{"id":456605,"date":"2026-02-03T23:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T23:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/456605\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T23:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T23:00:11","slug":"pickleball-champions-crowned-at-australian-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/456605\/","title":{"rendered":"Pickleball champions crowned at Australian Open"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Team Hardware\u00a0has been crowned champion of the\u00a0AO Pickleball Slam 2026, capping off three days of world-class pickleball action at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n<p>Held from\u00a030 January to 1 February, the second edition of the AO Pickleball Slam transformed ANZ Arena into a high-energy hub of fast-paced competition, with players from across the globe competing for a share of\u00a0more than $100,000 in prize money.<\/p>\n<p>Team Hardware \u2013 featuring\u00a0Harrison Brown (AUS), Andie Dikosavljevic (AUS), Phuc Huynh (VIE) and Nicola Schoeman (AUS)\u00a0claimed the trophy after a strong performance throughout the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>In the final, Team Hardware faced\u00a0Team Hosier\u00a0in a series of singles and doubles match-ups against\u00a0Ryler DeHeart (USA), Sofia Sewing (USA), Emelia Schmidt (AUS) and Zac Grabovic, who stepped in for\u00a0Kyle Stoker (AUS)\u00a0following injury.<\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pball3.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\" class=\"cmp-image__image\" itemprop=\"contentUrl\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Finals day was further elevated by the\u00a0Pickleball Celebrity Smash,\u00a0which headlined Sunday\u2019s schedule and drew strong crowds to\u00a0Court 16. Well-known faces including\u00a0Marty Fox, Joey Scandizzo, Peter Rayias, Emma Shanahan and Ben Cox,\u00a0Jacqui Felgate, Zac Nunns,\u00a0Shelby Bates\u00a0and Bluezone duo\u00a0Elle Ray and James Tzanoudakis\u00a0all picked up a paddle, adding entertainment and star power to the day.<\/p>\n<p>Tennis Australia\u2019s Head of Game Expansion\u00a0Callum Beale\u00a0said Tennis Australia continues to \u00a0provide an unrivalled platform for the sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe AO Pickleball Slam showcased some of the world\u2019s leading pickleball talent at Melbourne Park, competing on an iconic stage during AO finals weekend,\u201d Beale said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the same time we are building momentum beyond the professional ranks by supporting clubs, coaches and communities to try pickleball, encouraging more Aussies to pick up a racquet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The AO Pickleball Slam forms part of a broader summer of pickleball activity across the country, alongside events such as\u00a0AO By the River in Brisbane\u00a0and\u00a0AO By the Harbour in Sydney, as Tennis Australia continues to grow participation and visibility for the sport nationwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/adobe\/dynamicmedia\/deliver\/dm-aid--489b2f60-ed39-45fd-8cb2-0e5b086d451a\/pball1.jpg?preferwebp=true&amp;quality=85\"  loading=\"lazy\" class=\"cmp-image__image\" itemprop=\"contentUrl\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Team Hardware\u00a0has been crowned champion of the\u00a0AO Pickleball Slam 2026, capping off three days of world-class pickleball action&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[235221,64,63,72820,63015,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-456605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-ao-pickleball-slam","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-news-article","12":"tag-pickleball","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}