Pickleball Paddle Tracker: What Paddles Do The Pros Use?

Which paddles do the world’s best pickleball players use? We wanted to find out, so we’ve tracked down the paddles currently used by the top 100 male and female players, ranked by DUPR score, to get an insight into which brands and models are the most popular with players at the highest level.

Below you’ll find the results in a filterable table, always kept up-to-date, followed by insights that the data reveals. Let’s dig in.

Paddles Used By Top 100 Pickleball Players (Updated: 12/29/23)

Most popular brands

Nearly 30 paddle brands are represented amongst the top top 100 player. Selkirk tops the list, with nearly 20% of players opting to use one of the brand’s models.

Here are the top five at the moment:

1. Selkirk: 19 players (19.8% share)
2. Joola: 16 players (17% share)
3. Engage: 9 players (9% share)
4. ProXR: 5 players (5% share)
5. Franklin/CRBN (tie): 4 players (4% share)

Of course, it’s important to keep in mind that pro players can be swayed to use brands they may not have picked otherwise when you factor in sponsorships and endorsement deals.

Established brands with big marketing budgets often entice big players to use their paddles exclusively and even produce signature paddles with input from the players themselves.

So brand affiliations are sometimes more a reflection of business relationships than a testament to the equipment’s quality or performance suitability for recreational players.

Paddle model preferences

In terms of the most popular specific paddle models, Joola and Selkirk go toe to toe, with nine of the top 100 using the Ben Johns Perseus and another nine preferring the Vanguard Power Air Invikta.

Most popular models:

• Ben Johns Perseus (Joola): 9 players
• Vanguard Power Air Invikta (Selkirk): 9 players
• Pursuit Pro (CRBN): 7 players
• Selkirk Labs Project 002 (Selkirk): 6 players

The Pursuit Pro models by Engage are next up in popularity, along with the Selkirk Labs Project 002 offering.

After that come the CRBN Power Series paddles, along with the Joola Anna Bright Scorpeus and the Zane Navratil Signature ProXR paddle, each preferred by four players in the list.

Signature models

Recreational and serious players often look to top pros in deciding which paddles to buy. After all, if it’s good enough for Tyson McGuffin or Anna Bright, it should be good enough for the rest of us, right?

With that in mind, companies that have spent big bucks in sponsoring premier players often take advantage of their popularity by creating signature paddles based on the star player’s desired specs.

In the top 100 list we see several players using their own signature paddles, and even fellow top players using those paddles as well.

More than a dozen players on the list have their own signature paddles, but only a handful are used by other top 100 players. The data breaks down like this:

• Ben Johns’ Perseus (Joola): 9 players
• Zane Navratil’s Signature (ProXR): 4 players
• Anna Bright’s Scorpeus (Joola): 4 players
• Julian Arnold’s Mach 1 (Volair): 3 players

Wrapping up

Hopefully, this data has shed a little light on which brands are trusted and respected by the best. Just keep in mind that the most popular brands know how to play the game and make significant investments into grabbing market share via exclusivity contracts with players.

What’s more, non-pros and recreational players may be interested not be interested in the same factors that draw pros, like paddles with flashy designs, or unique shapes, for example.

So if you’re looking to purchase your own paddle, take this info into account, but remember to consider your own personal playing style and specific needs when selecting your own paddle.