Tokito Oda on "defending" gold medal for Shingo Kunieda, the man who inspired him to take up wheelchair tennis
Twelve years ago, on 8 September, Japan’s Tokito Oda watched from his hospital bed as Shingo Kunieda won the men’s singles title in wheelchair tennis at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
Almost exactly to the day, on 7 September, the Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Tokyo 2020 champion Kunieda was in the stands at Paris 2024 to watch the teenager he inspired to take up the sport inherit his crown.
"In Tokyo, he got a gold medal, and now I couldn't give it to the other countries and guys," Oda told Olympics.com. "I had to defend it."
It was only fitting that the iconic Roland-Garros courts would be the setting for the handover between one of the greatest wheelchair tennis players of all time and the biggest star of the sport's new generation, first-time Paralympian Oda.
Kunieda won eight Grand Slam singles titles on these clay courts. Oda, whose name in Japanese translates as "Arc de Triomphe", won his first Grand Slam title here, in 2023. In that case he was also taking the crown over from his now-retired icon.
"Here it's one of my best places to play tennis," Oda said. "In two years, I haven't lost in singles here. I became No.1 here in 2023 and this year, I win the Grand Slam, and then now I win this. I win this medal. I like Paris."
Tokito Oda and Shingo Kunieda: Two lives in parallel
Born 360km and 22 years apart, the life trajectories of the two Japanese wheelchair tennis players Oda and Kunieda have been remarkably similar.
Tokyo-native Kunieda was paralysed at age nine due to a spinal tumour. Oda, who was born in Ichinomiya, was diagnosed with bone cancer in his left hip, also when he was nine. They each tried different sports – Kunieda played wheelchair basketball and Oda football – but ultimately chose wheelchair tennis, revolutionising the sport in the process.
Kunieda became the first professional athlete from Japan in wheelchair tennis and went on to win an unprecedented collection of accolades: three singles titles and one doubles title at the Paralympic Games, 28 Grand Slam singles titles and 22 Grand Slam doubles titles.
One of Kunieda's biggest career milestones was winning a gold medal at the home Paralympic Games in Tokyo three years ago. It was this victory on home soil, the sport legend later said, that prompted him to hang up the racquet 17 years after he first reached the world no.1 ranking.
For Oda, the Tokyo 2020 final was another one of his sport idol's Paralympic victories that he followed closely on TV. After it finished, just as after watching the London 2012 final, the young player was inspired to make a pledge.
"I was watching that match from home," Oda said. "I was fifth in Japan and only four players could go to Tokyo in the Paralympics so I lost the chance at the time. And then that time I was feeling like I need to win in Paris and definitely I need to be in Paris because I couldn't play in Tokyo. These three years I have been really perfect in getting there."
When Kunieda announced in January 2023 that he was retiring from wheelchair tennis, he left his world no.1 spot vacant as well as three major titles up for grabs to a new successor.
The two-man fight for those titles featured the same protagonists as in the Paris 2024 final. Great Britain's Alfie Hewett beat Oda in the 2023 Australia Open final, while Oda took down Hewett in the French Open and Wimbledon finals the same year.
In the span of less than a year, the baton of Japan's wheelchair tennis male players had passed from Kunieda to Oda.
Tokito Oda won the gold medal in men's singles at Paris 2024 in three sets.
The men's singles final that will "go down in history"
Kunieda was at Roland Garros on 7 September to perform the "brigadier" ceremony and open the proceedings on the final day of action. What followed was a match well worthy of his attention – a tense, three-set epic that lasted 2:38 hours and saw the packed stands offer both finalists a standing ovation.
World No.1 Alfie Hewett returned to the Philippe-Chatrier court less than 24 hours after winning a doubles gold with Gordon Reid, but struggled with unexpected pain in the first set, even asking for a medical time out. Once the match resumed, Oda took the set 6-2.
Undeterred, Hewett made a remarkable 6-4 comeback in the second set to force a decider.
Hewett carried this momentum into the start of the third set, but his fates turned after losing a match point while up 5-3. It gave Oda a window to take the lead, and the young Japanese player took it gladly, getting the crowds cheering by waving his arms to call for more noise.
"Until his match point, I didn't enjoy it really, but after his match point and then he missed some points, after that, I really enjoyed it and the crowd and that moment," Oda said. "I think to enjoy the tennis is one of the most important things for my play. I couldn't enjoy playing tennis until then or it would have been like the second set, but after the 5-all I really enjoyed playing tennis. That was the biggest key."
An energised Oda ultimately took the final set 7-5. And as the large Japanese contingent in the stands rose up waving flags and cheering, he tore the wheels off his wheelchair and collapsed on his back on the clay courts, eyes closed, arms spread out.
"I said congratulations and that he's an incredible player, and what we've done today will go down in history" - Great Britain's Alfie Hewett on what he told Tokito Oda after the match.
Hewett was the first to come over to the new Paralympic champion. After helping Oda up, Hewett leaned in to embrace him and offer his compliments.
"I said, congratulations and that he's an incredible player, and what we've done today will go down in history," Hewett told Olympics.com. "We really drew in a crowd. We drew all the noise. The entertainment was there, and I just said, 'We can be so proud of what we did out there and that I'm sure it's not going to be the last match that we face each other in that sort of arena, hopefully'. And I did say at the end, I'll make sure I get him in LA in four years' time! So we'll see about that."
Kunieda followed soon after with his own words of congratulations.
"After the match, we were talking on the court, and he was just saying, 'You are too good'. And I had just this amazing feeling," Oda said.
Coming off the podium, still wrapped in the Japanese flag, Oda gave credit to the two men who were on the podium on either side of him, silver medallist Hewett and Argentina's bronze medallist Gustavo Fernandez.
His thoughts were also with the man in the stands – the hero turned observer, watching the once-observer turned hero.
"He was my hero and I looked up to him and now someone will look up to me," Oda said of having Kunieda watch him win his first Paralympic gold. "I hope some kids are going to see my games in a few years. That was a pretty amazing moment."