In 2026, Japan will compete at the United Cup for the first time in the event’s history.
They may be unseeded, but any team with a four-time Grand Slam champion cannot be underestimated. Quite simply, nothing is off the table for Naomi Osaka’s Team Japan when it competes in Perth in January.
With seven career titles, including majors at Australian Open 2019 and 2021, and the US Open in 2018 and 2020, Osaka quickly became one of the defining players of her generation.
TICKETS: Watch Team Japan in action at RAC Arena
After taking time away from the sport to address her mental health, then maternity leave for the birth of her daughter, 2025 saw the former world No.1 return to the kind of sparkling form that catapulted her beyond the sport and to global superstardom.
Osaka opened her season in Auckland as the world No.57 and reached the final, falling to Clara Tauson. From there she built momentum, collecting wins over Karolina Muchova, Jelena Ostapenko, Elina Svitolina, Daria Kasatkina and Coco Gauff.
Her aggressive style, anchored by a monstrous first serve, came back in full force. A final at the Montreal WTA 1000, followed by a semifinal run at the US Open, underlined that her ceiling hadn’t shifted — a signal to the rest of the tour that she was back in the conversation.
Touted as a player capable of breaking up the Sabalenka-Swiatek-Gauff triopoly, the world No.16 credited her rise back up the rankings to her pregnancy break.
“I’ve always constantly taken little breaks in my career, but I think my pregnancy break was the one that made me realise a lot of things about myself,” the 28-year-old told the Tennis Insider Club podcast.
“For me, it was really important because I didn’t see the worth I had as a human outside of tennis. I would lose a match and then feel like my life is meaningless … like the only value I had was winning.
“So I feel like I needed to take a break to discover what I’m capable of, or what I can give to the world.”
As if scripted, Osaka’s first test of the new season comes at the United Cup, where she’ll face another Grand Slam champion coming off a rebound year: Emma Raducanu.
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The Brit returned to the top 30 — her highest ranking in more than three years — and will meet Osaka at RAC Arena in the day session of 4 January, in what will be a United Cup debut for both US Open champions.
Joining Osaka in Team Japan is 22-year-old world No.93 Shintaro Mochizuki.
While Mochizuki remains relatively untested against the top tier of the men’s tour, he arrives in Perth as a 2019 Junior Wimbledon champion and is set for tests against world No.10 Jack Draper and former world No.3 Stefanos Tsitsipas.
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Mochizuki reached the second round of Wimbledon in 2025, taking world No.13 Karen Khachanov to five sets on grass. He also won his opening match at the US Open before losing to Alex de Minaur, a player he admires.
“I think he moves the best on Tour,” Mochizuki told the ATP. “I see a lot of not-so-tall guys have also had success on the tour. Kei [Nishikori], [Diego] Schwartzman… They’ve had amazing careers, and that also makes me feel like I can also do it, but at the same time, I feel it’s super tough to be at the top on this tour.
“Especially now, when everybody hits so hard, and everybody serves big. But I’m getting better and better, even against tall guys.”
Playing in Perth for Team Japan against Greece and Great Britain is certainly a tall task, but there will be few better partners to have by Mochizuki’s side than Osaka.
On court, she brings firepower. Off it, she brings quirks, dry humour and a calm presence that lifts the spirits of the people around her – including what promise to be electric crowds in the west.
AloJapan.com