What’s the Score?
The professional pickleball landscape is witnessing a significant changing of the guard, and 18-year-old Kiora Kunimoto is leading the charge. Hailing from the Big Island of Hawaii, Kunimoto has transitioned from a high school tennis champion to a legitimate professional pickleball contender in less than a year. Following a breakout performance at the PPA Challenger Series in Raleigh, where she secured two gold medals and a silver, Kunimoto has her sights set on a specific and ambitious target: the 2026 Major League Pickleball (MLP) Draft. By bypassing collegiate tennis to commit fully to the sport, she has already logged upset victories over established pros, signalling that the next generation of talent has officially arrived.
Hit it deeper!
Kunimoto’s journey is a testament to the rapid evolution of pickleball as a career path for elite young athletes. Just a year ago, she was the 2025 Hawaii state high school tennis singles champion, faced with the traditional decision of playing at the collegiate level. Instead, after graduating in May, she took a gamble on America’s fastest-growing sport. Although she had dabbled in pickleball since age 10, playing “maybe once a year” for fun, she shifted gears toward serious training in September 2025.
The transition wasn’t instantaneous. Kunimoto admits that her initial forays into professional tournaments, such as the PPA San Clemente and PPA Vegas, were eye-opening. “The level of play was definitely much higher than what I’ve ever seen in Hawaii,” she noted, confessing she felt “overwhelmed” by the skill level of the pro circuit. However, the PPA Challenger Series proved to be the perfect incubator. Unlike the brutal knockout nature of pro qualifiers, the Challenger format allowed her to play high volumes of matches, adapting her style to the professional pace.
Her training regimen is as unique as her rise. Based on the Big Island, Kunimoto faces a geographical challenge: a scarcity of female sparring partners at her level. To compensate, she trains daily with her father, Randy. Drawing on her tennis background, she spent her early months obsessively refining her soft game—dinks and resets—realising that power alone wouldn’t suffice at the elite level. “When I started drilling that, that’s when I really started to see my game evolve,” she explained.
The hard work is paying off in spectacular fashion. At the recent Pickleball Central Indoor National Championships, Kunimoto shocked the field by defeating established names like Brooke Buckner and Zoey Wang. She describes these wins as “shocking” but “rewarding,” validating her decision to turn pro. Now, with the 2026 season underway, her focus is singular: improving her doubles game to catch the eye of MLP scouts.
The World Pickleball Verdict
Kiora Kunimoto’s story represents a pivotal moment in the sport’s history. We are no longer just seeing retired tennis pros switching sports; we are seeing prime-age athletes choosing pickleball as their primary career over collegiate scholarships. Kunimoto’s ability to train in relative isolation on an island and emerge as a giant-killer speaks to her discipline and raw talent. If her recent upset wins over top-tier talent are any indication, she isn’t just a prospect for the MLP Draft—she is a likely future franchise player. The “island underdog” narrative is charming, but her game is undeniably major league.