Ben Johns

Ben Johns, alongside his brother, Collin Johns, after winning the Men's Doubles title at the PPA Carvana Arizona Grand Slam Presented by Hyundai in February 2023
Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Austin, Texas, U.S.
Born	(1999-03-18) March 18, 1999, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Turned pro	2016
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
College	University of Maryland

Benjamin Ellingham Johns (born March 18, 1999) is an American professional pickleball player. He is ranked No. 1 in the world for mixed doubles, No. 1 in the world for singles, and No. 1 in the world for Men's Doubles by the Pro Pickleball Association. (PPA)^[1]

Personal life

Johns was raised in Laytonsville, Maryland.^[2] He was homeschooled as a child and graduated from the University of Maryland with a Materials Science and Engineering degree. He is the middle child of 7 children,^[3] including his elder brother Collin Johns, who is another highly-ranked professional pickleball player and Johns’ set doubles partner.

Pickleball career

Johns played tennis and table tennis since he was a child, showing some proficiency in both sports and helping his older brother Collin Johns train for the pro tennis circuit. He first played pickleball in 2016 at the age of 17 while vacationing in Florida and took fifth place in Men’s Pro Singles at the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships just a few months later. He began to play in tournaments consistently and earned his first gold medal at the Riverbend RV Resort Pickleball Tournament a little less than a year later. That same year, he returned to the U.S Open and took gold in Men’s Pro Singles. Shortly thereafter, he won three gold medals at the Canadian Nationals, bringing him to the forefront of the sport.^[2] In 2019, he became the first male professional player to win a triple crown (gold medal in all three events) at one of the world’s three major pickleball events when he captured it at the Tournament of Champions in Brigham City, Utah.^[2] He followed up this achievement by winning the triple crown at the U.S. Open in both 2021 and 2022. Ben has accumulated over 80 titles on the PPA Tour, 15 of which were triple crowns.^[4] Two of his statistics that most exemplify his dominance are his undefeated runs in men’s singles and mixed doubles. In 2019, Johns went on a 108-match winning streak in singles and went undefeated in mixed doubles for 22 consecutive tournaments.^[4]

In 2019, he signed a sponsorship deal with Franklin Sports which lasted for 3 years.^[5]

On April 1, 2022 he signed a new partnership collaboration with JOOLA Pickleball, a global sporting goods company based in Rockville, MD, near where he grew up and played table tennis in his youth. He collaborated with JOOLA to design and produce his first JOOLA paddle, the JOOLA Ben Johns Hyperion CFS 16.^[6] During the PPA Select Medical Orange County Cup he debuted the JOOLA Ben Johns Perseus CFS 16, which is the pickleball paddle Ben Johns currently uses in 2023.

Business endeavors

In 2019, Ben Johns, along with fellow professional pickleball player Dekel Bar, launched Pickleball Getaways, a company that combines vacations to exotic destinations with pickleball instruction on-site. Johns and Bar have already led trips to the Mayan Riviera, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Portugal, Croatia, and many other locations.

In 2021, Ben Johns, along with his brother Collin Johns and Dekel Bar, released an instructional video subscription service titled Pickleball 360.^[7] The service has a monthly and yearly subscription that grants access to instructional videos from the aforementioned professional players.

In 2021, Ben Johns launched elog.com,^[8] a website for investing in a cryptocurrency index fund.

Television appearances

On October 8, 2021, Ben Johns appeared on the Live with Kelly And Ryan show alongside his brother Collin Johns, in a match setup outside of the show's New York City studio.^[9]

References