Leona Kernen is the 2025 Beach Pro Tour Rookie of the Year
Honorable Mention
- Linda Bock, Germany
- Tetiana Lazarenko, Ukraine
- Anna Grune, Germany
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There is making an entrance.
And then there is kicking down the door of the Beach Pro Tour.
Such is what Leona Kernen did in 2025.
The 19-year-old Swiss fireball opened up the season not with the nerves and careful play one might expect of a rookie playing alongside an Olympic bronze medal-winning veteran in Tanja Huberli, filling in for the massive shoes of new mom Nina Brunner, but with the panache and confidence of a serial winner.
Five straight matches did Kernen and Huberli win en route to a silver medal at the Yucatan Challenge. That, in itself, was impressive enough. But with rookies and youngsters, it is always worth wondering: Could they maintain that level of play.
A week later, that question was answered, loudly and in bold print: Yes. Kernen and Huberli took fifth in Quintana Roo, slaying a pair of dragons in Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher, and Ana Patricia Silva and Duda Lisboa, on the way. They’d take out their peers, Anouk Verge-Depre and Zoe Verge-Depre, to win gold at their home Futures in Spiez and make a run to the semifinals in Gstaad.
It is such a shame that their season was cut short there. Huberli required surgery, and Kernen was left bouncing around her final two events with two different partners. But her work in the first four months of her debut season was enough to win a competitive race for the 2025 Rookie of the Year.
2023 Rookie of the Year: Valentina Gottardi
2024 Rookie of the Year: Megan Kraft
For the rest of the Beach Pro Tour Player Awards, head here.
