Ryoma Ito, a professional tennis player who achieved the highest singles ranking in the world at No. 60, sadly retired from active tennis in October. What is the origin of tennis for Ito, who has followed a non-elite path different from Kei Nishikori, Yoshihito Nishioka, and Taro Daniel, and has played many great matches? We unravel the past, present, and future of a famous player who was admired by many of his fellow players and who paved his way to the world stage through a unique route.
(Text by Akira Uchida, Photo by Afro Sports)
Follow a unique career path to become a professional. Why were you able to fight against the world?
In October of this year, professional tennis player Ryoma Ito ended his 18-year professional career with a top-four finish at the All Japan Tennis Championships.
Her highest singles ranking was 60th in the world. He broke the top 100 barrier for the first time in 2012, when he was 23 years old, and has since become a regular at Grand Slams. He is known for his honest attacking tennis that reflects his personality, and his powerful forehand hit, known as the “Dragon Shot,” is his greatest weapon and can break down any wall if it hits. In fact, at the Japan Open, he played a number of unforgettable matches, including defeating Nicolas Almagro, who was ranked 12th in the world at the time, and Stan Wawrinka, who was ranked 4th.
Two Japanese players, Yoshihito Nishioka and Taro Daniel, are currently in the top 100 of the ATP rankings for men’s tennis. Kei Nishikori, who was out of the rankings for a long time after being out of action for a long time, skyrocketed to 105th place with a string of wins at the end of this season. It will only be a matter of time before he returns to the top 100.
What these three players have in common is that they all have experience living overseas or studying tennis, and have come into contact with world-class players on a daily basis. He has practiced frequently with pros since he was a boy, and doesn’t think of Grand Slams or tours as special. There is no doubt that such an environment instilled in them a strong sense of purpose, and Nishikori, Nishioka, and others have always preached to their successors the importance of gaining overseas experience from a young age.
However, the path that Ito has taken is very different from such an elite path. In the first place, he started playing tennis at the age of 9, which is quite late compared to other top professionals. Moreover, when he was 12 years old, he injured his elbow and had to go under the knife, and doctors even told him that it would be difficult for him to compete in sports that use his arm.
When comparing today with what happened more than 10 years ago, it is necessary to take into account the differences in time. However, considering the current situation in which young Japanese players who were active internationally during their junior years are still struggling to break into the top 100, Ito’s achievements are worthy of special attention. Nishioka, mentioned earlier, also touched on Yuichi Sugita, who reached a peak of 36th place at the same time as Ito, saying, “We should pay more attention to the fact that Mr. Sugita and Mr. Ito made it that far without having any experience of studying abroad.” he said passionately.
“How did these people who came from rural areas of Japan become able to compete on the world stage? What path did they take, what did they do, and why did they become so strong? We need to ensure that information and data is preserved for future generations. We have to do that.” Nishioka’s appeal is very accurate. As a small step toward finding a solution to that proposition, I would like to look back on Ito’s journey.
The origins of the youngest child who “hates conflict”
Ryoma Ito was born and raised in Inabe City, Mie Prefecture. Although it is now a city, when Ito was a child it was called Hokusei-cho, Inabe-gun. In this peaceful regional city with a population of less than 15,000 people, she was born as the third child of a father who is a teacher and a mother who runs a sewing class. There are two older sisters. The name “Ryoma” was named after Ryoma Sakamoto, whom his father admired. However, the reason why it is pronounced “Tatsuma” is because, “My father’s friend also had a fan of Ryoma Sakamoto, and they decided that “the one whose son was born first could name him Ryoma.” Because I was born later, He became Ryoma (Tatsuma).”
“I have something in common with Ryoma Sakamoto that I have an older sister who is a little older than me, and I was born in the year of the Dragon,” says Ito, “But my father also thought it would be scary to name his son “Ryoma.” “Maybe!” he said with a grimacing laugh. Ito’s personality seems to be reflected in this smile that blends boldness and humility.
When he was a child, he learned judo because he was blessed with a good physique. He loved it so much that he even wore it to bed, but he said he wasn’t very good at it.
“He can’t throw, that kid. Even if he’s in Kumite, he can’t throw a small child, even though he has more strength.”
