The Best Dressed Pros at the PPA Mesa Cup 2026
When professional pickleball players stepped onto the courts at the 2026 Mesa Cup, they brought more than just their A-game. Set against the striking desert backdrop of Arizona, the tournament delivered a week of incredible athletic performance and unexpected upsets. But beyond the competitive drama unfolding on the courts, another element captured attention: the fashion choices that transformed standard athletic wear into legitimate style statements.
Professional pickleball has evolved significantly over recent years, and nowhere is this more evident than in the increased attention to on-court appearance. Players are no longer satisfied with basic athletic gear. Instead, they’re carefully curating looks that reflect their personalities while meeting the demanding physical requirements of high-level competition. The Mesa Cup showcased this evolution beautifully, with players selecting outfits that balanced performance, comfort, and aesthetics in ways that would have seemed impossible just a few years ago.
What makes pickleball fashion particularly interesting is how it differs from other racquet sports. Unlike tennis, which has long-established dress codes and traditional aesthetics, pickleball is still defining its visual identity. This freedom allows players to experiment with colors, cuts, and styles that push boundaries while remaining functional. At Mesa, we saw everything from coordinated monochromatic sets to bold patterns and strategic cutouts, all designed to perform under the intense Arizona sun while looking camera-ready for the growing audience watching both in-person and on streaming platforms.
Chris Haworth’s Coordinated Excellence
Chris Haworth didn’t just take home the gold medal at Mesa. He did it while wearing one of the most thoughtfully coordinated looks of the tournament. His choice of a washed grape set from Dick’s Sporting Goods demonstrated that excellent athletic style doesn’t require luxury price tags or exclusive sponsorships. The DSG shirt paired with matching agility shorts created a polished, intentional appearance that elevated the entire ensemble.
The washed grape color itself deserves particular attention. This muted purple-gray hybrid tone offered something refreshing in a sport where bright neon colors and stark blacks and whites often dominate. The washed effect gave the fabric a lived-in quality that felt both comfortable and sophisticated, striking a balance that’s difficult to achieve in performance wear. This color choice proved particularly smart for the desert environment, where lighter tones help reflect heat while still providing enough depth to avoid looking washed out under the bright Arizona sun.
What made Chris’s look particularly successful was the commitment to full coordination. Rather than mixing brands or introducing competing colors, he stayed within a single color family and brand line. This approach created a cohesive visual narrative that appeared effortless, even though it clearly involved careful selection. The shorts featured enough length to provide coverage and freedom of movement without looking baggy or outdated, while the shirt’s cut allowed for full range of motion during serves and overhead shots. The moisture-wicking properties of both pieces kept him looking fresh throughout long matches, proving that style and function can coexist seamlessly.
Mari Humberg’s Sleek Silhouette
Mari Humberg brought sophisticated athletic elegance to Mesa with her choice of an adidas premium sleeveless tank paired with a complementary skirt. What elevated this look beyond standard tennis-inspired athletic wear was the attention to subtle details that created visual interest without sacrificing performance. The skirt featured a discrete cutout logo that perfectly coordinated with design elements on the top, demonstrating the kind of thoughtful matching that separates good outfits from great ones.
The contrast side panels on Mari’s ensemble deserve special recognition for their functional and aesthetic contributions. These panels weren’t merely decorative; they created a sculpted, streamlined silhouette that enhanced the visual lines of athletic movement. When watching Mari play, these design elements accentuated the rotation and extension that make pickleball such a dynamic sport to watch. The darker side panels created a slimming effect while the central panels drew the eye toward the body’s core, creating an overall impression of powerful, controlled athleticism.
Sleeveless tanks in professional pickleball serve multiple purposes beyond keeping players cool. They allow for unrestricted shoulder movement during serves and overheads while providing a clean aesthetic line that photographs well. Mari’s choice showed an understanding of how garments behave during play. The tank stayed in place during quick lateral movements and didn’t ride up during reaching shots. The skirt length hit at precisely the right point to allow for lunging and scrambling without concerns about coverage, while built-in shorts provided security and comfort. This combination of practical construction and visual appeal represents the current gold standard in women’s pickleball fashion.
