After the disappointment of so many top players withdrawing in 2025, my expectations were lower and more realistic for this year’s Toray Pan Pacific Open (TPPO) tennis tournament in Tokyo. Luckily, a lot of my interest isn’t so devoted towards the very top players as I enjoy seeing some of the fringe players up close away from Centre Court. I certainly got to do that this time!

If you include the two qualification days (I certainly do!) then there were nine days of action taking place down in Tokyo’s Koto ward at Ariake Coliseum, and my plan was the same as last year in terms of attending one qualification day and three proper tournament days.

One has to take any provisional line up with a pinch of salt really as a fair few always withdraw. That really is nothing too new as the same happens year after year with the Asian swing often being decimated by players ending their season early once the fourth and final grand slam of the season has taken part in New York. Indeed, four out of the seven players on the promotional material for the TPPO pulled out before it started and then another followed mid-tournament.

Despite all of that, I was still very happy to be able to see Alexandra Eala and Naomi Osaka in both practice and real match action. The latter is of course no stranger to the TPPO (more details about her tournament can be seen here) but it was Eala’s first performance and there was a lot of vocal support for her from both the local tennis fans and the Filipino community. I’ve been a fan for a while too and enjoyed watching her twice, not just for the tennis but also because her matches actually had something of an atmosphere.

In 2024 two tickets were needed for the separate sessions each day which thankfully didn’t happen last year and this time the cheapest tickets were more expensive but they could be used on multiple weekdays which was music to my ears and probably a good way of encouraging spectators to return. The ticket stated that it was for three days but a staff member told me you could actually use it every weekday as there was no technological reading of the tickets that would show how many times it’s been used.

As it was, I was always planning to go three times (Monday, Tuesday and Friday) in the week following on from the Qualifying weekend (Oct 24-25) that preceded the official tournament start. Sadly, I don’t think it was too effective in improving the crowd numbers which seemed as sparse as usual throughout the tournament.

Whilst the men’s Japan Open a few weeks earlier sold out a few times, the women’s equivalent sadly had the common sight of thousands and thousands of empty seats. Not only that but there are a growing number of spectators who have their heads constantly buried in their phone throughout play. Sure, we all look at our phones from time to time but this seeming lack of interest in the actual tennis is quite worrying.

Whilst some spend more time looking at their phones this guy’s got his back to the tennis!

For my early years in attendance at the TPPO, I wasn’t really aware of anything going on beyond Centre Court. Only last year did I really spend any significant time on the Show Court just across from the main arena and I loved it as it’s a more up-close experience with a good chance of meeting a player or two afterwards. I probably watched more matches there overall this year.

This time I also spent a fair few hours at No. 1 Court and the practice courts which I never really knew about until earlier this year. There was one time when more people were watching veteran Japanese doubles specialist Shuko Aoyama from the top of the Show Court than the actual match taking place on that court!

The top of the Show Court offers good views of the No. 1 Court!

These outdoor courts really were a step up in intimacy from the Show Court and you were often stood just a few metres away from top players like Elena Rybakina, Diana Schnaider, Naomi Osaka, Alexandra Eala, Leylah Fernandez and Jasmine Paolini to name a few.

The champion in waiting!

As ever with anything in Japan, you’re never too far away from a spelling error when English is used. This was seen on the practice courts.

One problem for some people was that the practice schedules were never announced meaning that you never really knew who would be on court. If a player had a match that day though it was likely they’d appear a few hours before the expected start. It seems like such schedules were announced in the past but I’m guessing it’s now something of a safety concern with the growing number of spectators on these courts so it’s not a good idea to advertise who will be there and when.

Selfies and autographs with players after their session is the main reason anyone was there. Indeed, there are quite a few fans who don’t see any actual competitive tennis as they just stand and wait all day for players to come and autograph their personal items. I ended up having a lovely chat with one of them whilst waiting for the Italian doubles specialist Sara Errani. He was a Japanese guy who had flown in from Oita that morning for two days at the tennis.

Meeting Britain’s Heather Watson (and being given her towel) was a major high for me.

Later that day I also got my moment with one of my favourite players, Jasmine Paolini.

It wasn’t just present players I met (a compilation post of the 20 I met will appear soon) as I also bumped into multi-grand slam champion and broadcasting legend Pam Shriver who was there to do some promotional work for Yonex. She won the TPPO in 1988 and she was standing in front of her poster making an Instagram video when I saw her. I quickly pounced once she had stopped filming and we had a lovely chat for a few minutes.

The TPPO is also a good place for other events such as the Q&A and signing sessions. I was on the front row with my Aussie flag to see Talia Gibson sign some products for 50 lucky people who had spent money in the merchandise store. Thankfully, I was able to meet her one-on-one the following day.

There were also the food trucks, merchandise shops, photo opportunities, pickleball practice courts, free tennis ball giveaways and so on.

The unpredictable seasonal weather was something of a downside. It was raining all day for the Saturday qualifying day but the organisers managed to squeeze in many matches with some taking place very late at night. By contrast, the second day which I went to seemed rather limited in terms of the number of matches taking place.

The hi-tech way of drying the court!

Day 1 of the actual tournament was also a very rainy one. That was predicted in all weather forecasts with 100% certainty, yet the organizers still made a full schedule for the outdoor courts even though there was never really a chance of any play that day. I’m sure they have their reasons but I can’t see why they didn’t start play a bit earlier on Center Court and add a couple of extra matches on top of the four scheduled ones with the hope that one or two were over in straight sets.

The tournament was eventually won by Russia’s Diana Shneider who played a sensational quarter-final match against the hugely popular Alex Eala. Just a short time before that match I had watched her for a bit on the practice court. She signed fan’s goods afterwards but declined all photo opportunities. I was disappointed by that but totally respect that as she had a match to focus on. It was arguably the match of the tournament as Schneider fought back from a set down to win a second set tie-break

In my very biased opinion, it didn’t quite match the excitement I felt when watching the glamour first round match between two of my favourite players, Naomi Osaka and Jasmine Paolini.

Sharing experiences with other likeminded people was great such as celebrating meeting a player with a fist pump or whatever. Like last year, I made a new tennis friend during a quarter final doubles match and we then watched the Schneider and Eala match together. I thought it was a tough task to better my 2025 TPPO experience, but I was wrong as this one was absolutely epic and has set a high benchmark for future appearances at the tournament.

Click here to read ‘Naomi Osaka Vs Jasmine Paolini: I Saw My Dream Tennis Match & Met one of them too!’

Click here to read ‘I Saw & Met a Grand-Slam Winning Brit at the 2026 Japan Open Tennis Women’s Tournament’

Click here to read ‘A Near-50km Cycle Trip to Watch & Meet the Winners at Tokyo’s Best Value Tennis Tournament’

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’