is a Japanese born, Australian

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player.

Early life

Santillan was born in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and a South African father of Spanish descent. He lived the first 8 years of his life in Japan before his family relocated to the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, Australia and became citizens. He played much of his junior tennis at the Gold Coast before moving to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

to join the national academy program at the

Queensland Tennis Centre Queensland Tennis Centre, known during its development as the Tennyson Tennis Centre, is a tennis venue in Tennyson, Brisbane, Australia. It is an A$82 million tennis facility opened on 2 January 2009 at the site of the demolished Tennyson Po ...

Junior career

On the junior tour, Santillan has a career high ITF junior ranking of 7 achieved in September 2015. Santillan's major highlights on the junior tour included a semi-final at the

2015 Australian Open The 2015 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park from 19 January to 1 February 2015. It was the 103rd edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. Stan Wawrinka was the defend ...

and doubles finals at the 2014 French Open and the

2015 Wimbledon Championships Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album ...

. In March 2015, Santillan opted to play under the Japanese flag instead due to a fractious relationship with

Tennis Australia Tennis Australia Limited is the governing body for Tennis in Australia. It is owned by Australian states and territories. The association organises national and international Tennis tournaments including the Australian Open, the Australian Open S ...

. He returned to playing under the Australian flag in 2017.

Junior Grand Slam finals

Doubles

Professional career

Santillan has a career high ATP singles ranking of 160 achieved on 24 July 2017. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of 265 achieved also on 17 July 2017. Santillan has won 6 ITF Futures singles titles and 1

ITF Futures The ITF World Tennis Tour (formerly known as the ''ITF Men's World Tennis Tour'', and previously ''ITF Men's Circuit'') is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation. ...

doubles title. Santillan made his ATP main draw debut at the 2016 Generali Open Kitzbühel, receiving singles and doubles main draw wildcards. Santillan lost in the first round of the 2022 Australian Open – Men's singles qualifying.

Challenger and Futures/World Tennis Tour finals

Singles: 10 (7–3)

Doubles: 16 (9–7)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santillan, Akira 1997 births Living people Australian male tennis players Japanese male tennis players Sportspeople from Tokyo Tennis players from Brisbane Tennis people from the Gold Coast Japanese emigrants to Australia Australian people of South African descent Australian people of Spanish descent Japanese people of South African descent Japanese people of Spanish descent