The Mission Hills Country Club hosted the Masters powered by Invited this past week - and boy, did it put on a show. The weather could not have been more perfect for pickleball in the California desert. Mostly clear skies with lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s highlighted the conditions all week long.
This was the first tournament of the 2026 year, and it gave us all the drama we could ask for. The typical suspects ended up winning all five events, but there were definitely storylines throughout the tournament.
Let’s get into the action.
Anna Leigh Waters earned her 40th triple crown and first while being sponsored by both Nike and Franklin Anna Leigh Waters has gone through two huge changes in the last month. First it was announced that she had left Paddletek at the end of 2025 . Then the rumors started swirling about who her new sponsors were.
On January 8th, it was announced that Waters had moved on to Franklin for her paddle sponsorship. On the first day she played in this tournament, it was officially announced that Waters signed with Nike for her apparel. Great job by The Dink’s Alex E. Weaver on covering all of Waters’ sponsorship deals.
With all of that being said, Waters still had to go out and perform at the Masters. Perform she did - Waters lost a total of five games, two in mixed doubles, two in women’s doubles, and one in singles.
In women’s doubles, Kaitlyn Christian and Jessie Irvine took game one of the quarters, before Waters and Bright won 11-4... FULL ARTICLE FOUND ON: https://www.thedinkpickleball.com/waters-earns-40th-triple-crown-in-1st-event-repping-nike-franklin-the-ppa-masters-recap/
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