Short answer: Catherine Parenteau is a 32-year-old pro from Montreal who played college tennis at Michigan State and now sits third on the PPA Tour’s all-time title list with 54, behind only Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns.
The 30-second version
- The résumé: 54 PPA Tour titles, including 10 in singles, per the PPA’s own counters.
- The ranking: World No. 7 among women on the PPA’s list as of October 12, 2026.
- The background: Montreal native, Arkansas then Michigan State tennis, introduced to pickleball by her college coach.
- Right now: back-to-back women’s doubles finals with Tyra Black in Las Vegas and Chicago this month.
- Steal this: her own advice from 2016. Be patient with your hands and aggressive with your legs.
Who is Catherine Parenteau?
Catherine Parenteau is a Canadian professional pickleball player who competes in singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles on the PPA Tour. Her PPA Tour athlete page gives a birthdate of August 26, 1994, and lists her as 5 feet 5 inches, right-handed, living in Miami, Florida, and a pro since 2016.
She grew up in Montreal and started tennis at four. A 2015 Michigan State athletics profile fills in the rest: recruited at 16 without speaking English, a freshman year at Arkansas, then a transfer to Michigan State, where she majored in psychology.
Michigan State is also where the pickleball story starts. Her tennis coach there was Simone Jardim, who went on to become one of the best players in the sport. In a Pickleball Central interview published July 1, 2016, Parenteau said Jardim introduced her to the game and insisted she try it.
One small conflict: the PPA bio says she started playing in October 2016, but that interview is dated three months earlier. I would trust the dated interview.
Her coach today is her wife, Athena Trouillot. The two met as Michigan State tennis players and married in August 2024, Pickleball.com reported.
What has Catherine Parenteau won?
Catherine Parenteau has won 54 PPA Tour titles, according to the tour. That is the third-highest total on the PPA’s all-time title table, which counts events since 2020 and showed Waters at 196 and Ben Johns at 186 when it was last updated, through September’s National Championships.
The PPA’s two pages split the 54 slightly differently: the athlete page says 10 singles, 38 doubles and 6 mixed, and the title table says 10, 37 and 7.
Either way, her 10 singles titles are second among women. The headline results:
- Two Triple Crowns. The first came at the North Carolina Open in May 2022. The second came at the Tournament of Champions in August 2023, per the PPA.
- A singles win over Anna Leigh Waters. At the 2023 Florida Open she beat Waters 11-7, 11-9 and called it her biggest win, the PPA reported.
- A tenth singles title. She beat Katerina Stewart 11-4, 12-10 at Daytona Beach in December 2025, her first singles title since 2023, according to Pickleball.com.
- The first pick in MLP history. She was the first overall selection in Major League Pickleball’s first draft in 2021, The Dink noted. See how the MLP draft works.
Who has Catherine Parenteau played with?
Her best-known partnership was with Anna Leigh Waters in women’s doubles, from early 2023 to April 2025. When it ended, The Dink tallied a 155-6 record, 31 titles together and a 40-match winning streak, and called it the winningest partnership in women’s doubles history.
Since then she has been on the other side of the net from Waters. Her current pairings, from the PPA’s Chicago Cup preview:
- Women’s doubles: Tyra Black. They were the No. 2 seeds in Chicago.
- Mixed doubles: Riley Newman, seeded ninth in Chicago and also her mixed partner in 2022.
- MLP: the Los Angeles Mad Drops, whose roster after July’s trade window included Ben Johns, per Pickleball.com.
How is Catherine Parenteau playing in 2026?
Catherine Parenteau is playing well enough to reach finals and not quite well enough to beat the team she used to be half of. She and Tyra Black have lost the last two women’s doubles finals to Waters and Anna Bright.
- Las Vegas Open, October 4: lost 11-8, 10-12, 11-5, according to The Dink’s recap.
- Veolia Chicago Cup, October 11: won the first game 11-2, then lost 11-3, 11-4. The full results are in our Chicago Cup recap.
On the PPA’s world rankings she is No. 7 among women as of October 12, 2026, with 8,347.5 points. Her athlete page bio still says top three in women’s doubles and mixed, which is out of date. See how the world rankings work for what the points mean.
What paddle does Catherine Parenteau use?
This one is unsettled. Her PPA athlete page lists the JOOLA Scorpeus Pro V 14mm. Pickleball.com’s September 17, 2026 gear roundup says she is competing with a Luzz Glider 16mm without having announced a deal, and calls her the only unsigned player in the top 10. Before that she was a Selkirk player from the start of 2023.
I do not know which is in her bag this week. We track it on our Catherine Parenteau paddle page.
How does Catherine Parenteau play?
Catherine Parenteau plays a patient, defensive game, and in that 2016 interview she named her favourite weapon herself: a two-handed backhand in the middle that she loved to use in doubles.
Other pros say the same. After a mixed final in January 2025, her partner Federico Staksrud called her a fighter and praised her defense, and Ben Johns, across the net, described her as very steady, Pickleball.com reported.
Steal this from Catherine Parenteau’s game
The lesson I would take is the one she gave as a newcomer in that 2016 interview. Be patient, while being extremely aggressive with your legs. Get low, and be able to dink for hours while you wait for the high ball.
Most of us at 3.0 to 4.0 in New England do the opposite: busy hands, lazy legs. Three things to try this week:
- Count your dinks. In your next rec game, do not speed up until the rally has gone ten dinks, unless the ball is above net height. Method in how to dink.
- Own the middle with two hands. If you play the left side, a two-handed backhand lets you take middle balls with authority. See the two-handed backhand and who takes the middle ball.
- Block, do not swing. Parenteau has a block-volley lesson on Selkirk’s site: hold the paddle at two or three out of ten, do not follow through, open the face slightly, and bring contact closer to your body. Our version is in how to reset.
Disclosure: Jason is a Selkirk Advocate and receives discounted product. Selkirk had no input into this profile.
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Frequently asked questions
Where is Catherine Parenteau from?
Catherine Parenteau grew up in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her PPA Tour athlete page lists her current home as Miami, Florida.
How old is Catherine Parenteau?
Her PPA Tour athlete page gives a birthdate of August 26, 1994, which makes her 32 as of October 2026.
How many titles has Catherine Parenteau won?
The PPA Tour credits her with 54 titles, including 10 in singles. That is third on the tour’s all-time table, behind Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns.
Who is Catherine Parenteau’s doubles partner?
As of October 2026 she plays women’s doubles with Tyra Black and played mixed doubles with Riley Newman at the Veolia Chicago Cup. She partnered Anna Leigh Waters from early 2023 to April 2025.
Did Catherine Parenteau play college tennis?
Yes. She played her freshman year at Arkansas and then transferred to Michigan State, where her coach, Simone Jardim, introduced her to pickleball.
Sources: the PPA Tour, Michigan State Athletics, Pickleball Central, Pickleball.com, The Dink and Selkirk, all linked above and checked October 12, 2026. Rankings and partnerships change often, so check the PPA’s rankings for the current picture.