Kiora Kunimoto

Kiora Kunimoto is an 18-year-old pro pickleball player from Hilo on Hawaii's Big Island who skipped college tennis to go all-in on pickleball. She won the 2025 Hawaii State High School Tennis Singles Championship as only the third-ever state champion from the Big Island, then graduated from Waiakea High School and pivoted straight to the PPA Tour. She picked up a paddle casually around age 10 but didn't get serious until a local moneyball tournament lit the competitive fire. By June 2025 she was playing her first pro event in San Clemente, and by September she'd signed with the PPA Tour. She's a member of Selkirk's Emerging Pros Programme.

Kunimoto trains daily on the Big Island with her father Randy, a local tennis and pickleball instructor, since there aren't many high-level partners available on the island. That grind has paid off quickly: she's already pulled upsets over top seeds like Brooke Buckner at the 2025 Indoor National Championships and earned multiple gold medals on the PPA Challenger circuit. Her tennis background gives her serious power, but she's focused on developing her soft game, spending hours drilling dinks and resets. Her big goal for 2026? Getting drafted by an MLP team.