Is it hyperbolic to say Anna Leigh Waters has one of the most dominant undefeated streaks in sports history? The numbers tell a convincing story.

The last time Anna Leigh Waters lost on the singles court was in the 2024 PPA CIBC Texas Open, to Salome Devidze, in the semi-finals. The weather wreaked havoc on that entire tournament, causing delays, and the loss came around 10:30pm local time on May, 30, 2024.

It has been 727 days since that loss to Devidze, and she is locked in to stay undefeated until at least September, when the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) Tour begins the 2026-2027 season.

This means her undefeated streak will span well over two years when she returns to PPA action again in August.

Let’s take a look at some of the statistics, as it relates to Anna Leigh Waters and her amazing singles run and compare it to some of the most historic streaks in sports history.

Is it hyperbolic to say Anna Leigh Waters has one of the most dominant undefeated streaks in sports history? I would argue the numbers tell a story of one of the top 10 undefeated streaks in individual sports history.

Waters with the Gold Medal trophy at the 2026 Newport Beach Open via @anna.leigh.waters on IG

124 - The number of matches that Anna Leigh has won in a row

Here are the opponents that Waters has defeated the most often during her undefeated run:

Kate Fahey - 16x
Parris Todd - 11x
Lea Jansen - 8x
Brooke Buckner - 7x
Kaitlyn Christian - 7x

This means that out of Waters’ 124 match wins, 49 of those wins have come against a top 6 seed at the time. This equates to 39.5% of Waters’ match wins being against the top six ladies in the world.

Heads up: hundreds of thousands of pickleballers read our free newsletter. Subscribe here for cutting edge strategy, insider news, pro analysis, the latest product innovations and more.

Historically, how does it compare?

There are three historical comparisons I found that were similar:

Chris Evert had a 125 tennis match win streak on clay courts, over a near six year period, from August 14, 1973 to May 12, 1979, according to tennishead. Waters needs just one more match win to tie this Evert feat.
Martina Navratilova had a 84 tennis match win streak in 1984, starting in February and ending in December, according to tennishead. This is the longest match winning streak in women's tennis history. Waters has clearly already passed this record.
Magnus Carlsen had a 125 chess match win streak, spanning over a 2 year span from July 21, 2018 to October 9, 2020. During this streak he won 42 times and drew 83 times according to chess.com. Again, Waters needs just one match win to tie this record.

25 - The number of gold medals that Waters has won since losing in Texas

Waters has won an astounding 25 tournaments in a row. She is regularly triple crowning, having won 44 triple crowns in her career. In order to play at her best, Waters does pick and choose which tournaments she plays in, and sometimes opts out of singles in certain tournaments.

Waters won the 2026 Mesa Cup in February - via PPA Tour

Since losing to Devidze in May of 2024, there have been 42 PPA Tour tournaments. This means that Anna Leigh has not played in 17 tournaments during the two year undefeated streak.

The only tournaments Waters ever skips in singles are Opens; she has not skipped or lost a Cup or a Slam in two years. The gray area here is the most recent PPA Tour Finals, which was worth 2,000 points for the winner, so it could be considered equal to a Slam. Is it a Slam? I am unsure.

During that time, here are the other winners in singles on the tour (all Open level tournaments):

Kate Fahey - 7 Golds (most recently won the PPA Tour Finals)
Kaitlyn Christian - 4 Golds
Parris Todd - 3 Golds
Brooke Buckner - 2 Golds
Catherine Parenteau - 1 Gold

That's right: In two years, Waters has 25 event wins. The rest of the field? 17 wins, and only five other players have won a title besides Anna Leigh.

Historically, how does it compare?

I went to golf and back to women's tennis for this one.

On the PGA Tour, Lord Byron Nelson holds the record for most consecutive tournaments won, with 11, in 1945, according to the PGA Tour.

According to golfcompendium, the longest event winning streak in LPGA Tour history is five events. And three ladies have accomplished this feat:

Nancy Lopez - 1978
Annika Sorenstam - 2004-2005
Nelly Korda - 2024

Remember the record 74 match win streak Navratilova had? She won 13 straight events during that time, just barely half of what Waters has accomplished during her streak.

_{Want to advertise with us?}

If your company is interested in reaching an audience of active pickleballers, you may want to give us a shout.

