Isao Watanabe (born 23 November 1941) is a Japanese former professional tennis player. Born in Tokyo, Watanabe competed on the international circuit in the 1960s, featuring in the main draws of the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

and

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

. He was Manuel Santana's first round opponent when the Spaniard won the

1966 Wimbledon Championships The 1966 Wimbledon Championships took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament was held from Monday 20 June until Saturday 2 July 1966. It was the 80th ...

and took the opening set off him, before having to retire hurt while trailing in the second. Watanabe was the men's singles champion at the 1967 University Games in Tokyo, defeating Jun Kamiwazumi for the gold medal. He also won a silver medal in the men's doubles event. Between 1967 and 1970 he played

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

tennis for Japan, mostly in doubles. In all seven of his doubles rubbers he partnered

Koji Watanabe is a Japanese former international tennis player. He won four career singles titles (1966-1969). Career Watanabe played his first tournament at the Miami Invitational in 1961. He won his first title on clay at Gruneweld, West Germany in Augus ...

, who despite sharing the same name was not his brother. They won four of their doubles rubbers as a pairing. His only singles rubber was a win over Hong Kong's Kenneth Tsui in 1970.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Watanabe, Isao 1941 births Living people Japanese male tennis players People from Minato Universiade medalists in tennis FISU World University Games gold medalists for Japan Universiade silver medalists for Japan Tennis players from Tokyo 20th-century Japanese people

See also

References

External links