Hang Seng Bank Hong Kong Slam 2026: Everyone of World’s Top 6 Players to Descend in Kai Tak Arena
Clear the diary. The entire top six of the World Pickleball Rankings, Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters included, will all be on court at Kai Tak Arena when the Hang Seng Bank Hong Kong Slam 2026 runs from 19 to 25 October, with the final PPA Tour Asia titles of 2026 on the line.
The Sequel Everyone Wants
Johns and Waters are both back in Asia for the first time since April, and both arrive with a genuine sequel to set up. Their last stop on the continent, the MB Hanoi Cup, ended with two golds apiece: Waters won Women’s Doubles alongside Anna Bright, Johns took Men’s Doubles with world No. 2 Gabe Tardio, and the pair combined for Mixed Doubles gold together. All three partnerships return intact for Hong Kong, which makes this less a fresh storyline and rather more of a blockbuster picking up exactly where it left off.
Tardio, for his part, arrives on a genuine hot streak worth watching closely. He’s won gold at his last two Asia stops, first alongside Johns in Hanoi, then with a double crown of his own at the Leapmotor Kuala Lumpur Cup earlier this month. Hong Kong throws the deepest field of the year at him. Whether the streak survives that test is one of the tournament’s real questions.
Four Stars, Zero Asia Experience
Hong Kong also marks the Asia debut for four of the sport’s most dangerous players, and the timing couldn’t be more loaded. Siblings JW and Jorja Johnson land in Hong Kong fresh off knocking Johns and Waters out in the Mixed Doubles semi-finals at the Veolia Pickleball National Championships—which raises an obvious question about whether Kai Tak serves up the rematch everyone’s now waiting for.
JW brings a brand-new Men’s Doubles partnership with Tama Shimabukuro into the mix, one that’s already turning heads stateside. Hong Kong will be the first real test of whether that chemistry travels. Jorja, meanwhile, teams up with world No. 4 Tyra Hurricane Black in Women’s Doubles—a pairing that ran into Waters and Bright once before at the Mesa Cup and came away swept. Another meeting at Kai Tak wouldn’t be short on stakes.
Rounding out the debutants are world No. 5 Parris Todd and No. 6 Rachel Rohrabacher, teaming up in Women’s Doubles. Todd doubles up further in Mixed Doubles alongside Christian Alshon, while Rohrabacher partners Tardio.
Watch This Pairing for Pure Noise
Alshon isn’t short on Asia pedigree himself, having already claimed a PPA Tour Asia singles title at the Panas Malaysia Cup in 2025, and he arrives hunting more gold across the board. But it’s his Men’s Doubles pairing with Yuta Funemizu that promises the most fireworks. Funemizu built his reputation as an upset machine running on raw passion and energy, and that combination alongside Alshon’s own pedigree has all the makings of one of the loudest matches of the week.
The rest of the top six isn’t sitting quietly either. World No. 4 Federico Staksrud and No. 5 Hayden Patriquin join forces in Men’s Doubles, while Staksrud partners Danni-Elle Townsend and Patriquin teams with Bright in Mixed Doubles. Black adds a second event to her schedule too, pairing with Eric Oncins in Mixed Doubles.
Beyond the star power, Hong Kong carries genuine historical weight. It’s the first-ever PPA Asia 1500 event and the finale of the entire 2026 PPA Tour Asia season, with players chasing up to USD $1.1 million in prize money, 1,500 World Pickleball Ranking points, and the season’s dragon head medal.
Getting In on the Action
Seated tickets put fans courtside for the week’s biggest matches, covering both Championship Court and Grandstand Court, right where the titles get decided on Championship Sunday, 25 October. Standing Tickets cover every other court in the venue, letting fans wander and pick their own matches, though Championship and Grandstand Courts aren’t included at that tier. Pickletown rounds out the experience as the tournament’s fan hub, with meet-and-greets running throughout the week for anyone hoping to get a photo or a signed paddle from the players they’ve only ever watched on screen.
Seven days, the world’s top six, and a season finale to match. Asia hasn’t seen a pickleball lineup quite like this one.
