Pickleball Australia Opens 2026 Season With Five Sanctioned Events
What's the Score?
The 2026 pickleball season in Australia is officially open for business. Pickleball Australia has unveiled a jam-packed January calendar featuring five major sanctioned tournaments spread across the continent. From Canberra to Hobart, the summer schedule promises elite competition immediately following the holiday break, offering players a mix of Tier 1 and Tier 2 events to kickstart their ranking campaigns.
Hit it deeper!
Pickleball Australia continues to demonstrate the sport's aggressive expansion in the Southern Hemisphere with a robust start to the new year. The organisation has confirmed that the 2026 Sanctioned Tournament calendar will begin in earnest on January 9th. The schedule is designed to test the mettle of the country’s best players right out of the gate with high-stakes Tier 1 (T1) events.
The action commences in Canberra with "The SPIRIT," a T1 event running from January 9th through the 11th. This is quickly followed by "Dink Fest," another T1 tournament slated for the weekend of January 17th and 18th. These early tests will likely set the ranking hierarchy for the first quarter of the year.
However, the highlight of the month arrives during the Australia Day long weekend. In a massive display of logistical coordination, two major Tier 1 tournaments will run concurrently from January 23rd to 26th: "Paddles on the Murray" and the "Central Highlands Ballarat Tournament". This dual-event scheduling forces top talent to choose their battlegrounds strategically, potentially splitting the field and opening pathways for emerging talent to claim podium finishes.
The month wraps up in Tasmania with the prestigious "Hobart Grand Slam." Designated as a Tier 2 event, it runs from January 31st to February 1st, ensuring the island state remains a key destination on the national circuit. Pickleball Australia is urging all competitors to track registration details and updates via their official tournaments portal, as the demand for spots in these summer slams is expected to be high.
The World Pickleball Verdict
The density of this schedule signals a maturation of the Australian pickleball scene. By hosting simultaneous Tier 1 events on the Australia Day weekend, the governing body is expressing confidence that the player base is now deep enough to support multiple major tournaments at once. This "divide and conquer" approach allows for localised growth while maintaining high competitive standards, setting a frantic and exciting pace for the 2026 season.