As a champion, it’s sometimes all about how you adapt to difficult circumstances rather than winning time after time. 

It’s fair to say that Shingo Kunieda has seen both sides of the coin in recent years. Having bagged singles gold in Beijing and London — not to mention 20 Grand Slam titles between 2007 and 2015 — he was looking forward to pulling off the Paralympic treble at Rio 2016. 

A recurrence of an elbow injury put paid to that — though he still managed bronze in the doubles alongside Satoshi Saida — and it has been a long road back. Now, typically, Kunieda sees an opportunity in adversity, in being a “challenger” at Tokyo 2020, and not the champion. 

“When I was in Rio I was the defending champion. Now I’m the challenger, and it’s easier mentally,” said the 35-year-old.  

 “I can approach every match as a challenger, it is good for me. The challenger’s mindset is easier…as a champion, sometimes I would think, ‘I have to win this match’, so it was more pressure for me, but as the challenger I can challenge point by point — it’s a more aggressive style and easier to play this way.” 

It’s an unusual position for an habitual winner to be in, and the comeback trail goes all the way back to early 2016. Surgery on his right elbow in April that year seemed to have done the trick, so much so that less than two months later he reached the World Team Cup final in Tokyo, where he lost to arch-rival Stephane Houdet, of France.  

But the Japanese star’s troubles were not over. The elbow pain returned at his next event, the French Open, and persisted through to the Paralympic Games. 

“When I was playing in Rio I had pain in my right elbow, the surgery hadn’t gone so well and it was a very tough time for me after the Games, so I rested for half a year,” said Kunieda. 

“The elbow got better but there was still pain on the backhand, so I had to change technique and needed time to improve that shot. 

“By 2018, my adjustment to the technique was completed and that year I won the Australian Open, and at Roland Garros, and came back as No.1 for one year. I changed racket brand, changed the chair — I also tried a new sitting position — and changed my coach, everything. 

Those two Grand Slams took his haul to 22 (nine Australian Opens, seven Roland Garros triumphs and six US Open successes). But the challenges now, he says, are as much off the court as on it, regarding attitudes to a section of society that is more hidden away in his home country than elsewhere. 

“I want to show people we can play well — much better than they expect — because in Japan some people look at us disabled as weak, and I want to change that,” said Kunieda, who has noted much progress toward making the country’s capital more accessible. 

“I feel there have been some big changes already because on the train, and at the stations, it’s getting easier compared with 10 years ago. Now about 80% of Tokyo is accessible for the disabled, and I think it is now at a level that compares with London or Paris. but still the US is the most accessible.” 

That improvement extends to the sport’s Olympic and Paralympic venue, Ariake Tennis Park, which Kunieda got a good look at twice in October, first at the ATP 500 Rakuten Japan Open, then at the Tokyo 2020 test event, the Mitsubishi All-Japan Championships. 

“The facility is very accessible — toilets, locker room — and has a lot of ramps, many more than before,” said Kunieda, who won a single-set exhibition match at the test event. 

“I played at the Japan Open. It was the first time we played wheelchair tennis at that event and so many spectators came to watch. In the final, there were almost 2,500 people on Court No. 1.  

“Japanese people are interested in Paralympics now. Sometimes a home match gives me more pressure, but sometimes the fans give me energy — and I hope it is energy that they give me next year.” 

He and the other players will need that energy. Awaiting them will be the notoriously hot and humid Tokyo summer, with daytime highs routinely in the mid-30 degrees Celsius and midnight seeing the thermometer stuck around the upper 20s.  

“I know the Japanese summer well. It was terrible this year, in the Paralympic period next year. It was too hot and I couldn’t practise near my home town, in Kashiwa, between midday and 5pm, so I hope the organisers will schedule a lot of night matches next year,” said the world No. 2, who has a singular way of preparing for a major tournament, which he hit upon in the build-up to the London Games. 

“Visualisation is very important for athletes, and when I played at London 2012 my cellphone wallpaper was a picture of the court at the Paralympic venue there, so I always imagined myself playing on that court in the Paralympics, and winning. Then, when I won, it was the same image I’d visualised before.” 

It’s a safe bet his phone will soon feature a picture of the Colosseum show court at Ariake Tennis Park…