Short answer: Federico Staksrud is a 30-year-old Argentine pro, based in West Palm Beach, who has built one of the deepest singles résumés in pickleball — and who, in August 2026, was named the first-ever MLP Finals MVP after winning both of the New Jersey 5s’ title-clinching Dreambreakers.
The 30-second version
- The résumé: 26 career PPA titles — 20 of them in singles — per his PPA athlete page as of September 2026.
- He has held world No. 1 in both singles and men’s doubles, though not right now. The top of men’s singles has turned over twice in eighteen months.
- His signature moment is a team one. He won both Dreambreakers that gave the New Jersey 5s the 2026 MLP title, and took Finals MVP.
- He is a converted tennis player who turned pro in 2021 and has a master’s degree in information systems.
- Steal this: singles-grade movement is what makes his doubles defense work. That transfer is available to you too.
I am Jason Regan, a USA Pickleball Ambassador here in New England, and this is the third entry in our Pro Spotlight library — after Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters. Those two are the sport’s gravitational centres. Federico Staksrud is something more useful to study: a player who got to the very top by out-working the draw rather than by being the most gifted athlete in it.
Who is Federico Staksrud?
According to his PPA Tour athlete page, Staksrud is 30, grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and now lives in West Palm Beach, Florida. He is 5 feet 11 inches, plays right-handed, and turned pro in 2021.
Like a large share of the men’s field, he came from tennis — he played college tennis at the University of New Orleans and Tennessee Wesleyan, and earned a master’s in information systems at Florida Gulf Coast University along the way. His pickleball education came from training alongside Simone Jardim and Kyle Yates, two of the names that defined the sport’s previous era.
That path matters. Staksrud did not arrive as a teenage prodigy the way Anna Leigh Waters did. He arrived at 25, from another sport, and spent the next several years grinding up a field that was getting deeper every season.
What has Federico Staksrud actually won?
His PPA athlete page lists 26 career titles as of September 2026 — 20 singles, 6 doubles, 0 mixed. That distribution tells you almost everything about him. He is, first and last, a singles player.
A few anchor points, each from a dated report:
- January 2025 — world No. 1 in men’s doubles. A silver-medal run at the PPA Masters with Hayden Patriquin pushed him past Collin Johns to the top of the doubles ranking, per pickleball.com. At that moment he held No. 1 in both singles and men’s doubles simultaneously.
- November 2025 — the World Championships. He beat Chris Haworth 11-9, 11-1 for the men’s singles title at the Jenius Bank Pickleball World Championships, his second straight singles crown, reclaiming the No. 1 singles ranking.
- March 2026 — the rematch went the other way. At the Greater Zion Cup, Haworth beat him 11-9, 11-5 and took the No. 1 ranking.
That Staksrud–Haworth rivalry is the most interesting thing in men’s singles right now, and it has run in both directions.
Where is Staksrud ranked in 2026?
Honestly: it depends who is counting, and I would rather show you that than pick a number.
The PPA’s own athlete page has him at World No. 5 with 10,900 WPR points as of September 2026 — that is the tour’s combined world ranking across disciplines. The independent tracker PickleWave, which uses an Elo-style model rather than points earned, has rated him as high as No. 2 in men’s singles. Different systems, different answers, both defensible.
Rankings in this sport churn fast — check ppatour.com/player-rankings for the live picture rather than trusting any article, including this one, a month from now. For how the ranking systems differ in the first place, see pickleball ratings explained and the PPA’s global leaderboard.
PickleWave also tracks the counting stats, and they are the real story: 99 professional tournaments, 1,072 career matches, 762 wins, a 71.1% win rate and 81 medals. Very few players in the sport have that volume.
The New Jersey 5s, and the best weekend of his career
In July 2026 the New Jersey 5s acquired Staksrud and Milan Rane in a trade — a deal we broke down in what the New Jersey 5s just bought. The short version of our take at the time: they had bought themselves a Dreambreaker.
