Hunter Johnson

Hunter Johnson went from swinging tennis rackets with his identical twin brother Yates in Taos, New Mexico, to becoming the No. 1 men's singles player on the PPA Tour, and the journey has been anything but ordinary. The Johnson twins earned Division I scholarships to SMU, where they became the winningest doubles team in school history and reached No. 15 nationally. After college, Hunter spent four years on the pro tennis circuit, collecting 14 doubles titles across ITF Futures and ATP Challenger events. In 2022, a friend convinced the twins to try pickleball during the tennis offseason, and within months they had both retired from tennis to go all-in on the paddle sport.

The transition wasn't smooth at first. Hunter spent two months unlearning tennis habits and taking early losses, then entered the PPA Tour in 2024 as a No. 35 seed and suffered eight Round of 32 exits against top guys like Federico Staksrud and Ben Johns. Everything changed at the Atlanta Slam in September 2024 when he won his first PPA singles gold as a No. 20 seed, beating Tyson McGuffin along the way. By August 2025 he had six PPA singles titles and overtook Staksrud for the world No. 1 ranking. Now sponsored by HIT Pickleball, Hunter plays with their "Hand Cannon" paddle and continues to redefine what aggressive singles pickleball looks like.