The Republic of Ireland holds its biggest ever padel tournament this week and local fans will be cheering for Dublin-born brothers Oscar and Oli Jacobson.
Qualifying for the FIP Silver Hiscox Padel Irish Open begins on Tuesday (14 July) at Star Padel in the leafy Dublin suburb of Templeogue. The Jacobson boys have been given a main draw wildcard.
Ireland held its first FIP in 2025, a Bronze, with no players from the world top 100. But this weeek’s higher Silver status has attracted the likes of Antonio Fernandez (world no.62), Francisco Cabeza Teres (65) and Facundo Dominguez (74), plus nine women with a double-figure world ranking.
Familiar names to British padel fans are also in the draw, including GB no.1 and 2 women’s pairing Catherine Rose and Aimee Gibson. On the men’s side, GB duo Louie Harris and Alex Loughlan, and Theo Garton and Cameron Dollimore, have also made the short hop across the Irish Sea.
Perhaps less well-known to padelistas outside Ireland are brothers Oscar and Oli, who represented Ireland in last year’s FIP Euro Padel Cup.
Both were born in Dublin, but the family left for the UK when they were eight and 10 respectively. Their mother is English and their father was born and raised in Ireland. Both brothers acquired Irish passports a few years ago.
Although Oscar and Oli have only gone back to Dublin occasionally, they did return last April for the national trials — an opportunity which arose quite by chance.
Speaking exclusively to The Padel Paper, Oscar explained: “My dad and my younger brother were over last year in April, they were walking past one of the parks and there was padel courts, and dad met Alvaro [Cabello Perez] who runs the Irish Padel Federation.
“Dad said ‘I’ve got two sons who play pretty well, they’d love to compete for Ireland.’ We got in touch, went over for the trials and then we got an email saying we’d got into the team selection for the Euros, which was obviously a great feeling.”
In the FIP Euro Padel Cup, Oscar and Oli were partnered up — having played most of their padel careers together until Oli moved to Thailand earlier this year.
After the siblings lost to a strong Slovakia pair, then went down narrowly against Kosovo in three sets, coaches had a change of plan. Oscar next played alongside Louis Jarrold and earned a first win of the tournament, 6-3, 6-4 against a pair from San Marino.
The 23-year-old hopes he’s already done enough to secure a spot in Ireland’s World Cup squad for this year. Good performances on home soil this week — extra special as his brother will be over from Thailand to play alongside him — could help ensure that.
“I think the standard has gone up a lot,” he said. “There’s a lot more competition now than there was even last year. Hopefully mine and my brother’s place is cemented from last year, we both played pretty well.
“We’ve already spoken to the coach, so we didn’t need to go to the trials. We hope we get back into the team and can compete for Ireland again.
“They are hosting quite a few tournaments now in Ireland, they’re being more proactive. The FIP Silver will be great.
“Ireland hasn’t hit the top of the curve like the UK has just yet, but it’s slowly getting there. It’s only going to keep growing and growing and follow the same sort of trajectory as the UK. It’s exciting to see what’s ahead.”
