'Maybe I can win 10 of these': Oda receives ITF World Champion award
Japan’s Tokito Oda set himself the target of winning 10 ITF World Champion presented by UNIQLO awards after being handed his 2024 accolade at the recent BNP Paribas World Team Cup.
It was perhaps only a throwaway comment, but Oda has the potential to do exactly that given the volume of silverware he has won in his career, while it is easy to forget he is still a teenager.
Oda turned 19 during last week’s World Team Cup – the wheelchair tennis equivalent of Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge and Davis Cup – and celebrated by having a birthday cake thrust in his face by gleeful teammates.
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He dusted off the crumbs to lead Japan to glory as the nation sealed their first World Team Cup men’s title since 2018, while it was Oda’s first World Team Cup triumph at senior level.
Another trophy to add to Oda’s bulging collection, as is the ITF World Champion trophy which is awarded to the most outstanding players in a given season and 2024 was most certainly a standout campaign for the Japanese.
Oda won men’s singles gold at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, triumphed at two Grand Slams and the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters, before finishing as the year-end No. 1.
“I am very happy to win this title and I have a lot of memories from last year – and the biggest memory is the Paralympic Games,” said Oda. “The final was one of my best matches ever.
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“I also won the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters and finished the year as world No. 1, which gave me this ITF World Champion award. I hope to win more titles and maybe I can be World Champion 10 times.”
Who can forget Paris 2024? It was the first time a Paralympic Wheelchair Tennis Event was contested at a Grand Slam venue – Roland Garros – and Court Philippe Chatrier was at capacity for the men’s final.
Oda’s showdown with Great Britain’s Alfie Hewett went the distance and was befitting of the occasion, with iconic scenes unfolding at the moment of victory. The image of Oda removing the wheels from his chair and lying on the Parisian clay won the inaugural ITF Tennis Photograph of the Year competition.
This success followed Grand Slam singles wins at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, the former meaning that Oda is now just a US Open victory away from a career Grand Slam.
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Oda claimed a total of nine titles across 2024 – eight in singles, including three Super Series titles – with the year ending with him recovering from a set down to beat Gordon Reid of Great Britain in the final of the NEC Wheelchair Singles Masters.
This rubber-stamped his status as the No. 1-ranked men’s player in wheelchair tennis and ensured he became just the second Japanese man after the legendary Shingo Kunieda to be crowned a wheelchair ITF World Champion.
He is also the youngest – 18 at the time the award was confirmed – showing how much scope there is to assume even loftier heights and perhaps win 10 ITF World Champion awards after all.
That would be quite something and, for the avoidance of doubt, Kunieda won 10.