Camila Zilveti’s Desert Romance
Camila Zilveti made one of the boldest fashion choices at Mesa by selecting the Pirouette Babydoll Dress from Popflex Active. The babydoll silhouette represents a relatively recent development in athletic wear, challenging traditional assumptions about what competitive athletic clothing should look like. This style, with its slightly looser fit through the torso, might seem counterintuitive for a sport requiring quick movements and precise positioning, but modern fabric technology and thoughtful construction make it entirely functional.
The color Camila chose proved perfect for winter play in the desert. Soft, romantic tones worked beautifully against the Arizona landscape’s muted earth tones and brilliant blue skies. Unlike harsh neon colors that can create visual discord with natural surroundings, Camila’s dress harmonized with the environment while still standing out enough to create visual interest for spectators and cameras. The babydoll cut provided a feminine aesthetic that differentiated her look from the more traditional athletic silhouettes many players favor, showing that personal style doesn’t need to be sacrificed for competitive performance.
What makes this dress particularly interesting from a design perspective is how it handles the specific physical demands of pickleball. The sport requires constant crouching for low balls, quick pivots, and explosive movements to the net. A babydoll cut might seem problematic for these movements, but modern athletic dress construction includes built-in shorts, strategic seaming, and fabric with appropriate stretch and recovery. Camila’s ability to play at a high level while wearing this style proves that athletic fashion continues to expand beyond traditional templates, offering players more ways to express individual style while meeting performance demands.
Pablo Tellez’s Signature Style
Pablo Tellez has developed a recognizable aesthetic through his consistent choice of Lotto performance wear, and his Mesa appearance reinforced his commitment to this signature look. His light blue performance top featured subtle tonal camo patterning that added visual texture without overwhelming the clean, athletic aesthetic. This attention to pattern scale shows sophisticated style awareness. Oversized, bold camo can appear costumey or distracting, but tonal variations within a single color family create depth and interest while maintaining a professional appearance.
The pairing of this top with Lotto blue shorts demonstrated the power of thoughtful color matching. The blues weren’t identical, but they occupied the same tonal range and intensity, creating harmony without looking overly matched. This approach to coordination feels more natural and less contrived than exact matching. It suggests someone with an intuitive understanding of color relationships rather than someone following rigid matching rules. For male players in particular, who often have fewer obviously coordinated options from athletic brands, this kind of tonal coordination represents an accessible path to elevated on-court style.
Pablo’s consistent choice of Lotto also speaks to the importance of brand loyalty and signature style in professional sports. While some players change brands frequently or mix pieces from various sponsors, Pablo has cultivated a recognizable look that becomes part of his professional identity. Spectators and fellow players can identify him from a distance, and his consistent aesthetic contributes to his personal brand. The Lotto pieces he selects consistently balance performance features like moisture management and stretch with clean design lines that photograph well and look professional in all settings, from practice courts to championship matches.
Kiora Kunimoto’s Pattern Play
Polka dots have emerged as one of 2026’s defining fashion trends, and Kiora Kunimoto brought this pattern to the pickleball court with excellent results. Her Connect the Dots Dress from Altar’d State demonstrated how current fashion trends can translate effectively into athletic wear when the execution is thoughtful. The soft yellow background color provided a cheerful, optimistic vibe perfectly suited to outdoor desert play, while the polka dot pattern added visual interest without creating busy or distracting effects.
The back cutout detail on Kiora’s dress elevated it from simple to standout. Strategic cutouts in athletic wear serve multiple purposes. They provide ventilation in key areas where heat builds up during intense play, they create visual interest from all angles, and they allow fabric to move independently around the body rather than as a single restrictive piece. The placement of this cutout showed careful consideration of both aesthetics and function. It created an attractive focal point when viewed from behind while not interfering with any movement patterns or creating potential wardrobe concerns during play.
Polka dots in athletic wear present unique challenges and opportunities. The pattern needs to scale appropriately for the garment and the wearer’s body. Too large, and the dots can appear cartoonish; too small, and they can create visual noise or appear to vibrate when photographed or filmed. Kiora’s dress struck the right balance, with dots sized to read clearly as intentional pattern rather than texture while maintaining a sophisticated rather than juvenile aesthetic. The pattern also had practical benefits, as it’s more forgiving of shadows and wrinkles than solid colors, helping players look fresh even during long tournament days.
