Top 10 Asian Players of 2024

The bulk of professional tennis may have ended for the year but that gives us some time to reflect on the achievements of Asia's finest players over the season. 2024 has been a good year for tennis in the region, with both established stars and rising talents delivering outstanding performances on the global stage.

Tennis Asia highlights the top 10 Asian players of 2024—athletes who have inspired fans, broken records, and carried the hopes of their nations with pride.

10. Mananchaya Sawangkaew (Thailand)

At number 10 on the list is rising Thai star, Mananchaya Sawangkaew. It was a breakthrough year for the 22-year-old. Her biggest title win in January in her home country very much set the tone for a superb season in which she rose from no. 266 in the WTA rankings to inside the top 130. She particularly excelled during the Asian swing, where she qualified for her first WTA tournament in Hua Hin. She then qualified for her first WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing, where she achieved her first WTA win before losing in a valiant display to Aryna Sabalenka. Soon thereafter she impressively made back-to-back WTA quarterfinals in Guangzhou and Jiangxi, coming through qualifying each time. In Guangzhou, she became the first Thai player to reach a WTA quarterfinal since Luksika Kumkhum in 2018, and she also got her first top-50 win in straight sets over Yuan Yue. A tough competitor and a strong athlete, she could be one to watch in 2025.

9. Aoi Ito (Japan)

20-year-old Aoi Ito was one of the biggest risers in the WTA rankings in 2024. She rose from just inside the top 400 up to no. 126 in the world. Her unorthodox, unpredictable and creative style of play makes her a standout on the tour, and she is already becoming a fan favourite. She reached an incredible seven finals on the ITF Tour, winning three of them, including her first W100 title in Takasaki. Not only that but she made her WTA debut at the Japan Open, coming through qualifying and notching up wins against Sofia Kenin and Elisabetta Cocciaretto on the way to the semifinals. Definitely one we hope to see more of at the WTA level in 2025.

8. Sumit Nagal (India)

At number 8 in our list is India's number 1 singles player, Sumit Nagal. The Indian started off the year in superb fashion by qualifying for the Australian Open (AO) for the first time (his only previous main-draw AO appearance came courtesy of a wildcard). He came through all his qualifying matches and his first-round match against world no. 27 Alexander Bublik in straight sets. His win over Bublik made him the first Indian man to beat a seed at a major since 1989. Nagal went on to win two ATP Challenger titles in Chennai and Heilbronn. He also won his first Masters 1000 match in Monte Carlo, and in doing do became the first Indian player to win a Masters 1000 event on clay. To top it off, he achieved his career-best ranking of 68 in July.

7. Moyuka Uchijima (Japan)

Moyuka Uchijima makes the list as a result of an incredible run during the spring, which culminated in her debut appearance in the main draw at Roland Garros. After winning her first W100 title in Spain in April on clay, she flew to Japan where she lifted another W100 trophy in Gifu, this time on hard courts. Incredibly she then flew straight back to Europe after winning her title in Japan and ended up winning a W75 title and a W100 title on the clay of Trnava and Madrid, respectively. That meant she'd won three titles in three consecutive weeks, on two continents and on two different surfaces! And she didn't stop there either as she then went to Paris to qualify for the main draw at the French Open for the first time. Impressively, she came through her qualifying matches and her first-round match in straight sets, which meant she was on a run of 19 consecutive wins when she eventually lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the second round. She went on to make her debut at Wimbledon, and then at the US Open where she got a win. To top it all off, the 23-year-old ended the year above Naomi Osaka as the Japanese number 1 and at a career-high ranking of 55, having started the year with a ranking of 172.

