Naomi Osaka interacts with the Wuhan crowd with a selfie. (Getty/Wang He)

Naomi Osaka interacts with the Wuhan crowd with a selfie. (Getty/Wang He)

As the tennis world chases new riches in the Middle East, it’s the rest of Asia that deserves attention.

The men’s circuit has just wrapped up its annual swing through Asia and is already heading back to its comfort zone: Europe. 

Across three short weeks (an extended one for Shanghai), we saw five tournaments — two 250s, two 500s, and a single Masters 1000. 

All but one were held in mainland China, with Tokyo’s Japan Open the lone exception. 

Shop with a 15% storewide discount code: SERVE15 – excludes clearance items, machines, court equipment and gift cards at www.tennisdirect.com.au

It feels less like a true venture into the region and more like a quick stopover before resuming business as usual.

The women’s side tells a different story. 

The WTA is halfway through a six-week run that includes ten tournaments plus the Billie Jean King Cup Finals. 

Five are in mainland China, two in Japan, and one each in Hong Kong, India, and South Korea. 

It’s a striking difference between the two tours and represents the mixed approach the sport has taken to Asia.

Outside the Middle East, tennis has always had an inconsistent relationship with the Asia Pacific. 

Beyond Australia and New Zealand, the region is littered with tournaments that came and went – flashes of interest that never quite stuck.

Indonesia hosted the Jakarta Open in the mid-1990s and even staged the 1994 ATP World Doubles Championships, where the Woodies lost a five-set thriller. 

It also ran the WTA Danamon Open in the 90s and later the WTA Tournament of Champions in Bali, before both disappeared.

South Korea was once a regular stop on the ATP calendar through the 90s, before its tournament quietly disappeared. It returned briefly in 2022, only to vanish again a year later.

Singapore also played a key role in the region’s tennis past, hosting both ATP and WTA events through the 1990s. The men’s tour made a one-off comeback there in 2021 during the COVID season, while the women’s event finally returned in 2025 after years away.

Taiwan maintained a steady presence through the 1980s and 1990s with its own WTA tournament, but today sits at the lower-tier 125 level.

India no longer has an ATP event, despite running one continuously from 1997 to 2023, first in Chennai and then Pune. 

Vietnam hosted a one-off ATP tournament in 2005 and still holds regular Challenger and ITF competitions, but has yet to lock in a permanent place on the main tour.

Even Japan, Asia’s most established tennis nation, has seen events come and go over the years, from Osaka to Nagoya and Sapporo.

A burgeoning market with players rising

Despite that inconsistency, Asia keeps producing talent, with many players succeeding in the 21st century.  

Li Na and Zheng Qinwen from China, Naomi Osaka and Kei Nishikori from Japan, Tamarine Tanasugarn and Paradorn Srichaphan from Thailand, Hyeon Chung from South Korea, Lu Yen-hsun and Hsieh Su-wei from Taiwan, and Sania Mirza from India have all carried the region proudly on the world stage. 

In doubles, players from the region have combined for 19 Grand Slam titles over the past 25 years.

Now, there’s a new generation breaking through from countries that haven’t been seen at this level in years.

In the Philippines, 20-year-old Alexandra Eala is a game changer with 2025 being a breakout year. 

In a giant-killing run, she defeated Iga Swiatek en route to the semi-finals of Miami, before following that up with a finals appearance at Eastbourne and an upset with over Clara Tauson at the US Open. Eala has now risen from outside the Top 150 to No.54 in the world.

However, her biggest achievement may be making tennis front-page news in a country of 120 million that is basketball-mad.

In Indonesia, Janice Tjen’s 2025 US Open run ended a 20-year drought for her country. 

Her win over Veronika Kudermetova saw her become the first Indonesian to win a Grand Slam match since Angelique Widjaja in 2003. As such, she went on to reach the final of the WTA event in Sao Paulo and climb inside the top 100. 

It reignited belief in a nation of nearly 280 million people that hasn’t hosted a top-tier event in years. Her success is as much about pride as it is about points.

Beyond the Tramlines with Josh Heriot explores the journeys of people achieving great things in the world of tennis – The First Serve Podcasts

More history was made at the US Open on the men’s side, with 21-year-old Coleman Wong becoming the first player from Hong Kong to win a Grand Slam match in the Open era. 

He’s a reminder that even smaller markets can produce world-class players when the pathway is viable.

And in India, 17-year-old Manas Dhamne is emerging as one of the brightest young hopes on the men’s side — the second-highest ATP-ranked male under the age of 18 and has claimed two titles on the ITF circuit. 

Dhamne is the first glimpse of a new generation for a country of 1.4 billion, still waiting for its next singles star since Somdev Devvarman.

Beyond these breakthroughs, the potential across Southeast Asia in Thailand, Malaysia and even Vietnam, who with 100 million people and an expanding tennis culture, is ready for a bigger stage if given the chance.

Eala, Tjen, Wong and Dhamne aren’t outliers in the sport; they’re signs of what tennis could be if the sport stopped treating Asia like an afterthought.

The Asian Century tennis can’t afford to miss 

Asia isn’t the next big thing for tennis. It’s already here.

From Tokyo to Jakarta, Bangkok to Manila, the game is growing and millions are tuning in. 

The region’s fan base is young, digital, and passionate, but outside China and Japan, the professional game barely touches down.

The Australian Open saw this coming years ago. 

By branding itself as “The Grand Slam of Asia Pacific”, it positioned Melbourne as the region’s gateway. 

Every January, fans from Asia attend the event, and many, many more watch it in a suitable time zone.  

It also provides an Asia-Pacific wildcard for a male and female player in the tournament.

Tennis Australia understood the opportunity and the risk if it didn’t embrace the region. 

If the rest of the sport doesn’t follow, it risks being left behind.

The sport wants to grow, but there’s no point in oversaturating the North American and European market.

Between them, they already host the vast majority of the tour. 

Asia, with more than four billion people, has barely a dozen combined. France alone has the same number of men’s events as all of Asia. That imbalance says everything about where tennis is stuck.

If the sport is serious about global growth, that has to change. 

Fans can’t connect to what they never see. 

Investment must come through visibility — more tournaments, more coverage, more chances for local fans to see the world’s best. 

The calendar is packed, but the WTA has already shown that if there is a will, there is a way of extending their Asian swing. 

It’s about adding balance and embracing the future. 

Are we really going to miss a few extra indoor tournaments in France or Austria if it means growing the game across half the world?

Tennis is perfectly placed for the Asian Century. The infrastructure exists, the appetite is huge, and the players are coming. 

What’s needed now is patience, vision, and courage from the tours, federations, and players themselves to build something lasting.

Asia is the biggest growth market in sport, and tennis already has a foothold. 

The question is whether it will stand its ground or pack its bags again too soon.

Brought to you by HEAD, Your Game Is Their Game. Find all the latest HEAD tennis, padel, pickleball and squash products now at www.head.com