Kuwait Major 2026 preview: a one-off Major at The Arena Kuwait with the Barcelona race in the balance

The Kuwait Major takes place at The Arena Kuwait from 26 to 31 October, the first of two Premier Padel Majors left in the 2026 season. It arrives straight after the Milano P1 and only days before the national teams gather in Doha for the World Cup, so the leading pairs face a busy fortnight in the Gulf.

A P1 promoted for one season

Kuwait was first scheduled as a P1. In May, Premier Padel and the International Padel Federation (FIP) upgraded it to a Major for 2026 only, saying the change would bring extra ranking points and prize money to players and respond to operational disruption linked to the conflict in Iran. Premier Padel chief executive David Sugden said the upgrades were made "with our players front of mind". A Major is worth 2,000 points to the winners, double a P1, which makes this week unusually valuable for anyone chasing a place in Barcelona.

Venue, prize money and draw

The FIP event page lists total prize money of €1,044,849 and an indoor set-up with four competition courts at The Arena Kuwait on the Sixth Ring Road. The men's main draw has 48 pairs and the women's 40, each including four qualifiers. Men's qualifying starts on Friday 23 October and the men's first round on Sunday 25 October. The quarter-finals are on Thursday 29 October, the semi-finals on Friday, and both finals on Saturday 31 October. Entries have closed, but the FIP had not yet published the entry list or seeds when we went to press.

The venue is not new to the tour. The Arena Kuwait hosted the Kuwait City P1 in November 2024, when Arturo Coello and Agustín Tapia beat Mike Yanguas and Franco Stupaczuk 6-4 6-2, and Paula Josemaría and Ari Sánchez won the women's title. A year later the same arena staged the first FIP World Cup Pairs, where Ale Galán and Fede Chingotto beat Coello and Tapia in the final.

The men: one pair to catch

Tapia and Coello arrive as the season's dominant team, with 11 of the first 19 titles and a 2,200-point lead over Galán and Chingotto in the FIP Race of 12 October. Galán and Chingotto beat them in Kuwait last year and thrashed them 6-2 6-1 in the Buenos Aires P1 final in May, but have not beaten them in a final since. The newer threat is Stupaczuk and Jon Sanz, who reached the Rotterdam and Germany finals within weeks of joining forces and met the world No 1s again in the Milano P1 semi-finals — follow the result on our Milano P1 page. Juan Lebrón and Leo Augsburger, third in the race, complete the group most likely to contend.

The women: a race still open

The women's race is closer. Gemma Triay and Delfi Brea led on 11,660 points on 12 October, with Ari Sánchez and Andrea Ustero on 9,040 and Bea González and Paula Josemaría only 20 points behind them. Sánchez and Ustero are the reigning Paris Major champions, and Claudia Fernández and Martina Calvo have already beaten the top seeds twice this year. A Major title in Kuwait could narrow the gap at the top.

What to watch

Many of the leading players also represent Spain or Argentina in Doha from 2 November, so recovery between the two events will matter. Our Kuwait tournament page will carry the draws and results. For the wider picture, read our end-of-season preview and our men's and women's season reviews: Tapia and Coello's rivals and Triay and Brea's challengers.