\u201cCongrats, Tokito, we\u2019ve known since you were almost a kid, you already destroyed everyone\u2019s chair on tour \u2026 you are a great champion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to my team. They\u2019ve been pushing me a lot, I was struggling a lot at Christmas. It was a tough time for me, and they were pushing me \u2014 my team, my family, my girl \u2014 they were all pushing me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, we\u2019re gonna have another battle next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to Oda\u2019s title victory at Melbourne Park in 2024, he also finished runner-up to Hewett in 2023 and 2025. He has now won 41 singles titles before turning 20.<\/p>\n
Oda began using a wheelchair at the age of nine after being diagnosed with bone cancer in his leg. Originally a soccer player, he later transitioned to wheelchair tennis.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe from when I started tennis, I don’t think about a Grand Slam title,\u201d Oda said when asked about his biggest childhood dream.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was dreaming of the Paralympic Games, but it was different. I just want a battle since I was a kid. I just love the battle with somebody, you know.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is kind of like my dream to play the big match.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he looks up to Kunieda as a sporting benchmark, Oda\u2019s first hero was Brazilian football great Neymar Jr, whose flair and individuality left a lasting impression on him.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he changing hairstyle every match, so I just love his style. And he’s still playing. I was doing the same hair as him.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the Australian Open celebrates 50 years of wheelchair tennis, Oda\u2019s ascent to stardom stands as a powerful reflection on how far the sport has come \u2014 and a compelling sign of where it is headed next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cCongrats, Tokito, we\u2019ve known since you were almost a kid, you already destroyed everyone\u2019s chair on tour \u2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-449570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}