Kei Nishikori will end his career in the city where he won twice. The ATP says the Japan Open, which begins Wednesday, is the final tournament of the 36-year-old’s career, and Monday’s draw sent him straight into second seed Frances Tiafoe.
Nishikori won the Tokyo title in 2012 and 2014, reached No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings in 2015 and won 12 tour-level titles, according to the ATP. He announced in April that he would retire at the end of the season. Tiafoe arrives at a career-high No. 8, reached on 14 September after his third major semi-final at the US Open. He knows the Tokyo final from the losing side: Taylor Fritz beat him for the title in 2022.
The defending champion. Carlos Alcaraz won Tokyo on his debut last year, beating Fritz in the final, and opens his defence against Alex Michelsen. The Spaniard, No. 3 in the rankings, was out with a right wrist injury from mid-April until the US Open, where he reached the quarter-finals before losing to eventual finalist Ben Shelton. Michelsen, 22, reached his first major quarter-final in New York and is a former Tokyo quarter-finalist. The ATP says the two have never played.
If Alcaraz wins, he meets Matteo Arnaldi or Japanese wild card Rei Sakamoto. His seeded quarter-final opponent is Tommy Paul, whom he beat at the US Open; Paul opens against Alejandro Tabilo. Alcaraz is chasing a third title of 2026 after the Australian Open and Doha.
Rune’s return. Holger Rune plays his first ATP Tour event since tearing his Achilles tendon in Stockholm last October. The former world No. 4 came back for Denmark in the Davis Cup earlier this month and reached the Tokyo semi-finals in 2024. He opens against Kyrian Jacquet, who enters as a special exempt after reaching the Hangzhou semi-finals, the ATP’s route into a main draw for a player whose deep run one week kept him out of the next event’s qualifying. The winner could meet sixth seed Casper Ruud in the second round.
Fritz’s section. Rune landed in the quarter of third seed Fritz, the 2022 champion, who opens against a qualifier and could play Lorenzo Musetti in the second round. Musetti starts against Wimbledon semi-finalist Arthur Fery. Fritz and Alcaraz are seeded to meet in the semi-finals, a rematch of last year’s final.
The bottom half. Tiafoe’s projected quarter-final opponent is eighth seed Valentin Vacherot, the Shanghai Masters champion last year, who opens against Alexander Blockx. Rafael Jodar, the 20-year-old Spaniard who reached the Washington final and the Montreal semi-finals in August, faces a qualifier and is Tiafoe’s seeded semi-final opponent. Fifth seed Brandon Nakashima stands in Jodar’s quarter.
What it means. Jodar is ninth in the ATP’s Live Race to Turin and first in the Next Gen race. The ATP says he is trying to become the third player, after Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas, to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals the year after playing the Next Gen ATP Finals. Tokyo is an ATP 500, one of the last big points weeks before the Shanghai Masters begins on 7 October, and GTN’s Race to Turin tracker explains how the eight places are decided.
For the home crowd, the week belongs to Nishikori. Two younger Japanese players, Sakamoto and Sho Shimabukuro, are in the draw on wild cards. The Japan Open runs from 30 September to 6 October; GTN’s Japan Open guide covers the format, points and past champions.
