Kamiji and Oda fly the flag for Japan in post-Kunieda era
Since wheelchair tennis was introduced at the Grand Slams in the mid-2000s, Japan’s Shingo Kunieda had been an ever-present – barring injury, always at the tournament and always in contention for silverware.
Kunieda racked up 50 title-victories across singles and doubles before announcing his retirement on the eve of this year’s Australian Open. And now the baton has passed to two of his compatriots to continue Japan’s exceptional record in wheelchair tennis. Yui Kamiji and Tokito Oda are both among the contenders for the women’s and men’s singles titles in Paris this year – and both recorded comfortable first round victories on Tuesday to begin their campaigns.
“I’m really happy to be here and to play in front of these crowds, especially many Japanese fans today,” Kamiji said after her 6-3 6-0 win over China’s Zhu Zhenzhen. “I was very happy with my performance.”
Oda was similarly content with a 6-1 6-4 victory against compatriot Daisuke Arai. “It was a different feeling for me to play against a Japanese player, so I will was a little bit nervous,” he reflected. “So I'm really happy to win this and I want to keep going. I’m feeling great so just go for it.”
Both are lefthanded and both are seeded second here this week – but Kamiji and Oda are at very different stages of their career. At 29 years old and with eight Grand Slam singles titles to her name, Kamiji can now be considered a veteran of the tour, while Oda is just 17, made his Grand Slam debut just one year ago and is on the hunt for a first major title this week.
“He's a good player and he's still so young,” Kamiji said when asked about Oda’s game. “On the court, he has so much confidence and he played very well [today]. Both of us are lefthanded players so sometimes I watch him play and learn some things. It's really nice to see him play at the same level.”
Oda’s next match will be against another talented young player, 23-year-old Dutchman Ruben Spaargaren. And while he is still three victories away from winning the title here, he was allowing himself to think about what that triumph might feel like.
“Winning a Grand Slam has been one of my biggest dreams since I was a kid,” he said. “I'm really excited to come here, this tournament is on clay courts and in my favourite country.”
Kamiji has tasted victory at Roland Garros before – indeed, she is a four-time singles champion. But she knows that she will have probably have to defeat world No. 1 Diede de Groot and end a winning streak that was extended to 100 matches on Tuesday, thanks to the Dutchwoman’s 6-2 6-2 triumph against Emmanuelle Morch.
“I'm changing my tactics, my positions and many things to try to beat Diede,” she explained. “This year, I changed my wheelchair and I've only used it for like two months, three months – so I still need to find the way I play and find a comfortable position.”
One person that she, and the entire Japanese contingent in Paris, can look to is Kunieda. He may have retired from the professional game, but his presence still looms large over Japanese wheelchair tennis.
“Before I leave Japan, he practiced with me and some of the Japanese players, he hit with them,” Kamiji continued. “He's our idol. Our leader. He showed us a lot of things.”
In the men’s draw, Kunieda’s absence means that Alfie Hewett started as favourite – and world No. 1 came through a challenging match-up with Tom Egberink to set up a meeting with friend and doubles partner Gordon Reid. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, Gustavo Fernandez and Joachim Gerard, also recorded straight-sets victories on Tuesday to advance to the last eight, where they will face Takuya Miki and Martin de la Puente, respectively.
Kamiji’s next opponent is Katharina Kruger, while De Groot takes on another French wild card, Pauline Deroulede. The other women’s quarter-finals will see No. 3 seed Jiske Griffioen play Dana Mathewson and No. 4 seed Momoko Ohtani against Kgothatso Montjane.
The men’s and women’s wheelchair singles quarter-final matches take place on Wednesday, with the quad singles event also set to get underway.