For many fans, tennis is all about the Grand Slams and seeing the world’s top players in action. Understandably, that is very appealing and something I’d like to do but it is unlikely to happen anytime soon so I have to make do with what Japan offers. Thankfully, there are a few international tournaments in Tokyo each year and they are all very appealing to me as they offer a more intimate and up-close experience featuring some slightly lower-ranked players.

Over the years I’ve cycled past the Ariake Coliseum a few times but this was the first time to specifically ride there for a tournament. It was a mere 20 kilometres from the Tokyo Fox Global Operations Centre in Itabashi ward and took 80 minutes. It did feel a little eerie on arrival to be riding my bike around the main arena and outside courts until I found a convenient parking spot.

I did not leave my bike here by the way!

At last year’s Toray Pan Pacific Open (TPPO) I made a wonderful new tennis friend who later informed me of the Ando Securities Open at the same venue in Ariake towards the end of April. Not only that but it was a completely free event! I was expecting it to just all be Japanese players so was pretty surprised (and excited!) a couple of weeks ago when the list of participants was released. It included a few players from the likes of Britain, Australia, China, Thailand and of course Japan.

After some qualifying matches, the main tournament began last Tuesday (April 21st) but I couldn’t go until the Friday session so was praying and hoping that some of the following players would make it to the quarter finals in either singles or doubles:

• Priscilla Hon, Emerson Jones, Taylah Preston, Maddison Inglis (Australia).
• Heather Watson, Harriet Dart, Mika Stojsavljevic, Jodie Burrage (GBR).
• Himeno Sakatsume, Nao Hibino, Aoi Ito, Mai Hontama, Rina Saigo (Japan).
• Lanlana Tararudee (Thailand).

One by one the majority of them fell by the wayside with just a few remaining by the time I attended. Admittedly, I’d never heard of this tournament before but it seems like it’s been around for just over a decade with some previous champions going on to bigger and better things.

From 10:30 am there was a half hour public practice session for Taylah Preston of Australia whose name I’ve been aware of since the Australian Open in January. It was quite interesting to see her and her coach hitting various shots and discussing other technical things.

Lanlana Tararudee of Thailand was another player that came to my attention in the Australian Open when she knocked out Britain’s Harriet Dart who would play the following match on this day. Tararudee was the number one seed in this tournament and up against her Thai compatriot Mananchaya Sawangkaew in this opening match of the day at 11:00 am.

Tararudee came through it fairly comfortably winning in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.

Without any TV coverage of this fairly minor tournament, there were no post-match interviews on court so once the defeated player had made a quick exit I made my way down to the front to have a quick chat with the match winner but I think only one other spectator followed suit. I congratulated her on the convincing win and mentioned the Australia Open and so on before asking for a photo.

The next match involved Great Britain’s Harriet Dart against Taylah Preston from Australia. Without player introductions on the PA system, I actually missed the former’s arrival on court.

With less than 200 spectators in the arena it was much easier than usual to pick up the frustrations of the players, particularly Dart who really was not happy for much of the match and was warned for both racket and verbal abuse by the umpire who she had strong words with at the conclusion.

I actually had both a British and an Aussie flag in my bag but decided to not show any allegiance during the match. That certainly made it easier when it was game, set and match. Once Dart had stormed off court, I beckoned Preston over to say similar words to her that I said to the Thai player in the previous match.

Spoiler alert! This Aussie would go on to win the whole tournament

The third and final quarter final (there was one I didn’t see on an outside court) involved two Japanese players and I thought it might get a bit busier but that never really materialised.

It was Mai Hontama versus Hayu Kinoshita. I’ve seen the former in action a couple of times but had never heard of her opponent until this tournament. She has a very tennis-related name as Kinoshita is the main sponsor of the Japan men’s open.

After being thrashed 6-1 in the first set, Kinsohita bounced back and put in the performance of her life to be agonisingly close to victory when she was up a break and serving for the match. However, Hontama dug deep and (mixed with Kinshita’s nerves maybe!) and broke back before winning the next two games to win 7-5.

Hontama breathed a huge sigh of relief at the end whilst Kinoshita left the court absolutely devastated by the loss. Hopefully, that’s not the last time we hear of her.

As with the previous two matches I was first to go down to the front to get a selfie and say a few sentences of congratulations in Japanese. This time I wasn’t the only one though as there were a few others lining up for autographs and photos.

Miraculously, I had a few cancellations at work the following day (Saturday 25th April) and so with a long break I decided to return to Ariake Coliseum to see Lanlana Tararudee’s semi-final match against Russia’s Polina Iatcenko.

Having won the first set 6-3, it looked like the tide had turned at the start of the second when Iatchenko broke serve and went 2-0 up. However, my favourite Thai player fought back strongly to win the next six games in a row. If that wasn’t great then she also got to meet me again!

This time there were a few dozen fans in line to get pictures and autographs. I know there’s a language barrier for many but I really do feel you should at least say some basic words of congratulations rather than just “please sign” or “photo”.

• Tararudee and Taylah Preston faced off in the final on Sunday with the Aussie winning the trophy in three sets.

Bonus: Tennis wasn’t the only sport I watched on Friday (24th April) as after that had ended, I then cycled 13 kilometres to Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium to watch an evening match in Japan Rugby League One. Urayasu D-Rocks were hosting Shizuoka Blue Revs and it was a carnival atmosphere with 500-yen beers on sale all night plus free Hawaiian-style shirts were given out to ticket holders along with a flag and a bag of snacks.

On the field though it was pretty much over as a contest by the interval as the latter racked up a 28-0 lead. That soon became 35-0 at the start of the second half but there was something of a fightback by D-Rocks soon after that. With a few minutes left on the clock I departed as the game was done and dusted. I still had the small matter of a 12-kilometre ride home and was feeling tired after a very long day. Still, it was mostly just sitting on my backside watching sport so not exactly stressful stuff. On the contrary, it was a really fun and rewarding day.

Click here to read ‘The Highs & Lows of the 2025 Japan Open Tennis Tournament’

Click here to read ‘Meeting Tennis Stars Aplenty at This Year’s Japan Open’

Click here to read ‘A Brit Finally Plays at Tokyo’s Top Tennis Tournament & I Got to Meet Her!’

Click here to read ‘Is Attending 2 Live Sports Events in One Day Really Worth the Effort?’