This reminiscence story from Ito’s parents clearly tells the story of Ito’s personality. She hated fighting, and when her two older sisters were arguing, she cried and stopped them, saying, “Don’t fight!”
Since his older sisters were devoted to tennis, he was familiar with tennis from an early age. The Ito family is a large family with grandparents living together. There is only one TV in the living room, and there is an unspoken rule that seniority determines the channel. When Wimbledon and other events came around, it was inevitable that what would be shown on TV would be tennis, which my father and sisters loved. The youngest child, watching a TV show alongside his older sister who loves Steffi Graf, was fascinated by Andre Agassi, whose powerful backhand revolutionized the tennis world.
It was through my older sister that I started playing tennis. He attended a trial session at his older sister’s tennis school and fell in love with the pleasure of hitting a ball.
“I was hitting the ball as hard as I could, reaching the fence at the back of the court. I think I misunderstood that it was a sport where you hit with all your might and how far the ball goes.”
Ryoma Ito’s excitement on the day he was 9 years old is the origin of his tennis career.
Hungry spirit honed through club activities. Opened after turning pronew territory
Although Ito was introduced to tennis late and even had to withdraw due to the aforementioned elbow injury, Ito made it to the top in national tournaments during his elementary and junior high school days. His achievements were recognized, and he entered Nagaodani High School in Osaka. The school later became known as a strong school, and Ito was a member of the newly established tennis club. Since its founding, the tennis club’s teaching methods have been “Spartan,” to say the least, with the aim of becoming the best in the nation.
In March of his third year of high school, Ito finally won the national championship in the individual competition at the national selection tournament. The winner of this tournament will receive a wild card to the U.S. Open Junior Qualifier to be held in New York in August of the same year. Ito took advantage of that opportunity and made it through the qualifying round to compete in the main tournament. At this time, as a junior, he had no opportunity to participate in international tournaments, so he needed to take courses from the International Tennis Federation (ITF). Everything was new to me, and I couldn’t even speak English at the time. The person who helped him was Kei Nishikori, who is one year younger than him.
As symbolized by such an innocent episode, Ito’s main battlefield in high school was club activities, and the world he knew was limited to a very small area in Japan. Even when he first graduated from high school and turned professional, it was inevitable that the coaches and training environments he could reach were narrowly limited.
However, when I look back, perhaps it was precisely because I was in such a small world that I was excited by the vastness of the scenery I would later see, and my curiosity and aspirations were aroused. Ito was selected as a member of the Japan Tennis Association at the age of 20, and his practice environment and the people he came into contact with changed drastically, and he absorbed the techniques and knowledge he was taught like a dry sponge. Under Coach Kentaro Masuda, who has experience at a tennis academy in Spain, he withstood intense practice in Spanish-style drills and broke through the top 100 barrier in 2012. Ito set a lofty goal of “participating in the London Olympics,” something Ito would not have been able to achieve on his own at the time, and his coach encouraged him to step into this realm. Seeing Go Soeda, who is four years older than him and who practices with him at the National Training Center, break into the top 100 the previous year was also a big factor in believing that “I can do it, too.”
“Encounters” and “self-investment” that brightened up 26 years
26 years after the day I discovered tennis, the day I retired. When asked what made him special in his footsteps of being “purely domestically produced,” Ito immediately answered “encounters.”
“I think meeting people…meeting coaches and staff is very important for athletes.After that, you have to invest in yourself.After understanding the importance of that, I think it’s very important for athletes to The ability to make decisions.I think the ability to continue playing tennis was extremely high.After all, tennis doesn’t mean you have to do difficult things every time. However, I was setting high goals.”
Ito said, “I want to pass on the assets I learned during a career full of ups and downs and trial and error to young players.” Although he appears to be energetic, he is actually a sensitive and sincere person, and is admired by his junior players, who are already asking him to look at him as a coach.
Since discovering tennis at the age of 9, Ryoma Ito has carried his racket with him, first from his hometown of Hokusei to the neighboring town where his school is located, then to the prefecture, then across the country, and then to the world. With his pioneering spirit, he will no doubt lead younger generations into new areas.
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