Shintaro Mochizuki

Shintaro Mochizuki is a 23-year-old right-hander from Kawasaki who turned pro in 2019, the same summer he became the first Japanese male player to win a junior Grand Slam singles title. That Wimbledon boys' final went 6-3, 6-2 over Spain's Carlos Gimeno Valero in 61 minutes, and it came out of Bradenton, Florida, where he had trained at IMG Academy on the same Morita-backed pathway that sent Kei Nishikori there as a 13-year-old; the ITF junior rankings had him at No. 1 within days.

At 1.75 m he has never had free power, so the game is built forward — a two-handed backhand he attacks and follows in behind, with hands quick enough to volley out of neutral — while a career ace rate of 3.8 percent and 70.6 percent of service games held mark where the ceiling sits. The clearest exhibit came on Centre Court in July 2026, when he made 40 net approaches in a straight-sets loss to Jannik Sinner.

The professional breakthrough arrived at the 2023 Japan Open, where he beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry, then ATP No. 10 Taylor Fritz after dropping the opening set 6-0, and Alexei Popyrin to reach a first tour semifinal, where Aslan Karatsev stopped him. He first reached the top 100 in November 2025, peaking at No. 92. Then Wimbledon 2026: through qualifying at No. 151, he upset Rafael Jodar in three hours to become only the fourth Japanese man in the Open era into a major's fourth round, after Nishikori, Yoshihito Nishioka and Shuzo Matsuoka.

As of September 2026 he stands at ATP No. 117 on 532 points, still without a tour title and 3-5 for the season, all three wins from that Wimbledon fortnight before Jakub Mensik ended his US Open in the first round. That is 13 places below where he sat a year earlier.