Yuta Funemizu has made history as the first Japanese player to sign an exclusive contract with the United Pickleball Association (UPA) to compete on the Carvana PPA Tour (PPA Tour) and be eligible to be drafted on a team in Major League Pickleball.
The PPA Tour is the premier professional pickleball tour, holding exclusive contracts with the world’s top players, including #1 female player Anna Leigh Waters and #1 male players Ben Johns and Federico Staksrud. Major League Pickleball is the thrilling co-ed team league with celebrity owners including Naomi Osaka, LeBron James, Heidi Klum, Kevin Durant and many more.
As the sport’s first-ever professional player, Yuta Funemizu dominated the soft tennis world, earning the title of World Champion at the Soft Tennis World Championships and securing ten consecutive championships in the Japan Soft Tennis League. Now, he is making a major leap to the world of pickleball and to compete exclusively on the world’s premier professional pickleball tour. This marks the first-ever exclusive contract between a Japanese player and the PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball, opening up new pathways for top Japanese athletes to compete on the global stage.
“This is just a first step on my new journey” – Yuta Funemizu
“I…
