NML Blog: PPA Orange County – 5 Takeaways – Phenom-enal
"(1) Phenom-enal (Slim) – I think it’s time to start asking the question, of when, not if Anna Leigh Waters, will become the best female player in the game. We are not the only one’s thinking this obviously, as Dave Weinbach and Scott Golden were talking about it on the broadcast this weekend. The talent is just undeniable, and it seems like she is just now coming into her own.
While she may not have had the defining gold medal performance this weekend, I thought she showed off her tremendous talent, competitiveness and potential in all three events. Her silver in the singles, an event she has just started playing more regularly, showed her raw potential there and she is is obviously just figuring out that game. Her fourth place run with Kyle Yates in mixed was very impressive as she was often the dominant player in their matches, and the ability of her hands to not okly hold up against but cause problems again for Riley Newman, widely considered to have some of the best hands in the game, is beyond impressive. Then in women’s doubles we saw her taking more court than ever as she and her mom grabbed silver. It has also been pretty cool to see the roles of the Waters switch this year with Anna Leigh becoming the dominant left side player, the role her mom used to hold.
The weekends performance made it pretty easy to see many potential future triple crowns in Anna Leigh’s future. With perhaps the only question there being, do she and Ben Johns team up? A question we have asked before, or does she find another top male, and perhaps attempt to be the first real threat Ben’s reign has faced?
Anna Leigh is still young, and obviously it sounds like there is a potential soccer passion that could slow down her pickleball career. However, if she keeps playing pickleball competitively, I think it is very clear that she is on track to quickly become the dominant women’s player in the game. She is definitely the games first true phenom."
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