Rafa Hewett

Rafa Hewett took one of the more unusual routes to pro pickleball: he was a cattle rancher and wine industry worker in Auburn, Alabama before deciding to bet on pickleball's explosive growth. The gamble paid off. At 30 years old, Hewett is a two-time Major League Pickleball Champion and a regular competitor on the PPA Tour, with 83 professional tournaments and 536 career matches under his belt. He serves as Director of Pickleball at Moore's Mill Country Club, where he's built a Junior Pickleball Academy to develop the next generation of players.

Off the court, Hewett's personal life has become part of pickleball lore. He met fellow pro Marcela Hones at the 2024 PPA Sacramento Open, but it took some persistence to get a date. He asked her out multiple times, got rejected three times, and finally landed a yes. They've been together ever since. As an Adidas pro athlete, Hewett travels the tour circuit with his kids in tow, embodying pickleball's reputation as a multi-generational, family-friendly sport. His combination of ranch-tough grit and country club polish makes him one of the more colorful characters on tour.