Recent U.S. Open champion Carlos Alcaraz has been the star attraction at this year’s Kinoshita Open a.k.a. the Japan Open. Sadly the stars did not align for me to see the man who currently has half a dozen Grand Slams to his name including two in 2025. I’d booked tickets for the morning session on the third day of competition and could’ve also attended the evening slot as well as the earlier one the day before. However, his opening match took place on day two at the one time I was not available to go!

There’s more to tennis though than just seeing the number one ranked player in action. At least I could see Britain’s Jack Draper on court again having caught one of his signed balls last year. Ah that’s right, he pulled out a few weeks ago! It would still be good to see home favourite Kei Nishikori then. Nope, he withdrew too! Oh well I’d be fine seeing the likes of Frances Tiafoe, Ben Shelton, Holger Rune and Casper Ruud.

As it was, none of them featured on the day I went (Friday 26th September) but I did actually still get to see a Brit in action as Luke Johnson is one half of a top 30 doubles pairing alongside Sander Arends from the Netherlands. It was an absolutely scorching mid-morning as my friend Marcus and I took our burning hot seats on the show court. Despite having a basic roof, the blazing sunshine was still able to reach us. I was actually quite surprised to see so many fans watching this doubles match. Maybe they just didn’t think the first match on the main court wasn’t so appealing or maybe they just prefer doubles.

Arends and Johnson took the first set but their opponents levelled things up before it went to a tie-breaker to decide it.

It went the distance but eventually the Austrian and American won it 12-10.

Even though I was draped in a Union Jack flag, I actually wasn’t the most obvious British fan in the stands as one Japanese lady had multiple flags. As she was in the hospitality section she was able to wait near the court exit to get one signed by the dejected Briton post-match. I’m sure defeated players aren’t too keen on such things but to his credit he gave her a few precious seconds. Him and his doubles partner were soon whisked away by buggy to the main arena passing me en-route as I applauded their efforts and said “unlucky guys” to them. I got some kind of acknowlegement which was as much as I could’ve expected really.

Over in the main stadium it was actually quite empty (probably because a Japanese player was on court at that time) on the ground floor concourse area which is often a hive of activity with photo opps, souvenir stalls and promotional activity of various goods. That gave Marcus and I free rein to easily get some cheesy shots with the giant tennis balls.

It was about halfway through the first set of the second singles match of the day when we joined the action.

Sho Shimabukuro is one of the rising stars of Japanese tennis, and having made it through two qualifiying matches this week he found himself on the main court facing Sebastian Korda of the USA who is the son of 1998 Australian Open champion Petr Korda.

Korda was a bit too strong for him though and took it in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.

It was really nice to have some company on this occasion as I often go to the majority of matches by myself.

Bonus: Late last year I was given the dream draw in the World Cup of Tennis (a.k.a. the Davis Cup) as Japan and Great Britain were paired up with the former hosting. I was looking forward to attending it but then on December 25th it was announced that the match would NOT be taking place at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo. Christmas Day ruined!

Instead it would be played at the Bourbon Dome in a place called Miki. I’d never heard of it and after checking a map I discovered that it was in Hyogo Prefecture but not even in one of the bigger cities. I looked at trains and even flights but it just was not feasible for me to go so I had to give up on the idea.

As it was, the British team featured many players I’d barely heard of which did cushion the blow a bit. Japan won the match leading to a tie against Germany which I did go to a couple of weeks ago. This was a Davis Cup qualifier taking place at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo with the winner progressing to the Final 8 in Bologna this November.

As is often the case at any tennis event in Tokyo, I saw the Bjorn Borg of Japan who is  known as Vamos Watanabe on Instagram. I beckoned him over and told him his photos with Novak Djokovic and Caros Alcaraz at this year’s Wimbledon tournament were great, and after the briefest of chats about the recent US Open I took a selfie with him.

The roof was on for the day’s matches which began with a really closely fought contest between Yoshihito Nishioka and Jan-Lennard Struff which was narrowly won by the German 4-6, 7-6, 4-6.

Shintaro Mochizuki started off well against Yannick Hanfmann in the second match but eventually went down 3-6, 3-6. The Germans finished the tie off the following day with victory in the doubles to make it a clean sweep, and qualify for the Final 8.

It was a cracking atmosphere as is quite common for such team competitions and I really wish some of it could be replicated in the respective men’s and women’s Japan Open tournaments.

Click here to read ‘My Rather Blinkered Review of the 2024 Tennis Season!’

Click here to read ‘The Highs & Lows of This Year’s International Tennis Tournament In Tokyo’

Click here to read ‘I Met Britain’s No. 1 Female Tennis Player In Tokyo (& I Was On The TV Coverage A Fair Bit Too!)’

Click here to read ‘Two Tennis Tournaments In Tokyo Serve Up Mixed Fortunes For Me!’

Click here to read ‘Naomi Osaka Is The Star Attraction In Tokyo As Japan Compete In The World Cup Of Tennis’