Eddie and Alastair review a great end to the year for rising Indonesian star, Janice Tjen, who won her first WTA singles title in Chennai, and even won the doubles title alongside compatriot Aldila Sutjiadi. It was very much a fitting end to a remarkable year for the Jakarta native. Thailand's Lanlana Tararudee and Taiwanese player Joanna Garland also impressed with semifinal runs.
Elsewhere Alex Eala finished off her season in Hong Kong with an exciting loss to eventual champion Victoria Mboko, and Coleman Wong came up short at the Seoul Challenger with a loss to Japanese player Sho Shimabukuro. Alastair offers some interesting and at times amusing insights into what was a very successful tournament in Seoul!
Also discussed are the remaining ATP Challenger Tour events coming up, including those as far afield as Pakistan and Bahrain!
Eddie and Lia reflect on a US Open that saw big breakthroughs for several Asian players in both the women's and men's draws. Naomi Osaka, Alex Eala, Janice Tjen and Coleman Wong put in some superb performances to give us much to be excited about for the future.
Eddie and Alastair discuss the US Open men's single draw, particularly the prospects for the Asian players such as Coleman Wong, Bu Yunchaokete, Jerry Shang, Alexander Bublik and Shintaro Mochizuki.
Eddie and Lia (islandtennisgirl) preview the women's draw at the 2025 US Open, focusing (mostly).on the Asian players such as Naomi Osaka, Elena Rybakina, Janice Tjen, Alex Eala and Wang Xinyu.
Eddie and Alastair host a special edition of Tennis Asia Podcast focusing on 23-year-old Janice Tjen from Indonesia. After graduating from Pepperdine University in the US, Janice went professional in June last year when she had no WTA singles ranking. Incredibly, a little over a year later, she's just entered the world's top 150, becoming just the third Indonesia player to do so. Not only that, she has made the qualifying draw for the 2025 US Open, giving her a chance of qualifying for her first major tournament and following in the footsteps of Indonesian tennis legend, former world no. 19 Yayuk Basuki.
Eddie and Alastair run through the men's and women's singles draws for the 2025 Wimbledon Championships, focusing mostly on the prospects for the top Asian players such as Zheng Qinwen, Alexander Bublik, Alex Eala, Elena Rybakina, and Wang Xinyu.
Eddie and Alastair preview the men's and women's draws for the upcoming 2025 French Open. How will the Asian players do? Will Zheng Qinwen repeat the performance in Paris from the Olympics last year? Will Naomi Osaka go on a run? Can Alex Eala get a win on her slam debut? And does Kei Nishikori have any chance against Carlos Alcaraz?
In episode 27 of the Tennis Asia Podcast, we discuss:
-Moyuka Uchijima's breakthrough in Madrid including a first-top 10 win over Jessica Pegula.
-Alex Eala's decent second showing against Iga Swiatek
-17-year-old Wakana Sonobe's first title win. Shibahara and Ito also impressing.
-Chung Hyeon's return to Challenger tennis, and Kwon's return from the army.
-Naomi Osaka stepping down to WTA 125 level.
-a look ahead to the rest of Madrid and the upcoming Challengers.
Eddie and Alastair review a remarkable Miami Open from a Tennis Asia perspective. Alex Eala, the 19-year-old from the Philippines, more than justified her wild card by going all the way to the semifinals. She beat three slam winners in Ostapenko, Keys and Swiatek in straight sets, making history for her country and sending her flying up to no. 75 in the WTA rankings.
Coleman Wong of Hong Kong also made his history of his own by winning his first-round match in Miami and then beating no. 13 seed Ben Shelton in a remarkable match.
Meanwhile, on the ITF Tour, the former world no. 19, Chung Hyeon, won his third title of 2025, propelling him back into the world's top 500 for the first time in almost 3 years. Could we see him back at the top level again?
Eddie and Alastair preview the upcoming 2025 Indian Wells Open from a Tennis Asia perspective, featuring Zheng Qinwen, Naomi Osaka, Kei Nishikori, Zhang Zhizhen, Elena Rybakina, Buyunchaokete and more.
On Episode 24 of the Tennis Asia Podcast, we review a very successful week for three teenage players on the professional circuit, namely 15-year-old Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi and 17-year-old Manas Dhamne, both from India, and 17-year-old Wakana Sonobe of Japan. Maaya, who recently joined the Rafa Nadal Academy, came through qualifying to reach the semifinals of the WTA 125 event in Mumbai, while Manas Dhamne won his first professional title, becoming the second youngest Indian male to do so. Indian tennis journalist, Haresh Ramchandani, was at the event in Mumbai and he joined Eddie to give us the lowdown on these talented prospects as well as Indian tennis as a whole. Meanwhile, Sonobe qualified for the WTA 500 event in Abu Dhabi and won her first-round match, just after lifting the girls singles trophy at the Australian Open. The future of Asian tennis is looking bright!
