Phuc Huynh Reps Asia in 2026 Australian Open Pickleball Slam, Forms Part of Winning Team

Vietnam’s Phuc Huynh was the sole Asian representative at the Australian Open Pickleball Slam, which was held for a second straight year as a co-feature to the recently concluded Australian Open, tennis’s first Grand Slam of the season. The competition brought together 28 players who competed for bragging rights and an AUS $100,000 prize (around USD $70,000).

Aside from representing Asia, Phuc Huynh also won substantial prize money as he was part of the winning squad, Team Hardware, alongside Harrison Brown, Andie Dikosavljevic, and Nicola Schoeman. Huynh and company bested six other teams in a tournament that featured a single round-robin group stage with rally scoring. The five other teams that competed in the Australian Open Pickleball Slam were:

• Team Degraves: Zack Taylor (USA), Jason Taylor, Selina Turulja, Sahra Dennehy
• Team Flinders: Casey Diamond (USA), Michaela Haet, Danni-Elle Townsend, George Wall
• Team Hosier: Ryler DeHeart (USA), Emilia Schmidt, Sofia Sewing (USA), Kyle Stoker, Zach Grabovic
• Team Duckboard: Megan Fudge (USA), Sarah Burr, Joseph Wild, Jai Grewal (New Zealand)
• Team Guilford: Christina Chin (Canada), Mitch Hargreaves, Roos van Reek (Netherlands, but plays full-time in Australia), Andre Mick

All players, unless indicated otherwise, hail from Australia, with van Reek, Hargreaves, Dennehy, Townsend, and DeHeart all competing in the PPA Tour Asia as well.

Phuc Huynh and Team Hardware Come Out on Top in Thrilling Finish

Teams Hardware and Hosier emerged as the top two teams of the round-robin stage, with the former notching decisive wins over Team Duckboard and Team Guilford, and the latter taking Team Hardware to the hilt twice.

Team Hardware and Team Hosier faced off a third time in the finals, which ended in a tie thanks to Sewing and Grabovic beating Dikosavljevic and Brown, 20–13, in Game 8. Before that do-or-die, Vietnam’s Huynh tied things up with a huge 22–18 win over APP Tour veteran Ryler DeHeart in Game 2. He then teamed up with Brown in Game 6 to beat DeHeart and Grabovic, 33–30, to put Team Hardware up, 4–2.

In the end, Team Hardware proved steadier in the AOPS showdown, edging out Team Hosier, 19–18, in a scintillating conclusion to the Australian Open Pickleball Slam.