DAVIS CUP PREVIEW: JAPAN VS AUSTRIA

Austria are in Japan for what looks an evenly poised Davis Cup Qualifiers 1st Round tie at Tokyo’s Ariake Coliseum this Friday and Saturday.

There are doubts as to whether Japan’s star man Kei Nishikori, pictured here at the 2025 Hong Kong Tennis Open, will appear.

For the home side, it appears a late decision will be made on whether Kei Nishikori will take to the court. Nishikori has been named in the team and has been featured in Japanese social media at the venue this week, but he hasn’t played since retiring in Canberra and then withdrawing prior to Australian Open qualifiers, both due to a shoulder injury. Nishikori won the deciding fifth rubber over Billy Harris as Japan defeated Great Britain last September. Shintaro Mochizuki, who didn’t play in the Great Britain tie, is the current Japanese number 1, sitting at No. 108 currently having briefly made it inside the top 100 at the end of last year. He took the opening set off Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round of last month’s Australian Open before ultimately going down in four. Also available to Captain Go Soeda is Yoshihito Nishioka. He played a key role in that win over Great Britain by taking both his rubbers with wins over Harris and Jacob Fearnley. Recent form will be a question mark, as Nishioka had to retire during his second qualifying match in Melbourne. In doubles, specialist Takeru Yuzuki will probably be joined again by Yosuke Watanuki, although the latter could also step in for singles if required. The Japanese pair will face a very tough task.

Austria line up with Sebastian Ofner on top. He has been in the top 40 in the world as well as having past deep runs at Wimbledon and the French Open, but he continues the theme of this tie with recent form reading on the cool side. His 2026 action to date has seen him lose in the last 32 in the Canberra Challenger then come out on the wrong side of a lengthy final set tie-break to Nishesh Basavareddy in Australian Open qualifying. At anything like his best, Ofner will be a handful for any of the home players as will Jurij Rodionov. No stranger to this part of the world as a veteran of several Asian Challenger swings, the 26-year-old fell at the second hurdle in Australian Open qualifying before heading back to Europe and playing two Challengers at Oeiras, being eliminated in the first and second rounds respectively. Lukas Neumayer rounds out the singles options for Captain Jurgen Melzer but the ace for Austria is their doubles pairing of Lucas Meidler and Alexander Erler, currently ranked 23 and 38 in the world respectively. The pressure will very much be on Japan to have points on the board from the opening singles.

Ariake Coliseum is the centerpiece of the gargantuan Ariake Tennis Forest Park in Tokyo. The complex hosts both the ATP Japan Open and the WTA Pan Pacific Open.