Jorja Johnson, Tyra Hurricane Black, and Ireland Horvat’s Patriotic Coordination
Sometimes the best fashion moments happen through serendipity rather than planning, and that’s exactly what occurred when Jorja Johnson and Tyra Hurricane Black appeared in their classic 11-Nil looks alongside Ireland Horvat. Jorja and Tyra wore the Vienna Low Zip Corset Dress in blue, while Ireland wore the same style in red. As the Olympics wrapped up, this unplanned red, white, and blue moment created a polished patriotic tableau that resonated with the broader national mood around elite athletic competition.
The Vienna Low Zip Corset Dress represents an interesting development in pickleball fashion. The corset-style construction provides built-in structure and support that can eliminate the need for additional compression garments while creating a flattering silhouette. The low zip design allows players to adjust ventilation based on conditions and personal preference, while the overall construction stays securely in place during dynamic movement. This style has become particularly popular among professional players because it combines the coverage and security of a traditional athletic dress with more fashion-forward design elements borrowed from contemporary streetwear and athleisure.
The blue version worn by Jorja and Tyra showcased how a single style can create team unity without appearing uniform-like or overly matched. Each player brought her own accessories, personal grooming choices, and playing style to the look, ensuring individual expression within a coordinated framework. This balance between unity and individuality reflects broader trends in team sports fashion, where players want to show affiliation with teammates or brands while still expressing personal identity. The fact that Ireland’s red version completed an unintentional patriotic color scheme added an extra layer of meaning to these fashion choices, connecting personal style to national pride and Olympic achievement.
Ashley Griffith’s Affordable Excellence
Ashley Griffith has become a consistent presence on best-dressed lists throughout 2026, and her Mesa appearance demonstrated that excellent pickleball fashion doesn’t require unlimited budgets or exclusive sponsorships. Her dress came from Amazon, proving that mainstream retail platforms now offer legitimate options for players seeking style and performance. Available in six colors, this dress represents the democratization of athletic fashion, where players at all levels can access well-designed, functional, and attractive options.
The sweetheart neckline on Ashley’s dress provided a distinctly feminine touch that sets pickleball fashion apart from more conservative sports. This neckline style, borrowed from formal and semi-formal fashion, creates an elegant frame for the face and neck while providing adequate coverage for athletic activity. The construction requires careful engineering to stay in place during movement, with internal support structures that aren’t visible but provide crucial security. That such details now appear in affordable mass-market athletic wear speaks to how seriously manufacturers are taking the pickleball market and its fashion-conscious participants.
The contrast trim on Ashley’s dress added beautiful dimensional interest that elevated the overall look from simple to sophisticated. Contrast details serve multiple aesthetic purposes: they break up large expanses of single colors, they can create slimming or lengthening visual lines depending on placement, and they provide opportunities for coordination with other gear like shoes, visors, or bags. The trim on this dress was substantial enough to create clear visual impact without overwhelming the overall design. This balance is crucial in athletic wear, where too many competing design elements can create visual chaos, particularly when players are moving quickly and being photographed or filmed from various angles.
Rex Thais Brings Junior Style
Rex Thais represented the Junior PPA Tour with style that holds its own against senior tour fashion. His Addict Pickleball top brought vibrant, fun energy appropriate for younger players while maintaining the polish expected at professional events. Paired with adidas Tennis Climacool Ergo Shorts, Rex’s look demonstrated sophisticated understanding of how to balance youthful energy with professional presentation.
The Addict Pickleball brand specifically targets younger, fashion-conscious players with bold graphics and contemporary cuts that reflect current streetwear trends while meeting athletic performance requirements. Rex’s choice of this brand for tournament play shows how junior players increasingly view on-court appearance as part of their overall competitive presentation. This generation of players grew up with social media and understand that athletic performance and personal branding are interconnected. Looking good on court isn’t vanity; it’s part of building a professional presence that can attract sponsors, fans, and opportunities.
The Climacool technology in Rex’s shorts represents the kind of performance innovation that makes modern athletic fashion work. These shorts manage moisture and temperature through strategic ventilation and fabric technology, keeping players comfortable even in intense heat. The ergonomic design accommodates the specific movement patterns of racquet sports, with construction that prevents binding during lunges and rotation. That these technical features come packaged in contemporary,
