8月20〜23日に中国・深セン(深圳)で開かれたPPAツアーアジア「スケッチャーズ深センオープン」で、15歳の島袋タマ(Tama Shimabukuro)がミックスダブルスを制した。オーストラリアのサラ・デネヒーと組み、決勝を11-6、11-1で押し切っての金だ。ホノルル育ちでパドルを握ってまだ2年、姓は沖縄に多い「島袋」。日本のプレーヤーや保護者にとって、10代がどこまで届くのかを測る重要な指標となった。
He closed the mixed final with Dennehy 11-6, 11-1
The Shenzhen Open is a 500-class event with $70,000 in prize money and 500 ranking points, played at the Bao'an Sports Center Gymnasium in Shenzhen. In the mixed doubles final, Shimabukuro and Dennehy faced the Vietnamese pair of Huynh and Truong. They took the first game 11-6 and the second 11-1, the second almost entirely one-sided. It was Dennehy's 23rd birthday that day, making for an unusual picture: a title won with a partner eight years younger.
The PPA Tour Asia is deep with Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean players, and a 15-year-old standing on the top step of a mixed podium is not a light event. Given his age and how short his career has been, this single gold carries more weight than its placing.
Two years with a paddle, and in May he beat world No. 2 Staksrud in Atlanta
Shimabukuro is from Honolulu, Hawaii, and was originally a skateboard and surfing kid. He started pickleball only two years ago. Even so, at the Veolia Atlanta event in May 2026 he ran from the No. 22 seed all the way to the men's singles final. Along the way he sank No. 2 seed Federico Staksrud 6-11, 11-8, 11-9 and beat No. 11 seed Cliff, No. 3 seed Hunter Johnson and No. 13 seed Martinez Vich in succession. He lost the final to top seed Haworth and finished runner-up, but he had knocked out seed after seed. That record earned him the ninth overall pick by the Utah Black Diamonds in the spring Major League Pickleball (MLP) draft.
| Event and discipline | Shimabukuro's result | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Shenzhen Open, mixed doubles, final | Won with Dennehy | 11-6, 11-1 |
| Atlanta, men's singles, semifinal | Beat Hunter Johnson (No. 3) | — |
| Atlanta, men's singles (April 30) | Beat Staksrud (No. 2) | 6-11, 11-8, 11-9 |
Tournament information from PPA Tour Asia; results based on reporting by Pickleball News Asia and PickleballSpot.
ミックスダブルスのみの優勝、三冠達成ならず
今大会、島袋が狙った3種目中、優勝したのはミックスダブルスのみだった。深センの男子シングルスはグレイソン・ゴールディンが、女子シングルスはチャオ・イー・ワン(汪超逸)が制し、男子ダブルスはコリン・ジョンズ組が頂点に立っている。中国とベトナムの主力、そして北米のトップが同じ会場に集まる中で、15歳がミックス優勝という実績を手に入れた事実こそが、この週末の輪郭を作った。取りこぼしを悔しがれる立ち位置に、もういるということだ。
How teenagers in Japan can chase a Shimabukuro raised in Honolulu
What players in Japan should note calmly here is that Shimabukuro did not come out of a Japanese national development program. What lifted him was Hawaii's training environment and the volume of top North American events he was thrown into from his early teens.The same Shimabukuro's run to two golds in Tokyoshows the same thing: fast growth is inseparable from an environment where you play strong opponents often. Japan, by contrast, is stillselecting its junior national team by open application. Both the net that picks out talent and how often the selected are sent to international stages account for the current gap.
The speed is not only Shimabukuro's story.A player who reached the Asian junior quarterfinals after seven months with a paddleis another case, and across Asia children who built athleticism in other sports are breaking into the top ranks quickly. Shimabukuro, carrying body mechanics from skating and surfing onto the court, is the clearest example. There is plenty of room for teenagers in Japan to climb at the same angle.
What players in Japan chasing Shimabukuro can do now
- Enter PPA Tour Asia stops in Japan and nearby early, setting wins and losses aside, to build up reps against better players
- In mixed, pair with a partner above your level and experience the tension of a final while still in your teens
- Keep the balance built in skating, surfing or ball sports and transfer it to weight shifts on court
- Put your current position in numbers with an objective measure such as DUPR, and check your gains every six months
Shimabukuro will next appear at the Sansan Tokyo Open in Japan and at the Brisbane event in October. He is not a player who stops at one gold in Shenzhen. His peers in Japan now have a concrete benchmark for where someone their own age stands in the world. Simply going to the venue the next time he plays in Japan will sharpen the picture of what they are aiming at.
