Yoichi Takahashi has played padel for seven years and would like to turn the sport into a manga one day. The creator of Captain Tsubasa, who is honorary president of the Japan Padel Association, is in Nagoya for the padel tournament at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games. He explained his interest in the sport in an interview published by the FIP on September 28.
Yoichi Takahashi has played padel for seven years
Yoichi Takahashi first discovered padel in Spain and continued playing regularly after returning to Japan. He says the connection between partners and the amount of thinking required during rallies were what drew him to the game.
You have to use your head a lot to play, and I really liked that.
His visit to Nagoya comes as padel makes its debut as a medal sport at the Asian Games. The competition runs from September 28 to October 3 at the Nagoya City Higashi Sports Center. Growth across Asia is measurable. According to figures published by the FIP, more than 600 courts were built on the continent between April 2024 and October 2025, taking the total above 1,700.
A manga to introduce padel to a wider audience
Takahashi knows how fiction can shape the public image of a sport. Captain Tsubasa placed football at the centre of a story followed far beyond Japan. In Nagoya, the author applies that experience to padel and names three formats that could, in his view, reach more people: manga, anime and film.
Manga, anime and films about padel would be a way to promote it and bring it to many more people.
The artist is not presenting the idea as a project already in production. He says he is continuing his work around Captain Tsubasa and would like to create something about padel if his schedule allows. No title, timetable or publisher has been announced.
Tsubasa and Misaki would be his ideal pair
Takahashi has already imagined how his characters might enter a padel court. He would choose Tsubasa and Misaki as the pair and transfer some padel shots into his graphic universe. He mentions the out-of-court retrieval and imagines a “twin shot” in which both partners would strike the ball together, a move he describes as a true manga shot.
The Asian Games padel tournament continues in Nagoya until October 3. Takahashi’s creative idea remains a publicly stated ambition, not an announcement of a new series.
