Naples pickleball player wins world title with Team USA in Vietnam

NAPLES, Fla.—Naples pickleball player F.D. Wilder is coming home from Vietnam with a gold medal after helping Team USA win the Masters division at the 2026 Pickleball World Cup.

For Wilder, 65, simply making the U.S. roster was a surprise.

He was selected for Team USA after competing in a combine connected to the U.S. Open in Naples earlier this year. Wilder said players tried out for spots across five divisions, with the top three men and three women selected in each age group. He competed in the 60-and-over Masters division.

“It was an unexpected honor, I must say,” Wilder said. “And just the competition and the camaraderie, and the whole experience of being in this part of the world, and seeing the explosive growth of the sport, and how it's able to bring people together was just, I would say, a once in a lifetime memory.”

The World Cup was held in Da Nang, Vietnam, from Aug. 30 through Sept. 6. City officials said nearly 5,000 athletes from 81 countries and territories participated.

The tournament also set a Guinness World Record for the most nationalities represented in a pickleball championship, with 78 officially recognized.

Team USA sent about 30 players across five age divisions, and Wilder said the Americans won gold in four of them.

After advancing through pool play, the Americans beat Mexico, Brazil and South Korea before meeting Australia for gold. Wilder said the Masters group went undefeated throughout the tournament, and he was on the court to put away the final point against Australia.

But some of the moments Wilder remembers most came away from the scoreboard.

“Our team leader put a real emphasis on sportsmanship,” Wilder said. “So as the U.S., we kind of want to role model, you know, the respect and the integrity of the game.”

Wilder said the medals showed Team USA’s results, but he hoped the way the players carried themselves showed something more.

“I think the medals kind of tell people like how we competed, but it was really our behavior that I hopefully told people like who we are as Americans,” Wilder said.

One moment away from Wilder's own matches stood out.

He watched Team USA's Open team play Iran and said the two team captains embraced after the match.

“It's the humanity that was here and the recognition of sports' ability to unite,” Wilder said, calling the embrace a moment he would remember “beyond the medals.”

He'll come home with a gold medal from his first trip with Team USA, and a lasting memory of how the Americans represented their country.