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5 Best Japanese Tennis Players

Tennis may not have been a Japanese traditional sport; in fact, it was recognized as a competitive sport in Japan in 1972; almost a century since the first tournament was played in the United States and Europe.

In the early 20^th century the Japanese played a form of Hard tennis which was later improved by the sports enthusiasts to fit the Japanese style and it was labelled as soft tennis. The former used hard yellow balls while the latter used soft rubber balls. The rules of the sport were not changed.

Soft tennis is recognized in other Asian countries and is actively played in South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines.

The Japanese soft tennis has gained support from European countries after it was introduced to them in 2004.

Professional Japanese players are rapidly growing and are becoming a force to reckon with in world competitions. Here are the Top 5 Japanese Tennis Players.

1. Kei Nishikori

By Diliff – Wikimedia

Kei Nishikori is the only male Japanese player to make it to the World’s top 5. He fell into this category after losing to David Ferrer during the finals of Abierto Mexicano Telcel in 2015.

This also made him among the first male Japanese player to reach the finals of the US Open although he has not won any Grand Slam title. Kei beat Novak Djokovic in the 2014 Miami Open semi-finals.

He has maintained his position as the best male tennis player in Japan even though he has not been able to reach number 1 as his female counterpart Naomi Osaka.

During the French Open, many predicted that he would emerge the winner but lost to Rafael Nadal during the quarter-finals.

He lost to Roger Federer at a similar stage at the Wimbledon.

When he was 14, Kei moved to Bradenton, Florida as part of the Masaaki Morita Tennis Fund group that aimed to improve their tennis game at the IMG Academy.

He played several American sports such as football and baseball to develop his serve and throwing motion.

2. Shingo Kunieda

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Shingo Kunieda is a professional wheelchair tennis player; he has dominated in several championships.

He became number 1 in 2006 and was named among the best male wheelchair tennis players in 2018.

Shingo is known for his amazing successive 106 match win that continued for three years; from 2007to 2010.

In 2018, Shingo lost three Grand Slams Singles to his biggest rival Gustavo Fernández. He had hoped to win all the four Grand Slam titles; Australian, French Open US Open and Wimbledon.

He was able to get back his title as the best wheelchair tennis player by taking the 1^st position despite going through some tough moments.

2016 and 2017 saw him get overwhelmed by an injury and was out of the court for most of the year.

In 2018, he returned to the court and won the Sydney Super Series. It was his first win since June 2015 together with nine other titles at the Australian Open.

Shingo has also won 4 more titles in 2018 including the Roland Garros, Asian Para Games and World Team Cup titles.

In the doubles match, Shingo was paired with Great Britain’s Gordon Reid and won the Roland Garros. He is a seven-time ITF World Champion and has won 42 Grand Slam titles. He won three gold medals and two bronze medals in the Paralympic games.

3. Yui Kamiji

By Clément Bucco-Wikimedia

Yui Kamiji is also a wheelchair professional tennis player and has been in the number 1 world rank. She became the first non-Dutch woman to win the Masters title in 2013.

Her career-high rating was in 2014 when she became the best wheelchair tennis player at the ITF Women’s Wheelchair World championship. Yui, however, lost her position to Diede de Groot.

In 2016, Yui teamed up with Marjolein Buis from the Netherlands and both won the Australian Open; while at the Roland Garros, she teamed up with Jordanne Whiley a Brit, they also won the title. They went further and won the Wimbledon doubles for three consecutive years.

She was the International Tennis Federation World champion in 2017, this was for the second time in her career.

Despite losing to Diede de Groot, she had an amazing year in 2018. She won 8 singles title including the prestigious Roland Garros, she also won nine doubles trophies at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open.

Yui was the first Japanese to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics after winning a gold medal at the Asian Para Games. The Tokyo Paralympics were however postponed to 2021 after an outbreak of the Corona Virus.

Yui has won a total of 14 titles as well as being a finalist at the NEC Masters.

4. Kimiko Date

By Spicks and Specks – Wikimedia

Kimiko Date is a celebrated Japanese tennis legend. This is even without her winning any Grand Slam matches or reaching the highest WTA rating.

She has won 4 championships of Japan Open and reached the semi-finals in all Grand Slam tournaments other than the US Open.

She started her professional career in 1989 and went on to be one of the greatest Asian tennis players.

Kimiko reached the semi-finals at the 1994 Australian Open, 1995 French Open, and Wimbledon in 1996.

Kimiko took a 12-year break from tennis and made a surprising come back aged 37. She won many ITF and WTA titles becoming the 2^nd oldest tennis player to ever win a WTA tour singles title after Billie Jean King.

Her first retirement from professional tennis at the age of 45 in 1996 after having knee and shoulder injuries.

After her second retirement, Kimiko now runs her bakery in Tokyo known as Frau Krumm; she has specialized in baking German bread and pastries, and also French and Japanese pastries.

Her acquired taste in bread started when she toured Europe during her late teens.

5. Ai Sugiyama

By Bruno Girin – Wikipedia

Ai Sugiyama is a retired professional tennis player who reached the number 1 position in the Women’s doubles during the WTA Tour. Her highest career rank was number 8 back in 2004.

In her entire career, Ai has won 6 singles titles and 37 doubles titles together with three Grand slam Women’s double titles.

She has held the all-round record in both the male and female category. Ai made 62 successive Grand Slam appearances, the new record holder is Roger Federer in 2015.

She had her best season in 2003 where she beat Lindsay Davenport in the second round and defeated Eleni Daniilidou to make it the semi-finals.