The hint was already there to see, and now it has finally become true. PPA Tour No.1 Federico Staksrud, who officially ended his partnership with Adidas Pickleball last month, has announced his reunion with JOOLA in a social media post on Tuesday afternoon after a five-month hiatus. Staksrud, who was signed by Adidas Pickleball in January 2025, had stopped using its paddle after only one event. He started playing with his old JOOLA paddle at the Mesa Cup despite still wearing Adidas apparel. JOOLA took to social media to post about the return of Staksurd to their players' fleet.

The winner of The Masters - a Grand Slam-level tournament - went back to his JOOLA paddle in February even though he was no longer in partnership with the American pickleball paddle and gear manufacturing brand. Staksrud had ended a two-and-a-half-year partnership with JOOLA to join Adidas.

However, showing indications that he would rejoin JOOLA, he started using the brand's paddle again and most recently played with it at the Orange County Cup, where he lost the men's singles final to Hunter Johnson. Surprisingly, Staksrud was also seen wearing JOOLA apparel at the event.

Staksrud, who is one of only two players (along with Ben Johns) ranked inside the top 5 in the PPA rankings in men’s singles, men’s doubles, and mixed doubles, will return to action with the Orlando Squeeze (10-5, 28 pts) this week at MLP New York. Among the top players who are part of the JOOLA are Ben Johns, Anna Bright and Dekel Bar.