Shintaro Mochizuki

Early life Shintaro Mochizuki was born in Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. His name "Shintaro" was given by his father, inspired by the novelist and politician Shintaro Ishihara.

He started playing tennis at the age of 3. As a fifth grader, he represented Kawasaki Municipal Mukai Elementary School at the 32nd First Life National Elementary School Tennis Championship and managed to reach the semifinals.

At the age of 12, he passed the selection test for the Masaaki Morita Tennis Fund and went to the United States to train at the IMG Academy in Florida.

Career 2019: First Japanese man in a Junior major final In 2019 Mochizuki won the Wimbledon title after becoming the first Japanese male player to reach a Grand Slam juniors singles final. In September that year, he led the Japanese team to win the Junior Davis Cup in Orlando, Florida.

2021: ATP and Masters debuts In February, Mochizuki made his ATP main draw debut as a wildcard at the 2021 Singapore Tennis Open where he lost to Altug Celikbilek in straight sets.

In March, he qualified for his first ATP Masters 1000 main draw at the 2021 Miami Open having been given a wildcard for the qualifying competition.

He received a wildcard for the qualifying event at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships where he defeated Hugo Gaston to reach the second qualifying round.

2023-2024: Challenger title, Major debut, ATP semifinal, top 150 He won his first-ever trophy as a professional by winning the 2023 Open Città della Disfida Challenger in Barletta, Italy, defeating the Argentine Santiago Rodriguez Taverna in straight sets, becoming the fourth teenage Challenger champion in the season (after Fils, Van Assche and Medjedovic). He reached the top 200 at world No. 198 on 12 June 2023. In July, he made his Grand Slam debut after qualifying for the main draw of the 2023 Wimbledon Championships, but lost in the first round to 16th seed Tommy Paul in straight sets. At the 2023 Hall of Fame Open he lost to Liam Broady also in the first round.

Ranked No. 215, he received a wildcard for the ATP 500 2023 Japan Championships. After nine attempts, he finally won his first match at the ATP Tour level, beating Tomás Martín Etcheverry in straight sets. Next he defeated top seed Taylor Fritz for his first Top 10 win, to reach his first ATP tour-level quarterfinal. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Alexei Popyrin to reach his first-ever ATP semifinal. He became the lowest-ranked Tokyo semifinalist since then-world No. 479 Kelly Jones in 1986. As a result, he moved up 84 positions to World No. 131 in the rankings on 23 October 2023. In November, following a quarterfinal showing at the Sydney Challenger he reached the top 130 in the rankings and 13th in the 2023 Next Generation ATP Finals race.

He made his debut in the main draw at the 2024 Australian Open as a lucky loser, but lost to Tomáš Macháč in straight sets. He also qualified for the main draw at the 2024 French Open.

2025-2026: First Major wins and fourth round, top 100

In January 2025, Mochizuki won his second Challenger at the 2025 Open Nouvelle-Calédonie title defeating Moerani Bouzige in straight sets. In June, Mochizuki reached the semifinals at the Lexus Ilkley Open and the final of the 2025 Nottingham Open. Following these good results in grass he qualified for the main draw at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships for the second time, and recorded his first main draw Grand Slam win over fellow qualifier Giulio Zeppieri in a five sets match, over two days. Following reaching the quarterfinals with wins over Arthur Cazaux and fourth seed Luciano Darderi at the 2025 Almaty Open, Mochizuki reached the top 100 in the singles rankings on 20 October 2025.

In July 2026, ranked No. 151 Mochizuki reached a major fourth round for the first time in his career at the 2026 Wimbledon Championships, upsetting 23rd seed Rafael Jodar, after qualifying for the main draw, previously defeating Ethan Quinn and Max Basing in the second and first rounds respectively. In the fourth round he lost in straight sets against the world n° 1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner, who would later confirm the title.

Playing Style Standing at only 5 foot 9, Mochizuki is not a prolific server. However, he is renowned for his low bouncing strokes and exceptional shotmaking. His profile was highly anticipated during his time in Japan, though he has struggled in the ATP tour, with his playstyle contrasting the high spin, heavy-serve environment.

Performance timeline

Singles

ATP Challenger Tour finals

Singles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups) LegendATP Challenger Tour (2–2)

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up) LegendATP Challenger Tour (1–1)

ITF World Tennis Tour finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up) LegendITF WTT (0–1)

Doubles: 7 (7 titles) LegendITF WTT (7–0)Finals by surfaceHard (7–0)Clay (0–0)

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Wins over top 10 players He has a win-loss record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.