He's making his US Open main draw debut
Shintaro Mochizuki is playing in his first US Open main draw this year after going through the qualifying tournament, two years after he made his major main draw debut at Wimbledon in 2023. He matched his best Slam result, a second-round showing at Wimbledon, by defeating Hugo Gaston in straight sets, and will face No. 8 seed Alex de Minaur in Round 2.
Mochizuki was an accomplished junior
Mochizuki ended the 2019 and 2020 seasons as the ITF junior No. 4, and briefly was the junior world No. 1 in July of 2019 after winning the 2019 Wimbledon boys' singles title. He ended his impressive junior career with a record of 119-45 and five ITF junior titles, including his Wimbledon win, and was the first Japanese male player in history to win a Grand Slam boys’ singles title. He continues to succeed on the professional circuit, winning two titles at the Challenger level and reaching a career high ranking of No. 112 just before the US Open.
He almost left tennis to pursue baseball
In an interview with the ITF when he was at the top of the junior ranks, Mochizuki talked about how he almost left tennis for baseball. As a big New York Yankees fan, the young player talked about his tennis influence and how he ultimately made the decision to stay.
“I was going to quit tennis when I was 9 or 10 and change to baseball,” a then 16-year-old Mochizuki said to itftennis.com. “My parents didn’t push me to play tennis, but I played a lot with them and my coaches.”
One day, his father took him out to the tennis court to try it out, and Mochizuki was hooked. In fact, his parents have shown him pictures as a toddler holding a racquet, which he would clutch for hours each day.
"And immediately I loved it, too. From there, I started playing seriously and I’ve never stopped.”
