For anyone involved in sport, whether it be competitor, coach or supporter, there is always great store placed on being the first to identify a player as one to watch going forward.

There is even greater kudos should that individual continue developing, begin to realise their potential and start making an impact on some of the biggest stages that particular sport has to offer.

Despite being just 15 years old, it may be a little late in the day to claim that Japan’s Tokito Oda, a guitar-playing martial arts fan, is an uncovered gem waiting to be unleashed. After all, his stock has been rising – soaring in fact – for some time now.

Nevertheless, should any debates be raging over players ready to make their mark and a name be required to throw into the mix, Oda’s is certainly one with which to conjure as he looks to build on a sensational breakthrough season last term.

Some top lines from his 2021 campaign: more silverware than in the rest of his career combined, a 22-match winning streak, the youngest player to be ranked No. 1 in the boys’ rankings and an ascent to a career-high position of No. 10 in the men’s standings.

To place his development and rate of progress into context, Oda, who made his UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour debut in August 2018 aged 12, began 2021 ranked No. 7 in the boys’ rankings and No. 90 in the men’s. This was to alter dramatically.  

“It was definitely a year in which everything changed a lot,” Oda told itftennis.com. “I think 2021 will always be a key year for me when I look back on my career.

“I feel that my tennis is getting better and better, and I am honestly happy that it is showing in the results. Of course, I am evolving but I feel there are things that need to change and things that should not change.

“I also feel that I am at a level where I can play and win against the top players in the world, even at my current level. However, I am not satisfied, it is close to zero, as I want more.”

The teenager made a concerted move early in the season, with onlookers soon taking serious note of this prodigiously talented youngster and his history-making antics. In April, while still aged 14, Oda became the youngest ever boys’ world No. 1 in the Cruyff Foundation Junior Wheelchair Tennis Rankings.

It proved a pivotal month for the teenager as he pieced together an outstanding winning sequence that saw him claim three junior and three senior singles titles, which incorporated his 22-match winning run, at successive tournaments in Turkey.

More was to come, much more. Weeks later, Oda beat his first top-10 opponents in Takashi Sanada and Tom Egberink, a soon-to-be silver medallist at Tokyo 2020, on his way to winning a maiden ITF 2 title at the Kemal Sahin Open.

Further success followed at July’s Swiss Open Geneva where he sealed his first ITF 1 title, before Oda assumed centre stage at the 2021 BNP Paribas World Team Cup in Sardinia.

He spearheaded Japan’s charge on the Mediterranean island as his nation claimed its first junior title in the competition, while two more triumphs arrived, at the Antalya Open and MTA Open, in December. The latter propelled him into the world’s top 10.

It has been quite the journey for wheelchair tennis’s latest sensation, who would appear to be plotting a course to stardom. However, it is a pathway rooted in the past and one which can be traced to him being diagnosed with osteosarcoma – the most common type of primary bone cancer in children and young people – aged nine.

“I developed osteosarcoma and the pain gradually prevented me from playing soccer, which I used to do,” said Oda.

“The pain got worse and worse and when I went to a local hospital, I was told they couldn’t see me and that I had to go to a bigger hospital, which I did two or three times.

“When I think about it now, my life as a patient was extremely painful and it was like walking through a tunnel with no end in sight. However, now I feel those experiences were not in vain. I believe those experiences have supported me mentally in my tennis career.

“While I was in the hospital, my doctor recommended various para-sports to me and I discovered wheelchair tennis, which made me want to try to be a competitive player. Now, it is my hobby, my greatest pleasure, my profession and the place where I can shine the most.”

Sparkle he most certainly has and when discussing his ambitions for the future, it is abundantly clear that Oda is not short of confidence nor shackled by his growing reputation and the volume of plaudits heading his way.

“I do have unwavering self-belief and that comes from the quality of my daily practice, but also because I’m ready to be the best in the world,” he added.

“I really think I can be, while outside of competition, I want to be a person who can be a dream for boys and girls with the same disease.”

Oda lives in Ichinomiya, the city of his birth, which is an hour-long flight from Tokyo, where the rescheduled Olympic and Paralympic Games were held in 2021.

An interested observer on this occasion, Oda is not shy of stating his desire to follow in the footsteps of four-time Paralympic champion Shingo Kuneida and Yui Kamiji, who both navigated the gauntlet of pressure to medal on home soil in September.

“My athletic goal is to win the Paralympics three times in a row,” declared Oda.

“But I’m only thinking about winning the Paris Paralympics. In 2024, I will be 18 years old, which still seems to be young in the eyes of the world, but I want to establish my own tennis style and create a unique style of play before I reach that age.

“The likes of Shingo and Yui gave me a dream and made me want to challenge myself. I am truly grateful for that and that is why I want to be a person who gives dreams.”

The way in which Oda announced himself in 2021 suggests his emergence under the wheelchair tennis spotlight is more than a momentary dalliance. It may very well be worth keeping tabs on this superstar-in-waiting over the coming months and years.

Tokito Oda: remember the name.