is a former

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 from Japan.

Career

Sakai, a student of

Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = , president = Aiji Tanaka , city = Shinjuku , state = Tokyo , country = Japan , students = 47,959 , undergrad = 39,382 , postgrad ...

, competed in the

1970 Summer Universiade The 1970 Summer Universiade, also known as the VI Summer Universiade, took place in Turin, Italy. After the city of Lisbon, Portugal failed to host the 1969 Summer Universiade, the games were assigned to Turin to be held next year. Sports at ...

, which was held in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

, Italy. He and

Jun Kamiwazumi is a former Japan Davis Cup team player and tour tennis player. A native of Ishikawa Prefecture, Kamiwazumi competed in sixteen Grand Slam tennis events between 1972 and 1976. His best singles result was reaching the final 32 in the 1973 U ...

won the doubles gold medal for Japan. When the Japanese Davis Cup side upset Australia in 1971, Sakai played a large role, winning both of his matches, over

Colin Dibley Colin Dibley (born 19 September 1944) is a former tennis player from Australia. Dibley once held the title for the fastest serve in the world at 148 m.p.h. During his professional career, he also won four singles and seventeen doubles titles. ...

and the deciding fifth rubber against John Cooper.Davis Cup Profile
/ref> Sakai made the third round of the 1971 US Open, beating

Vitas Gerulaitis Vytautas Kevin Gerulaitis (July 26, 1954 – September 17, 1994) was an American professional tennis player, known as Vitas Gerulaitis. In 1975, he won the men's doubles title at Wimbledon, partnering with Sandy Mayer. He won the men's singles ...

and

Ross Case Ross or ROSS may refer to: People * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan * Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland Places * RoSS, the Republic of Sout ...

.ATP Tour Profile
/ref> In 1972, Sakai was semi-finalist in the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships. At Wimbledon in 1973, Sakai was eliminated in the third round by

Ilie Năstase Ilie Theodoriu Năstase (, born 19 July 1946) is a former World No. 1 Romanian tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 in singles from 23 August 1973 to 2 June 1974, and was the first man to hold the top position on the computerized ATP rankin ...

, having earlier secured wins over

Frew McMillan Frew Donald McMillan (born 20 May 1942) is a former professional male tennis player from South Africa who won five grand slam doubles titles including three Wimbledons with Bob Hewitt. All together, he won 63 doubles titles, surpassed only by ...

and Hans Kary. In

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

later that year, he beat

Željko Franulović Željko Franulović (; born 13 June 1947) is a Croatian former tennis player who competed for SFR Yugoslavia and has since had a long career in tennis management. He has been the Monte-Carlo Masters tournament director since 2005. Whilst his c ...

in the semi-finals to make it into his first Grand Prix final, which he lost to

Ken Rosewall Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player. He won a record 23 Majors in singles, including eight Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era, a record ...

. In 1973 he also managed to defeat John Newcombe in a Davis Cup match. He had his best

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

performance at the 1974 French Open, where he reached the third round of the singles draw and was a quarter-finalist in the men's doubles, with Kenichi Hirai. The same player partnered Sakai in the Düsseldorf Grand Prix tournament that year and the pair finished as runners-up. Sakai and Hirai also won the men's doubles gold medal at the 1974 Asian Games in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

. It was Sakai's second gold medal of the tournament, having also won a gold medal in the singles, beating Iranian local Taghi Akbari in the final.''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

''
"Historic first"
24 November 2010 In 1975, Sakai made his final Davis Cup appearances for Japan and registered his 20th and final win, over

Phil Dent Philip Clive Dent (born 14 February 1950) is a former professional tennis player. Dent's high water mark as a pro singles player was reaching the Australian Open final in 1974, which he lost to Jimmy Connors in four sets. Dent was also the men ...

. He took part in a total of 19 ties during his career.

Grand Prix career finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sakai, Toshiro 1947 births Living people Japanese male tennis players Asian Games medalists in tennis Tennis players from Tokyo Tennis players at the 1974 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Medalists at the 1974 Asian Games Universiade medalists in tennis FISU World University Games gold medalists for Japan Medalists at the 1970 Summer Universiade 20th-century Japanese people 21st-century Japanese people