Paris 2024 Paralympic Games – Wheelchair tennis – Men’s singles Gold medal match – Roland-Garros Stadium, Paris, France – September 7, 2024 Tokito Oda of Japan reacts while holding a Japanese flag
Tokito Oda will compete in the men’s wheelchair tennis final in Paris on Saturday.
17:01 JST, September 8, 2024
PARIS — Japan’s Tokito Oda won his first Paralympic gold medal in men’s wheelchair tennis when he defeated Britain’s Alfie Hewett, the silver medalist in Rio de Janeiro, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in the final on Saturday.
The 18-year-old Oda shone on center court at the nearly full Roland Garros, a Grand Slam stadium, as if she were starting a new chapter in the world of wheelchair tennis.
“I want to become a player whose game people want to watch,” is what Oda keeps repeating. To make that happen, Oda played close to the net and returned strong shots.
Oda defeated Hewett in the final of Roland Garros last year, becoming the youngest winner of a Grand Slam.
In the first set of the Paralympic final, Oda allowed Hewett to reach break point twice, but managed to hold on and gain momentum, which he used to win the set. Oda lost the second set, but won the third to win the final.
Shingo Kunieda — a wheelchair tennis legend with three Paralympic gold medals — inspired Oda to take up the sport. Gustavo Fernandez, Kunieda’s doubles partner, described Oda as playing at a higher level in terms of speed and power than either Kunieda or himself. Fernandez, an Argentine, won a singles bronze medal at the Games.
His name, Tokito, is made up of two kanji characters, one of which—meaning triumph or victory cry—is one of three used in the Japanese translation for Arc de Triomphe. Inspired by the Parisian monument, his parents named him Tokito so that he would grow up roaring in victory.
With the highest medal at the Paris Games, it seems that Oda is living up to his name.
“I’m so cool. I was born to win the gold medal,” Oda said.
To achieve a career Golden Slam — winning the Paralympics and each of the four Grand Slam tournaments — Oda needs only to win the US Open. He’s just getting started.
