When I put together which paddles professional pickleball players use, I quickly realized that I was curious about whether professionals use a 14mm or 16mm pickleball paddle.
If you are curious which paddle is best for you, consider taking our free 14mm vs 16mm pickleball paddle quiz.
Let’s go through the list.
Top 10 Pickleball Player Paddle Thickness List
What’s surprising is that I found that some players may actually use a 20mm paddle, and Christian Alshon appears to use a 12.7mm pickleball paddle.
Okay, here’s the list.
| Rank | Player Name | Paddle Used | Thickness |
| 1 | Federico Staksrud | Joola Perseus 16mm Mod TA-15 | 16mm |
| 2 | Ben Johns | JOOLA Ben Johns Perseus 3S UPA-A | 16mm (estimate) |
| 3 | Connor Garnett | ProXR Connor Garnett Signature | 14mm |
| 4 | Tyson McGuffin | JOOLA Tyson McGuffin Magnus 3S | 16mm (estimate) |
| 5 | Christian Alshon | Paddletek Bantam TKO-C | 12.7mm |
| 6 | Quang Duong | Selkirk Invikta | 20mm (estimate) |
| 7 | Dylan Frazier | Selkirk Project 02 | 13mm |
| 8 | Jack Sock | Selkirk (unspecified model) | 20mm (estimate) |
| 9 | Jaume Martinez Vich | Six Zero (unspecified model) | 14mm or 16mm |
| 10 | Christopher Haworth | Babolat STRKR+ | 13mm |
Difference Between 14mm vs 16mm Pickleball Paddles
You probably already know this, so I added this lower in the article, but the difference between 12mm vs 14mm vs 16mm is the millimeter thickness of the paddle.
It’s a small difference. For example, the two paddles below are 14mm and 16mm, but can you determine which one is which? It can be difficult when there’s an edge.
Generally speaking, a 14mm often provide more power because you can swing the paddle faster due to the paddle thickness.
In addition, 16mm generally offer more control and spin.
This is generally speaking, but hopefully that helps.
Should You Following In the Professionals Footsteps?
It depends.
I was recently playing with a brand new $200+ 14mm pickleball paddle the provided a powerful punch, but the control was only okay.
After losing to a friend in 3 games, I switched to my favorite affordable 16mm pickleball paddle under $50 and won the last game 11-3.
I say this story, as I had much more control with the $35 pickleball paddle vs the $200+ pickleball paddle, leading my last game to a win.
So, it really depends whether you should purchase the same millimeter thickness as professionals.