Lea Jansen is one of the most recognizable singles players on the PPA Tour and, as it happens, one of the pros who calls the Austin area home. She came to pickleball late, after a full tennis career and two degrees, and still turned herself into a regular on women’s singles podiums.

Below is what we could verify about her background, her results, the paddle she plays, and a transparent estimate of what she has earned. Where the numbers are estimates, we show the inputs so you can judge them yourself.

Early Life and Tennis Background

Jansen grew up in Spokane, Washington, and started playing tennis at 8. According to her PPA Tour profile, she was the top-ranked junior in the Pacific Northwest in every age group, played two years of college tennis at Washington State University, and later earned conference Player of the Year honors and first-team NAIA All-American status.

Off the court she earned an accounting degree and an MBA in healthcare management. She is also a type 1 diabetic, something she has spoken about openly and that has shaped how she schedules her events.

Her route into pickleball runs through another pro on our site: her childhood friend Tyson McGuffin talked her into trying the game in the summer of 2019. She turned pro in 2020, started touring full time at the beginning of 2021, and later moved to Austin to train alongside other pros. The PPA lists her as right-handed and 5’10”.

Career Highlights

Singles is where Jansen made her name. Her PPA Tour record as of October 2026 shows 6 titles, 26 finals and 56 semifinals across all divisions, and the bulk of that comes from singles: 4 titles and 21 finals. She has added 2 women’s doubles titles and five mixed doubles semifinals.

A few moments stand out:

  • Stepping away from singles, then coming back. In July 2023 she announced that the Seattle Open, where she reached the final against Anna Leigh Waters, would be her last singles event. She said her doctor had advised her to stop because the demands of singles were hurting her health as a diabetic (PPA Tour).
  • Houston, April 2024. Back in singles, she won the Veolia Houston Open final 11-3, 11-2 over Samantha Parker, her first PPA singles title since 2021, and credited work on the mental side of her game (Pickleball.com).
  • Rockwall, June 2024. She followed it with a second singles title that year at the CIBC Texas Open, beating Salome Devidze 9-11, 11-7, 11-2 (Pickleball.com).
  • Major League Pickleball. She was part of the Columbus team that won the 2025 MLP title, and in the February 2026 MLP draft she went to the Texas Ranchers (Pickleball.com, MLP).

As of October 2026 the PPA has her at No. 14 in its women’s world ranking, and Pickleball.com’s player page shows her at No. 5 in women’s singles specifically, which is a better picture of where she competes best.

What Paddle Does Lea Jansen Use

Jansen is a JOOLA athlete. Her PPA Tour profile lists her paddle as the JOOLA Kosmos Pro V 14mm as of October 2026. Earlier in her career Franklin was her equipment sponsor (The Dink). She joined JOOLA in January 2023 and has worked through several of its shapes since, from the wide Scorpeus to the elongated Perseus, the Agassi and the Hyperion, mostly as her singles game changed (The Dink). That is why older articles name different models.

The Kosmos Pro V 14mm is stocked at the club, and it is the same retail model and thickness listed on her profile. Pros often tweak weight and grip, and she has not published a setup breakdown, so we can’t tell you exactly how hers is tuned.

Shop items are for pickup at the Pickleland front desk in Pflugerville or local delivery within 10 miles. The 16mm version and everything else we carry are on our paddles page.

Lea Jansen Net Worth: Our Estimate

Our estimate: roughly $400,000 to $1 million. No one has published Lea Jansen’s actual net worth, and she has not disclosed it, so treat any single number you see online as a guess. Here is how we built ours.

  1. Tour contract and prize money. DinkBank, an independent earnings tracker, puts her PPA Tour earnings at about $1.12 million for 2023 through 2026 so far, most of it from a base contract retainer it estimates at around $360,000 a year in 2024 and 2025, plus prize money (DinkBank). These are DinkBank’s estimates, not figures released by the PPA or Jansen, and they exclude 2021 and 2022.
  2. Major League Pickleball. The Texas Ranchers paid a reported $105,000 for the draft slot it used on her in 2026 (Pickleball.com). We do not count that as her income: under the 2026 auction format, teams bid on draft slots, and coverage of the auction describes that money as paid to the league rather than the player (Empower Pickleball). Her actual MLP pay has not been disclosed.
  3. Sponsorships. Her JOOLA deal terms are private. We leave it out of the base and use it to justify the top of the range.
  4. From earnings to net worth. Net worth is what’s left, not what’s earned. We assume a touring pro keeps 40 to 60 percent of gross after federal tax, travel, coaching and other costs. Texas has no state income tax, which helps. That turns about $1.1 million in estimated tour earnings into roughly $450,000 to $670,000, and earlier prize money plus undisclosed sponsorship income could push it higher.

The honest summary: she has very likely earned seven figures from the sport since 2023, and her net worth is probably in the mid six figures, but the inputs are estimates and the range is wide on purpose. For context on how the very top of the sport compares, see our breakdown of the net worth of the top pickleball pros.

Sponsors

  • JOOLA is her paddle sponsor and the only sponsor listed on her Pickleball.com sponsor page.
  • Franklin sponsored her equipment earlier in her pro career, before she joined JOOLA in January 2023.

Personal Life

Jansen keeps her private life fairly private. What she does share, through her PPA bio, is that she manages type 1 diabetes, loves cooking and sugar-free baking, spends time with her dogs, and likes skiing, hiking and snowshoeing. She credits her coach, Jim Costello, and his Neuro-Fit Systems program for much of her success.

Austin’s Pickleball Pro

Jansen is part of a group of touring pros based in the Austin area, which we cover in Austin’s local pickleball pros. For the bigger picture of who sits at the top of the game right now, read our guide to the top pickleball players in the world.

Also read:

FAQs

What is Lea Jansen’s net worth?

There is no official figure. Our estimate is roughly $400,000 to $1 million, based on an independent estimate of about $1.12 million in PPA Tour contract and prize earnings from 2023 to 2026, minus taxes and touring costs, with room for undisclosed sponsorship income.

What paddle does Lea Jansen use?

Her PPA Tour profile lists the JOOLA Kosmos Pro V 14mm as of October 2026. She has been sponsored by JOOLA since January 2023.

How old is Lea Jansen?

The PPA Tour lists her age as 34 as of October 2026. She grew up in Spokane, Washington, and lives in Austin, Texas.

What MLP team is Lea Jansen on?

She was drafted by the Texas Ranchers in the 2026 Major League Pickleball draft after winning the 2025 MLP title with Columbus.

No. They are childhood friends, and McGuffin is the one who got her to try pickleball in 2019.