6. Ena Shibahara (Japan)

Ena Shibahara's season was one of the most surprising and inspiring stories of the year. Having been a doubles specialist for the bulk of her professional career, reaching as high at no. 4 in the WTA doubles rankings, the 26-year-old California-born player, who represents Japan, decided now was the right time for her to focus on singles. Starting the year with a singles ranking of 548, she hit the ground running with back-to-back ITF semifinals. Her first ITF title soon followed, and then she also finished runner-up at the W100 event in Tokyo. By the summer she'd made her WTA Tour singles debut and got her first WTA win, and had risen high enough in the rankings to enter the qualifying tournament for the US Open. Not only did she qualify but she won an incredible first-round match over Daria Savile before losing to Iga Swiatek in Arthur Ashe Stadium. She ended the season on a high as she represented Japan for the first time in singles at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, winning both her matches in Japan's run to the last 8, and getting her career-best wins by ranking over Jaqueline Cristian and Elisabetta Cocciaretto. She reached a career-high ranking of 132, over 400 spots higher than at the start of the year. Not bad for a so-called doubles specialist.

5. Buyunchaokete (China)

Keen tennis observers could see that Buyunchaokete (aka 'Bu'), a 22-year-old Chinese player of Mongolian heritage, had much potential. Even so, his rise during the year probably exceeded most people's expectations. Having won his first ATP Challenger title in the Spring of 2023, Bu had somewhat struggled to match that level over the next 12 months. But from the spring of this year his results really started to pick up. He finished as a runner-up and champion at tournaments on the Asian Challenger swing. He then matched those results in during the summer in North America where he won the title in Granby and made the final in Chicago. Bu then went on to qualify for his first major at the US Open, beating Aslan Karatsev from a set down in New York. However, his finest moments were yet to come. During the autumn Asian swing on the ATP Tour he achieved back-to-back semifinals at the ATP 250 and ATP 500 events in Hangzhou and Beijing, respectively. Incredibly he beat Lorenzo Musetti and world no. 6 Andrey Rublev in straight sets to make the semis in Beijing, getting his first top-20 and top-10 wins in the process. Having been ranked as low as 239 in May, to now be sitting at a career-high ranking of 65 is a remarkable achievement.

4. Shang Juncheng (China)

Shang Juncheng, otherwise known as Jerry Shang, is currently one of the most exciting prospects in tennis. The 19-year-old showed just why at the start of the year when he reached his maiden ATP semifinal in Hong Kong (then still only aged 18), defeating former top-10 player Frances Tiafoe in straight sets in the quarters before taking a set off Andrey Rublev. He followed that up with his first Masters wins in Miami, Indian Wells and Madrid, the latter of which saw him beat Corentin Moutet in four hours in one of the matches of the year. He reached another semifinal in Atlanta, defeating Ben Shelton along the way, and got to the third round at the US Open where he lost to Casper Ruud in five sets. His finest moment of the year came in his home country where he won his first ATP title in Chengdu, defeating Japanese tennis legend Kei Nishikori, Alexander Bublik and, in the final, top-20 player Lorenzo Musetti to take the trophy. In doing so he became just the second player representing China to win an ATP title. Those performances saw him rise from a ranking of 183 in January to inside the top 50 for the first time, and also qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals in Jeddah.

3. Hsieh Su-wei (Chinese Taipei)

Hsieh Su-wei had already made a triumphant return to the WTA Tour in 2023, winning Grand Slam doubles titles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. This year also started off tremendously for her as well, as she won her seventh major and maiden AO trophy in women's doubles alongside Elise Mertens. The pairing then followed that up with a tremendous performance in Indian Wells, where they didn't drop a set on the way to lifting the WTA 1000 trophy. That was enough to see Hsieh rise to the number 1 spot in the WTA rankings at 38 years of age, ten years after she first achieved that feat. And if that wasn't enough she also partnered Jan Zieliński to win two mixed doubles slams at the Australian Open and Wimbledon to round off another tremendously successful year for the Asian tennis legend.

