World Pickleball Report: Kanpur PWR 50 Launch, Franklin US Open Title Deal, 11NIL Fashion Surge, and Mamelodi Club Debut

World Pickleball Report – Friday, 27 February 2026

The international pickleball landscape continues to demonstrate rapid institutional and commercial maturation across multiple continents. Over the past 24 hours, developments have highlighted a significant duality in the sport’s growth: major legacy brand investments and high-fashion integration are elevating the North American professional circuits, whilst strategic grassroots initiatives and formalised ranking tournaments are expanding the competitive base throughout Africa and South Asia.

Today’s four key reads: the Indian Pickleball Association-sanctioned PickleSpin PWR 50 Cup in Kanpur, Franklin Sports securing title sponsorship of the 2026 US Open Pickleball Championships, 11NIL’s corset-dress takeover across the professional tours, and the launch of the Mamelodi Pickleball Club in Pretoria.

Indian Pickleball Association Sanctions PickleSpin PWR 50 Cup in Kanpur

The PickleSpin PWR 50 Cup commences today in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, signalling further structural development within the Indian racket sports landscape. Running from 27 February to 1 March 2026, the tournament brings together 70 regional competitors across five distinct categories. The registration distribution features 17 participants in men’s singles, 22 pairs in men’s doubles, six in women’s singles, five pairs in women’s doubles, and 13 mixed doubles pairings. The event operates under the official sanctioning of the Indian Pickleball Association (IPA), the national governing body formally affiliated with both the Asian Pickleball Association and the Global Pickleball Federation. Crucially, the Kanpur fixture integrates directly with the Pickleball World Ranking (PWR) system. This ensures that all match outcomes contribute to the official National Sports Federation Ranking for India, a metric utilised for domestic team selections at district, state, and national tiers. While the three-day competition is positioned as a developmental platform, it provides essential competitive exposure for emerging athletes, including domestic prospects such as Arunav Vaish, who enters with a 4.64 DUPR rating. The provision of a comprehensive prize package, which includes financial compensation, athletic apparel, and equipment from regional sponsors, further incentivises participation. The execution of regional tournaments outside of major metropolitan centres demonstrates a strategic effort to decentralise the sport’s domestic growth. By establishing official, point-earning events in cities like Kanpur, administrators are actively constructing a quantifiable, data-driven database of athletic talent across the subcontinent, ensuring a robust pipeline for future international representation.

Read the full Kanpur PWR 50 story and explore more tournament coverage across our Asia region hub.

Franklin Sports Secures Title Sponsorship for the US Open Championships

Franklin Sports has formally upgraded its corporate involvement with the US Open Pickleball Championships, securing the position of Official Title Sponsor in a multi-year agreement. The announcement precedes the tenth-anniversary iteration of the prominent international tournament, scheduled to operate from 11 April to 18 April 2026 at the USOP National Pickleball Center in East Naples, Florida. The Massachusetts-based sporting goods manufacturer, established in 1946, has maintained a consistent presence at the Naples venue, having served as the official ball supplier since the tournament’s inception in 2016. Company President Adam Franklin stated that the transition to title sponsor reflects a broader corporate strategy to invest at all tiers of the sport’s development. The financial injection provided by the expanded partnership will support the logistical execution of an event that manages thousands of international athletes competing across professional, senior, amateur, and wheelchair brackets. As part of its on-site commercial activation, the manufacturer intends to execute significant retail operations, notably featuring the physical debut of the Anna Leigh Waters C45° Signature Paddle Series. The brand’s corporate identity will be extensively integrated into the venue infrastructure, including prominent placements within the championship court VIP lounge and the distribution of complimentary X-40 equipment to all registered competitors. Furthermore, the manufacturer will maintain a highly visible presence on the courts through its roster of contracted professional athletes, which includes prominent competitors such as Anna Leigh Waters, Megan Fudge, and Louis Laville. This elevation from secondary supplier to primary anchor sponsor highlights the rapid maturation of commercial inventory within the global racket sports industry.

Read the full Franklin US Open title sponsor story, plus deeper context in our sponsorship and commercialisation coverage and the USA region hub.

11NIL Corset Apparel Drives High-Fashion Integration on Professional Tours

The aesthetic standards of professional pickleball circuits are undergoing a notable transformation, driven largely by the rapid adoption of structurally complex athletic apparel from the Los Angeles-based brand 11NIL. Co-founded by Katrina Glusac, the premium activewear manufacturer has successfully introduced corsetry into the highest echelons of competitive racket sports, effectively departing from conventional tennis uniform designs. Drawing explicit inspiration from haute couture houses such as Balenciaga and Thierry Mugler, the garments prioritise pronounced tailoring, mesh panelling, and bubble skirts while maintaining the necessary elasticity for elite athletic performance. The integration of these structural elements into sanctioned tournament play originated through organic adoption rather than traditional corporate sponsorship channels. Professional competitor Hurricane Tyra Black independently acquired the brand’s initial designs, subsequently introducing the garments to other athletes on the women’s professional tour. This peer-to-peer influence model catalysed a broader sartorial shift, with prominent players including Jorja Johnson and Jessie Irvine adopting the distinctive dresses to curate distinct personal brands during broadcast matches. The architectural engineering of models such as the popular ‘Lisbon’ dress requires precise calibration to ensure that features like corseted waists and dropped V-lines do not impede the high-velocity lateral movements and overhead extensions required during professional match play. The resulting visibility has established 11NIL as a dominant visual presence at major professional events, with the garments frequently worn by athletes, spectators, and broadcast personnel. This widespread acceptance of haute couture principles within a competitive sporting environment signals that professional athletes are increasingly leveraging sophisticated on-court apparel to differentiate their commercial profiles.

Read the full 11NIL fashion story and see more in our industry coverage, alongside ongoing pro tour reporting.

Mamelodi Pickleball Club Launches Grassroots Expansion in South Africa

International grassroots development has secured a new foothold on the African continent with the official inauguration of the Mamelodi Pickleball Club in Pretoria, South Africa. Engineered by the Impilo 0720 Sports Excellence Centre, the initiative introduces the racket sport to a vital new demographic by establishing a structured club environment directly within the existing infrastructure of the Mamelodi Tennis Club. The strategic launch integrates athletic development with targeted socio-economic community engagement, aiming to provide accessible recreational opportunities that divert regional youth from challenges associated with crime and substance abuse. Club official Sizwe Radebe facilitated the organisation’s debut through collaborative resource sharing within the national sporting community. The initial inventory required to commence operations—including specialised nets, composite paddles, and regulation plastic balls—was secured via philanthropic donations from the established Rietondale Pickleball Club. The newly formed entity operates under the formal administrative umbrella of Tennis South Africa, legitimising its regional status and seamlessly integrating the new discipline into the country’s existing racket sports framework. To ensure sustainable athletic progression, the Mamelodi club features a carefully stratified competitive structure comprising four distinct developmental divisions: Under-12, Under-14, Under-16, and a senior adult tier. The Impilo 0720 Sports Excellence Centre leverages its prior experience in managing local street tennis programmes to accelerate the onboarding process, utilising the sport’s condensed court dimensions to rapidly train athletes lacking prior technical racket experience. The successful implementation of this shared-resource model provides a highly replicable operational blueprint for introducing the sport into emerging international markets.

Read the full Mamelodi launch story, plus wider context through our Africa region hub and global development coverage.

The combination of grassroots African expansion, structural formalisation in India, major North American corporate investment, and the emergence of elite player fashion branding demonstrates that global pickleball is simultaneously scaling its demographic reach whilst maturing its commercial infrastructure.