That is exactly how it paid off. At the 2026 MLP Finals at Central Park in New York City, the 5s swept the St. Louis Shock 2-0, and The Kitchen reports that both matches ended in Dreambreakers — 22-20 on Saturday, 21-9 on Sunday. Staksrud won both, beating Hunter Johnson 7-5 and then 6-2. He went 2-1 in men’s doubles with Will Howells and 2-1 in mixed with Jorja Johnson, and was voted the first-ever MLP Finals MVP by pickleball media.
His line afterward, via The Kitchen: It’s something that I’m gonna remember my whole life. That’s what I play for — for these moments.
If you want the full weekend, we covered it in the MLP Finals 2026 recap. And if the Dreambreaker format is new to you, here is how MLP works.
What is his playstyle?
The PPA describes him as a player known for consistent play and smart shot selection, and that is a fair, if bloodless, summary. What it means in practice:
- He covers ground that doubles specialists cannot. Twenty singles titles is not a stat — it is a conditioning base. In a Dreambreaker, where one player must cover the whole court, that base is worth more than raw hands.
- He wins on selection, not on power. He is not the biggest hitter in the men’s field, and he does not need to be. He takes the shot the rally is offering.
- He is durable. Over 1,000 professional matches played is its own skill.
- Equipment: his PPA page lists the JOOLA Kosmos Pro V 16mm. We track this across the field in what paddle Federico Staksrud uses and the full pro paddle list.
One honest caveat: pairings change constantly, and the PPA’s athlete pages are slow to reflect it. At the Veolia Arizona Open in September 2026, Staksrud partnered Ben Johns in men’s doubles for the first time, with Johns’ usual partner out of the country — and they lost 11-4, 11-5 in the first round in 34 minutes. Star pairings are not plug-and-play.
Steal this from his game
Here is the transferable part, and it is the single most under-rated idea in club pickleball: go play singles.
Staksrud’s doubles value — the reason a team traded for him and the reason he wins Dreambreakers — is built out of singles fitness and singles court coverage. Most 3.5 and 4.0 players have never played a competitive singles game in their lives, and it shows in the two places their doubles leaks: they cannot cover a lob honestly, and they stop moving their feet when a rally passes eight shots.
- Play one singles game a week. Even to 7. It will expose your movement immediately. Start with pickleball singles strategy.
- Train the long point. Staksrud wins the rallies other players quit on. That is a mental skill before it is a physical one — see the pickleball mental game.
- Learn to read, not react. Smart shot selection is just early information. How to anticipate covers it.
More profiles are landing in The Pro Corner, and if you want the wider map of who is who, start with the players to know. To work on your own game, the Learn hub is the front door.
Frequently asked questions
What country is Federico Staksrud from?
Argentina. His PPA athlete page says he grew up in Buenos Aires, and he is now based in West Palm Beach, Florida.
How many titles has Federico Staksrud won?
His PPA athlete page listed 26 career titles as of September 2026 — 20 in singles, 6 in doubles and none in mixed. Title counts vary between trackers, so treat any single figure as a snapshot.
Has Federico Staksrud ever been world No. 1?
Yes, in both disciplines. Pickleball.com reported in January 2025 that he had taken the No. 1 PPA men’s doubles ranking from Collin Johns while also holding No. 1 in singles. He has since traded the singles top spot with Chris Haworth.
What paddle does Federico Staksrud use?
His PPA athlete page lists the JOOLA Kosmos Pro V 16mm. Pro paddle deals change often, so verify before buying on that basis.
What is the MLP Finals MVP award?
It is a new award voted on by pickleball media members. Staksrud was the first winner, after taking both title-clinching Dreambreakers for the New Jersey 5s at the 2026 MLP Finals.
Sources: the PPA Tour athlete page for Federico Staksrud; pickleball.com match reports dated January 2025, November 2025, March 2026 and September 2026; The Kitchen’s 2026 MLP Finals recap; and PickleWave for career counting stats. Rankings are volatile — check ppatour.com/player-rankings for the current picture.