2. Rohan Bopanna (India)

Indian veteran Rohan Bopanna makes the list as one of the oldest players on the pro circuit. The 44-year-old made his first slam final in men's doubles at the US open in 2010, but a major title in the men's doubles category still eluded him at the start of this year. Although he won one mixed doubles title at Roland Garros in 2017 alongside Gabriela Dabrowski, he might have been forgiven for thinking another major title would never come at such a late stage in his career. However, his fortune changed for the better last year when he teamed up with Australian player Matthew Ebden. Their partnership was a fruitful one, as they finished runners-up at the US Open and Bopanna finished top 3 in the ATP doubles rankings in 2023. The 2024 season started even better for them as they took the Australian Open title, dropping only two sets along the way. For Bopanna, he had not only won his first major title in men's doubles, but at the age of 43 had become the oldest first-time no. 1 in tennis history. The pair went on to win the Miami Masters in March, just after Bopanna's 44th birthday, thus securing Bopanna's position as the top-ranked player for another two weeks. The Indian veteran spent a total of 7 weeks at the number 1 position in 2024, and although the pairing's form dipped in the latter half of the year, they reached the French Open semifinals, which meant they made the semifinals or better for four consecutive slam tournaments. These are all incredible achievements for a player of his age and as such we think Rohan Bopanna deserves this spot in our ranking.

1. Zheng Qinwen (China)

Zheng Qinwen came into the 2024 season with much expectation as the biggest prospect in Chinese tennis since two-time major champion Li Na. Zheng had won two titles in 2023 and finished the year within the top 15, but the question remained as to whether she could ascend to the elite echelons of the women's game. She made major progress in that regard when at the start of this year she reached her first major final at the Australian Open, finishing runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka. That secured her top-10 debut, a remarkable achievement for her at the age of 21. She struggled to match that level in the first half of the year but by the summer things really started heating up for Zheng. Moving back to clay courts to prepare for the Paris Olympics event to be held at Roland Garros, she won her third title in Palermo, defeating former French Open finalist Karolina Muchova to take the trophy. That proved to be perfect preparation for Paris, where she defeated three-time major champion Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals in one of the matches of the year, and then got her first win over then-no. 1 and four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek in straight sets to reach the final. She overcame Donna Vekic, again in straight sets, to clinch the gold medal and become the first Asian player to win a gold medal in singles. For the rest of the year she won a tremendous number of matches, picking up another title in Tokyo, and finishing runner-up at the Wuhan WTA 1000 event and at the WTA Finals in her debut appearance. In the latter tournament, she defeated Jasmine Paolini, Elena Rybakina and Barbora Krejcikova before losing in a tight three-set match against Coco Gauff. That tremendous run saw her finish the season with a career-high ranking of world no. 5, and that's why she's our number 1 Asian player of 2024.

Honourable mentions (players who just missed out):

Hady Habib: The Texas-born player represents Lebanon and won his first Challenger title at the end of the year on the clay on Temuco. In doing so, Habib became Lebanon's first winner on the ATP Challenger Tour.

Rei Sakamoto: The 18-year-old has barely been on the professional tour after making the jump from juniors but he's already got a Challenger title under his belt, picking up the trophy in Yokkaichi. There's a good chance he makes our list next year.

Sara Saito: Another Japanese 18-year-old and she came so close to making the cut. Already has a W100 title won in Biarritz in the summer. Made a jump of about 200 spots in the rankings to reach a career-high ranking of 150; expect big things from her in the future.

Kasidit Samrej: The 23-year-old from Thailand made history when he qualified for the Australian Open via the Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off, becoming the first Thai man to reach the main draw of a major since 2012. He rose from outside the top 600 to around 400 in the world. Samrej has a powerful game and has only just been finding his feet at the Challenger level. He could surprise the tennis world next year.

Zhang Zhizhen: It might seem harsh to leave him out given that he reached a ranking of 31 in the world, the highest ATP ranking for a Chinese player. However, given that he started the year around top 50, it was somewhat disappointing for him to fail to win an ATP title, although he reached his first ATP final in Hangzhou, losing out to Marin Cilic.