Meanwhile, with all-conquering world No.1s Tokito Oda and Yui Kamiji shaping as favourites for the AO 2026 men’s and women’s wheelchair titles, and recent AO junior champions Rei Sakamoto and Wakana Sonobe both rising above the AO qualifying ranking cut-off, the Asia-Pacific presence is felt through the entire three-week Australian Open experience.
Those last four players hail from Japan, the Australian Open’s fifth-largest broadcast market. It’s been this way for the better part of a decade, with the AO beamed into the homes of Japanese fans by WOWOW, one of the tournament’s longest-standing broadcasters in a partnership dating back to 1992.
That audience grew as Japanese superstar Kei Nishikori advanced to four Australian Open quarterfinals between 2012 to 2019, and spiked to more than 20 million as Osaka won the 2019 women’s single title in a thriller against Petra Kvitova.
Those figures made it the most-watched TV program in Japan during AO 2019 and meant it was among the country’s highest-rating event broadcasts in the previous four years.
Australian Open 2025 saw a 34 per cent year-on-year increase in Japanese viewing hours, no doubt influenced by the presence of Osaka and Nishikori – who both enjoyed early-round wins – at an event which aligns closely with Japan’s time zone.
Osaka, a former world No.1, has since soared back inside the world’s top 20 after her Montreal final and resurgent run to the US Open semifinals, contributing to the anticipation keenly felt at the recent AO 2026 Japan Launch in Tokyo.