6 - The number of games that Waters has lost during her undefeated streak

That’s right. ALW has only lost six games in two years. Anna Leigh has never lost more than one game in a single tournament.

Here are the six game losses Waters has sustained in two years:

Brooke Buckner - October 6, 2024 - Score: 9-11 - 2024 Virginia Beach Open Final
Brooke Buckner - February 23, 2025 - Score: 9-11 - 2025 Mesa Cup Final
Kate Fahey - May 18, 2025 - Score: 7-11 - 2025 Atlanta Open Final
Kaitlyn Christian - January 17, 2026 - Score: 9-11 - 2026 The Masters Semifinal
Kate Fahey - March 29, 2026 - Score: 8-11 - 2026 Greater Zion Cup Final
Kiora Kunimoto - May 2, 2026 - Score: 7-11 - 2026 Atlanta Pickleball Championships Semifinal

Waters has played a total of 256 games since her last loss. So she is 250-6 in singles games during her undefeated match streak.

Her game win percentage is 97.65%.

Historically, how does it compare?

This incredible game win percentage had me going to wheelchair tennis, where Esther Vergeer has an incredible record.

According to ITF Tennis, Esther Vergeer won 470 wheelchair matches in a row, and retired undefeated for the last 10 years of her career in February, 2013. During this streak, Vergeer only lost 18 sets. Vergeer's set win percentage during her incredible undefeated streak was 98.12%, about a half percentage point above Waters' current rate.

28 - The number of games Waters pickled her opponents

Anna Leigh has played 256 games since her last match defeat and she has won 28 games 11-0.

This means she has pickled her opponents in 10.938% of the time.

💡

For those of you unfamiliar with the term "pickle," it is when you beat your opponent 11-0 in a game.

In fact, Anna Leigh has pickled five opponents twice, with one double pickle in a match. I am not going to name names for the sake of the innocent.

To prove how motivated she was after losing to Devidze in Texas, Anna Leigh Waters actually pickled her opponents in four of her 10 games in the following tournament in Sacramento.

1,631 - The number of consecutive days Anna Leigh Waters has been the #1 ranked women's singles player on the PPA Tour

Todd Boss, a journalist at Forbes, did a deep dive into all of the #1 seeds in pickleball and their streaks earlier in the year.

According to his research, Anna Leigh Waters became the #1 seed in singles on March 15, 2022. The earliest Waters could lose a singles match is September 1, 2026 when the PPA Tour picks back up in North Carolina. There are 1,631 days between when she became the #1 and the earliest date she could lose the #1.

Historically, how does it compare?

Let's go back to tennis and golf.

Tiger Woods was the #1 golfer in the world for 683 weeks, which equates to 4,781 days, according to golf365.com. His longest streak at #1 was for 264 weeks, or 1,841 days. Waters would have to go an additional 210 days as the #1 seed to catch up to Tiger's longest streak on top.

Roger Federer once went four and a half years as the world's #1 tennis player. From 2004 to 2008, Federer was the top ranked player for 237 consecutive weeks, or 1,659 days. Waters would just have to remain the #1 seed for one or two tournaments when she returns to PPA Tour play to have a longer streak than Federer.

Federer winning the US Open - via tennis.com

In women's tennis, both Steffi Graf and Serena Williams are tied for longest consecutive time at the #1 seed, according to the Guiness World Records. The two legends were #1 for 186 weeks in a row, or 1,302 days. Waters has already surpassed them in consecutive time at number one in pickleball.

What all of this means

Zane Navratil, pro pickleball player, and podcaster for The Dink, has said multiple times that Anna Leigh Waters is more dominant in pickleball than Serena Williams ever was in tennis.

I think the numbers I have outlined in her singles dominance specifically have proven this to be true. Is Waters ever going to come close the 555 consecutive wins record set by Jahangir Khan in the 1980's in squash? I doubt it, but anything is possible.

At the young age of 19, Waters has clearly established herself as the most dominant woman in pickleball history, and her undefeated singles streak is one of the most impressive parts of her dominance.

Time will tell how long Waters will stay undefeated, how long she stays at number one, and how many more events she wins, but Waters has the opportunity to continue adding to her already historic legacy.

Heads up: hundreds of thousands of pickleballers read our free newsletter. Subscribe here for cutting edge strategy, insider news, pro analysis, the latest product innovations and more.