We run through the men's and women's singles draws for the upcoming 2025 Australian Open, with our focus of course on the Asian players (mostly).
It's episode 22 of the Tennis Asia Podcast, and we cover an eventful week and a half, including the ATP tournament in Hong Kong where Kei Nishikori made his first final in 6 years, Jerry Shang retiring due to illness, Hyeon Chung winning his first title since 2019, Naomi Osaka making the final in Auckland but sadly retiring, Aoi Ito winning her first WTA 125 title only to come up short in Melbourne, and a look ahead to the Davis Cup ties featuring Japan, Korea and Chinese Taipei.
Tennis Asia is in Hong Kong for the Hong Kong Tennis Open being held in the first week of the 2025 season. Some of Asia's finest players will battle it out alongside established stars and young up-and-comers for the title in preparation for the upcoming Australian Open.
Tennis Asia Podcast gives the rundown of our top 10 players from Asia in the 2024 season, featuring men and women from the singles and doubles circuits.
Who will make the top 10 and who just missed out? Listen/watch to find out!
We're finally back with Tennis Asia Podcast Episode 19, which features:
-Zheng Qinwen's admirable run to the final in her first WTA Finals appearance, ultimately coming up short in a classic match against Coco Gauff in Riyadh.
-Kei Nishikori's title win at the Helsinki Challenger, his first in over a year, putting him on the verge of the top 100.
-ATP Challenger roundup
-Preview of Billie Jean King Cup where Japan will take on Romania
-Zheng Qinwen finishes runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka but puts in an excellent performance. It turned out to be enough for her to qualify for the WTA Finals in Riyadh, making her the second Chinese player to do so after Li Na.
-Meanwhile, Japanese youngster Aoi Ito qualifies for Osaka and reaches the quarterfinals with excellent performances over Kenin and Cocciaretto.
-Also discussed are WTA Ningbo, ATP Almaty, as well as upcoming ATP Challenger events in Asia.
Episode 17: Zheng Qinwen dishes out a first-ever bagel to Mirra Andreeva on the WTA Tour but ultimately falls to Karolina Muchova in the semifinals at the China Open in Beijing.
Meanwhile, Wu Yibing puts on an impressive showing on his comeback in Shanghai, losing but putting on a sparkling show against Carlos Alcaraz that even got the respect of the Spaniard.
Also discussed:
- Yosuke Watanuki's return and march to the last 32 - ITF 75 Rancho Santa Fe: Shibahara loses in final to 16-year-old Iva Jović - Preview of WTA 1000 in Wuhan. - Preview of the Hangzhou Challenger and ATP 250 in Almaty. - ...and, uh, Taro Daniel spending 18 hours in Seoul
Episode 16:
It was a superb week for Chinese tennis as Bu Yunchaokete became the first Chinese man to reach the semifinals of the China Open in Beijing, with big wins over Musetti and Rublev. Alcaraz and Sinner played a superb final.
-Zhang Shuai remarkably reached the quarterfinals after ending her 24-match losing streak. Zheng Qinwen is also in the quarters.
-Kei Nishikori made the quarters in Tokyo but loses out to Rune. And some disappointment for Naomi Osaka.
-A look ahead at Shanghai Masters. Jerry Shang vs Alcaraz awaits.
-WTA 125 in Hong Kong and Challenger roundup.
We discuss the incredible first title win in Chengdu for 19-year-old Shang Juncheng, aka Jerry Shang. He becomes the first player born in 2005 or later to win an ATP title, and just the second man from China to win an ATP title. How far can this young talent go?
Also discussed is the Hangzhou Open, with a run to the final for Zhang Zhizhen and a semifinal run for Bu Yunchaokete, with Bu entering the top 100 for the first time. How good is Chinese men's tennis right now?!
Yasutaka Uchiyama also reached the quarters in Hangzhou.
Also discussed are the recently completed Korea Open, this week's China Open, Zhang Shuai breaking her record 24-match losing streak, the return of Naomi Osaka, and the Japan Open featuring Kei Nishikori and Rei Sakamoto.
We even made room to discuss the Nonthaburi 4 Challenger and the return of a certain Mr. Hyeon Chung!