Osaka, Japan – August 28, 2026 – The APPT Padel Dojo Grand Slam Osaka opens today, with 94 pairs from 11 countries in six draws. Most of the tour’s top-ranked players are here, and over the next three days Japan’s first Grand Slam could change the No. 1 spot in the Pro Female ranking.
The Tour’s Top Two Are Teammates, Not Opponents
Eduard Altimires Ros (ESP) and Adria Mercadal Berenguer (ESP), No. 1 and No. 2 in the Pro Male standings, arrive on the same side of the net. Their combined 26,280 points more than double the next highest total in the draw, and they have already won twice together this season. Notably, four more of the Pro Male top ten have entered, each on a different team.
Five Hundred Points at the Top of the Women’s Standings
Elisabeth Nogueras (ESP) leads the Pro Female ranking on 12,300 points, 500 clear of Carla Serrano (ESP). A Grand Slam Pro title is worth 2,000 points, so Serrano can challenge for the top of the standings this weekend.
The two are in the same draw on different teams, and each has brought a partner she has won with before. Serrano plays with No. 4 Patrícia Ribeiro (POR), while Nogueras lines up with Japan’s Kotomi Ozawa, with whom she won four titles in 2025. The player best placed to keep Nogueras at No. 1, in other words, is Japanese.
Japan’s Top Four Men, in Two All-Japanese Teams
Japan’s four highest-ranked men have all entered, split into two all-Japanese pairs: Shungo Kusakabe with Leon Aurelius Taira, and Hayato Nakayashiki with Teruaki Ando. Ando was the Pro Male runner-up at APPT Open Tokyo 2025, the tour’s last visit to Japan, and he has entered both Pro Male and Pro Mix here.
Tellingly, the four have paired with each other before in other combinations. Kusakabe and Taira have three events together behind them, while Nakayashiki and Ando have never played as a pair on APPT record, and a home Grand Slam is a demanding place to find out how a partnership works.
Japan’s Top Three Women Are All In
Japan’s top three women have all entered: Kae Tokumoto at No. 5, the highest-ranked Japanese woman on tour, Kotomi Ozawa at No. 7 and Saki Tsukamoto at No. 25. Tokumoto won both the Pro Female and Pro Mix draws at Open Tokyo 2025, and she is going for the same double here, back with Tsukamoto in Pro Female and playing Pro Mix with Ikkei Masaki.
Just 220 Points Cover No. 4 to No. 6
Marc Bernils (ESP) on 9,200 points, Miguel González García (ESP) on 9,100 and Pol Alsina (ESP) on 8,980 hold No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6. One quarterfinal in Osaka is worth 360 points, more than the 220 that cover all three of them.
Alsina is the only one of the three who has played in Japan, and he won when he did, taking Open Tokyo last year.
One Hundred Japanese Players, Aged 14 to 63
Japan accounts for 100 of the 139 entries, and more than 40 of them arrive with no APPT appearance on record. The field spans ages 14 to 63, with seven players under 18 and fourteen over 50. That spread shows how fast padel is growing in Japan, and a home Grand Slam is what brought all of it onto the tour in one weekend.
How to Follow
The Padel Dojo Grand Slam Osaka runs through August 30, with every session live on the APPT YouTube channel. The full order of play is on the APPT website, and @asiapacificpadeltour carries daily updates from the venue.
—
Enjoy 10% off any PadelPROShop order with code APPT — exclusive for the APPT community.
