Rei Sakamoto
Rei Sakamoto is a Japanese professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 159 achieved on 24 November 2025 and a doubles ranking of No. 772 reached on 5 May 2025. He is currently the No. 5 singles player from Japan.
Sakamoto has won three singles titles on ATP Challenger Tour. He represents Japan at the Davis Cup.
Junior career
Sakamoto had remarkable results on the ITF junior circuit, maintaining a 114–39 singles win-loss record. He won the boys' singles title at the 2024 Australian Open, defeating Czech Jan Kumstát in the final. At his next major, he was a runner-up in the boys' doubles category at the 2024 French Open, with Italian Federico Cinà. They lost to top seeds Nicolai Budkov Kjær and Joel Schwärzler in the final.Later that season, Sakamoto was crowned a champion in doubles at the 2024 US Open, with Czech Maxim Mrva. The pair defeated Denis Peták and Flynn Thomas in the final.
He reached an ITF junior combined ranking of world No. 1 on 27 May 2024.
Professional career
In March 2024, Sakamoto received a wildcard for qualifying competition at the Miami Open, an ATP 1000-level event, but lost to Czech Vít Kopřiva in the first round.At the age of 18 and five months, Sakamoto won his first title at the 2024 Yokkaichi Challenger becoming the second youngest Japanese titlist after Kei Nishikori to lift an ATP Challenger trophy in history. As a result he reached the top 500 in the rankings on 2 December 2024.
2025: Major qualifying, top 175 debut
Sakamoto received a wildcard for the qualifying competition at the 2025 Australian Open.Sakamoto made his Masters main draw debut at the 2025 Miami Open after qualifying, but lost to Alexandre Müller.
He won his second Challenger title at 2025 Cary Tennis Classic and reached new career-high ranking of world No. 206 on 14 July 2025, rising 85 positions up in the singles rankings. Sakamoto made history with winning his third title at home in Yokohama, becoming the first Japanese teenager to win three Challenger titles. As a result he reached the top 175 in the singles rankings at world No. 159 on 24 November 2025.
Performance timeline
Singles
ATP Challenger Tour finals
Singles: 3 (3 titles)
| Result | W–L | Date | Tournament | Tier | Surface | Opponent | Score | |||||||||||||||
| Win | 1–0 | 2024 Yokkaichi Challenger – Singles| | Yokkaichi Challenger, Japan | Challenger | Hard | Christoph Negritudts|Jun 2025ITF World Tennis Tour finalsDoubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)
|
