Pro Team
Max “Purple Jesus” Manthou
Max Manthou — known on court as Purple Jesus — is a professional pickleball player with a background across high-level sport and scholarship.
A former Division I tennis player at the University of Washington, Max has since established himself as a consistent competitor on the professional pickleball circuit. In 2025 alone, he earned six APP medals, including two golds and four silvers. He currently competes in Major League Pickleball Australia with the Bondi Pickleball Club and was part of the 2024 MLP Hard 8s Challenger Team. He is also an MLP Australia Champion with a 6.3 DUPR rating.
Beyond competition, Max brings a rare perspective to the sport. He holds a Master’s degree in Anthropology from Illinois State University and recently published A Pickleball Gospel: The Harmony of Competition and Cooperation in Sport, adapted from his master’s thesis. His interest in pickleball extends beyond winning — into how competition, cooperation, and community intersect.
On court, Max is known for an aggressive, attacking style — controlling pace, speeding up on his terms, and finishing points with quickness and precision. He remains calm under pressure, in part because of how much he trusts his equipment.
Shop Max’s signature paddle: the Fire 14 “Purple Jesus” Edition.
Santhosh Narayanan — Founder
Santhosh Narayanan is the founder of Speedup Pickleball and an international professional pickleball player.
He has earned professional medals across the United States, Australia, India, Vietnam, and Japan, and continues to compete globally. Santhosh has a 5.9 DUPR rating and has played for professional teams including the New Zealand Hustle (MLP Australia), the Hyderabad Vikings (Global Sports Pro League), and Mumbai Pickle Power (World Pickleball League).
He holds a Master’s degree in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan, with a strong focus on manufacturing systems and quality control. That background directly informs how Speedup paddles are designed, tested, and built.
Before pickleball, Santhosh competed in basketball, table tennis, badminton, and tennis — experiences that shaped his understanding of spin, control, and feel across different sports. He is deeply focused on paddle design, constantly experimenting with materials, lead configurations, and paddle–ball interactions to understand how small changes affect performance.
At Speedup, Santhosh sits at the intersection of professional play and engineering — pushing paddle innovation through both competition and craft.