is a Japanese

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. He has a career-high ATP ranking of World No. 138 achieved on 9 January 2023 and a doubles ranking of No. 374 achieved on 7 January 2019. He is currently the No. 3 Japanese player.

Juniors

On the junior tour, Watanuki has a career high combined ranking of No. 2 achieved on 21 March 2016. Watanuki was the winner of the 2016 Campeonato Internacional Juvenil de Tenis de Porto Alegre, a Grade A event in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...

, Brazil.

Professional career

2018-19: Maiden ATP win and Challenger title

Watanuki first main draw match victory on the

ATP Tour The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organis ...

came at the 2018 Rakuten Japan Open over

Robin Haase Robin Haase (; born 6 April 1987) is a Dutch professional tennis player. He reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 33 in July 2012, and has won two singles titles, at the Austrian Open in both 2011 and 2012. Haase also reac ...

as a qualifier. He won his maiden title at the 2019 Kobe Challenger.

2021-22: ATP quarterfinal, Two Challenger titles, Top 150 debut

Watanuki entered the

2021 Winston-Salem Open The 2021 Winston-Salem Open was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 52nd edition of the Winston-Salem Open (as successor to previous tournaments in New Haven and Long Island), and part of the ATP Tour 250 Series of ...

as a lucky loser and won his first match against

Jaume Munar Jaume Antoni Munar Clar (; ; born 5 May 1997, in Majorca) is a Spanish professional tennis player. Munar has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 52 achieved on 20 May 2019. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 149 achieved o ...

. He lost to

Marton Fucsovics Marton may refer to: Places England * Marton, Blackpool, district of Blackpool, Lancashire * Marton, Bridlington, area of Bridlington in the East Riding of Yorkshire * Marton, Cheshire, village and civil parish in Cheshire * Marton, Cumbria, vil ...

in the second round. He reached the quarterfinals of an ATP tournament for the first time in his career, winning his first two matches in a row at this level, as a lucky loser at the

2022 ATP Lyon Open The 2022 ATP Lyon Open (also known as the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon) was a men's tennis tournament played on Clay court, outdoor clay courts. It was the 5th edition of the Lyon Open (ATP), Lyon Open and part of the ATP Tour 250 series ...

defeating eight seed

Pedro Martinez Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for '' Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...

for his second top-50 win. Next he defeated

Kwon Soon-woo Kwon Soon-woo ( ko, 권순우; born 2 December 1997) is a South Korean professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 52 ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved in November 2021. H ...

to setup a quarterfinal with

Alex de Minaur Alex de Minaur ( ; es, Álex de Miñaur Román, ; born 17 February 1999) is an Australian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 15 on 28 June 2021 and a doubles ranking of No. 58 on 12 October 2020. ...

. As a result he returned to the top 225 in the rankings climbing 40 positions in the rankings at world No. 223 on 23 May 2022. In November he won two back-to-back titles in Japan at the Hyogo Noah Challenger in Kobe and in Yokkaichi defeating

Frederico Ferreira Silva Frederico Ferreira "Kiko" Silva (born 18 March 1995) is a Portuguese tennis player who currently plays at ITF Men's Circuit and ATP Challenger Tour. In May 2021, Silva reached a career singles high ranking of No. 168. He also reached a career-hi ...

in both and moved into the top 150 at world No. 145 on 28 November 2022.

2023: Grand Slam debut and first win

In January, Watanuki qualified for the

2023 Australian Open The 2023 Australian Open was a Grand Slam level tennis tournament held at Melbourne Park, from 16–29 January 2023. It was the 111th edition of the Australian Open, the 55th in the Open Era, and the first major of the year. The tournament consi ...

to make his Grand Slam debut. He beat

Arthur Rinderknech Arthur Rinderknech (born 23 July 1995) is a French tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 42 achieved on 31 October 2022. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 124 achieved on 8 November 2021. ...

in the first round in straight sets to advance to the second round.

Personal life

Watanuki has two brothers, Yusuke and Keisuke, who are both also professional tennis players.

Challenger and Futures Finals

Singles: 12 (8-4)

References

External links

* * 1998 births Living people Japanese male tennis players Sportspeople from Saitama (city) Tennis players at the 2018 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in tennis Asian Games bronze medalists for Japan 21st-century Japanese people {{Japan-tennis-bio-stub