17-year-old pickleball star Anna Leigh Waters set to earn more than Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese & every other WNBA player with $3 million contract

Pickleball has taken the world by storm engaging large audiences, especially in the USA. To add to this, Anna Leigh Waters, the No. 1 ranked female PPA player, is set to jump over WNBA players like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, in terms of earnings in 2024.

Waters has been an established name atop the PWR (pickleball world rankings) since the rankings came in July this year. However, the American teenager's agent Kelly Wolf has stated on the record, via Forbes, that the pickleball star's earning in 2024 is set to touch the $3 million mark.

This figure is historic in itself as it crosses the previous figure of $ 2.5 million, earned by Pickleball player Ben John in 2021. This also puts Waters ahead of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. Clark made $ 11.1 million in 2024, but only $100,000 of it came from on-court performances. Similarly, Reese's 2024 salary was $ 73,439, and the WNBA star had a net worth of 1.5 million as of 2024.

The top-paid female athlete in the last WNBA season was Jackie Young with earnings amounting to $252,450. However, Waters is set to trump them all with her potential 2024 earnings.

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Tennis stars have been vocal about their support for pickleball

In some quarters of the tennis community, pickleball is perceived as a threat to the sport. However, the notion does not hold, as several former tennis players have come out in support of the new sport.

Former tennis player Sam Querry was one of the first to divert into pickleball. In an interview, the former Wimbledon semifinalist stated that he was keen on using his tennis skills to excel at the sport of Pickleball.

"People want to know how good a top tennis player is going to be at pickleball,.... “That's kind of what everyone keeps asking. And I want to be the guy to prove that" said Querry in an interview, via one37pm.com.

Apart from Querry, some of the former Top 10 tennis players like Jack Sock, John Isner, and Eugenie Bouchard have all come into pickleball to ply their trade. Tennis legend Andre Agassi has been actively promoting the sport outside of the USA, starting with India.

The sport is already quite big in the States, with former tennis stars playing "Pickleball Slam" as exhibition events. Tennis royalty like Steffi Graf, John McEnroe, and Maria Sharapova have joined Agassi to increase the event's glamor and popularity of the sport.