and Sloane Stephens.

“If you’re with one of those companies, and you’re not the number one athlete, if you’re not LeBron (James), the chances of you getting used all the time and people seeing you visibly are pretty low,” Stephens said during a 2023 interview with The Business of Fashion upon joining FP Movement, the athletic arm of American label Free People.

Frances Tiafoe, who started working with Lululemon last January after his own Nike contract expired, expressed a similar sentiment.

“Why not be the guy instead of one of them?” he said at a news conference in August. Before adding with a smile: “There are a couple decent guys, a couple decent athletes, that are over at Nike.”

Given both the dominance of those “decent guys” — Sinner and Alcaraz — and Sabalenka’s 15-month run as world No. 1, Nike clearly remains a dominant player in the sport. Having boldface names like those creates a huge amount of sales power in replica outfits. During the U.S. Open, Sabalenka’s bespoke kit had prominent displays in some of the biggest Nike stores in New York City.

The brand will hope that Waters can have a similar effect through pickleball, which has been booming in the U.S. at the recreational level but whose stars currently lack cut-through compared to tennis players. The Pickleball Slams’ reliance on former tennis players for star power speaks to that dynamic, which Waters has designs on changing. With pickleball not requiring specialized clothing, its parallels with tennis fashion will broaden its appeal.

“We are going to push the boundaries of what’s possible in pickleball through this partnership,” Waters said in a statement.

Nike is looking to capitalize on that boom — and is doing so in a way that appears consistent with its current approach in tennis.

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