Taro Daniel (ダニエル 太郎, Danieru Tarō, born 27 January 1993) is a Japanese professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 58 on 15 January 2024. He has won one ATP Tour singles title at the 2018 Istanbul Open, as well as nine ATP Challenger Tour singles titles.[1] He is currently the No. 2 Japanese singles player.[2]
Personal life
Taro's mother, Yasue, was Japanese and his father, Paul Daniel, is American. He grew up in various places throughout the world. He spent most of his elementary school days in Saitama, Japan. He went to Nagoya International School. Taro and his family moved to Spain when he was 14 years old. He speaks Japanese, English and Spanish. He has one younger sister, Kana.[1]
Tennis career
Early Years
Taro started playing tennis when he was 7 years old.[3] He practiced at the Shinrin Longwood Tennis Club in Nagoya City during his years in Japan. He got third place for under 12 in the All Japan Junior Tennis Tournament.
2011–13: First Challenger final, top 250
Daniel had won a couple of ITF Futures events in Spain and Portugal.
On the ATP Challenger Tour, he made the semifinals at the Yokohama in November 2012, and reached his first Challenger final at the Yeongwol in November 2013, where he lost to fourth seed Bradley Klahn in the final. In 2011–2013, Daniel had raised his ATP ranking from world No. 978 to 241.
2014: Grand Slam debut
Daniel reached the third qualifying round of the 2014 Australian Open, losing to Thomaz Bellucci. Qualifying for his first ATP tournament, he made the quarterfinals of the Chile Open, after gaining revenge over Bellucci and defeating eighth seed Federico Delbonis. His run was ended by third seed Nicolas Almagro.
At 2015 Davis Cup World Group play-offs against Colombia, Daniel won the first Davis Cup match of his career, beating Alejandro Falla in the last tie. His victory completed a come-from-behind victory against Colombia to remain in the World Group for 2016.[7] In October, he qualified for the Valencia Open, and reached the second round, before losing to sixth seed Guillermo García-López. He completed the 2015 season with his third Challenger title in Yokohama, winning over his countryman Go Soeda in the final.
He entered the top 100 in the ATP rankings for the first time at world No. 93 on 23 November 2015.[8]
2016: Masters debut and win, Major first win, Olympics debut
Daniel qualified for the Monte-Carlo Masters to make his ATP World Tour Masters 1000 main-draw debut. He beat Adrian Mannarino in straight sets to reach the second round, where he lost to 12th seed Dominic Thiem in three sets. He then competed at Bucharest and Estoril, reaching the second rounds in both tournaments. In the 2016 French Open, he advanced to the second round of Major tournaments for the first time in his career when his opponent Martin Kližan had to retire from injury in the fifth set. He lost to third seed and defending champion Stan Wawrinka in straight sets despite having two set points in the first set and being up a break in the third. He next competed in the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, losing in the first round to Juan Mónaco in four sets.
Daniel competed in the Olympics, where he defeated the No. 14 seed Jack Sock in straight sets in the first round. Daniel then beat Kyle Edmund of Great Britain before losing to Juan Martín del Potro, despite having won the first set.
2017–18: First Masters third round and ATP title, Top 65 debut
In May, he made his first ATP final at the 2018 Istanbul Open, where he played Tunisian Malek Jaziri, also in his first final. Daniel beat Jaziri 7–6 6–4 to win his first ATP title. Daniel climbed to his career high ranking of No. 64 on 27 August 2018.
At the 2022 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in March, having beaten him at Melbourne, Daniel lost to Andy Murray, giving the Scot the 700th match win of his career on the ATP Tour.[14]
2023: Best season: First Top 10 win, Two consecutive Masters third rounds
Ranked No. 125 at the Mexican Open, Daniel reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier defeating second seed Casper Ruud for his first top 10 win of his career.[15][16]
He finished the 2023 season ranked No. 75, his highest year-end career ranking.
2024: Second ATP final, top 60, Japanese No. 1
Taro reached his second ATP final at the 2024 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand defeating top seed Ben Shelton becoming the first Japanese finalist at the tournament.[20] As a result he reached the top 60 at world No. 58 in the singles rankings on 15 January 2024. He became the No. 1 Japanese male player.[21][22] He lost to qualifier Alejandro Tabilo in straight sets.[23]
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
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