Shintaro Mochizuki of IMG Academy wins 2019 Wimbledon Boys' Singles Title
On Sunday, July 16, 2019, Shintaro Mochizuki won the Boys' Singles title at Wimbledon, becoming the first Japanese male player in history to win a junior Grand Slam. Mochizuki, born in 2003, has been living and training at IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL for nearly four years. The 16-year old checked in at No. 9 in the last ITF Junior Rankings but rose to No. 1 on Monday, July 15th after claiming the title. Mochizuki is now the fourth player developed at IMG Academy to reach World No. 1 since 2016, joining current ATP World Tour player Miomir Kecmanovic (2016), Axel Gellar (2017) and Sebastian Korda (2018). Sunday's title is Mochizuki’s third junior title in 2019.
Mochizuki’s countryman and occasional hitting partner at IMG and 2019 Wimbledon quarterfinalist, Kei Nishikori, congratulated him via Twitter.
Huge congrats to @ShintaroMOCHIZU! Such an amazing tournament 💪👍🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵🇯🇵. Amazing to see the continued success of Mr. Morita’s vision! https://t.co/isXtIMuTK4
— Kei Nishikori (@keinishikori) July 14, 2019
Nishikori is currently the No. 7 player in the ATP World Tour Rankings and began training at IMG Academy in 2004 at age 13. He was the first Japanese player to ever reach a Grand Slam final. Mochizuki, like Nishikori, was selected by the Masaki Morita Fund to continue his tennis development at IMG Academy.
