Japan Open Preview: When is it, who's playing & what's the prize?

October 13, 2023

ATP Tennis Players, Tennis News, Tennis Tournaments

Japan Open 2023 Preview: When is it, who is playing and what is the prize money?

The Japan Open is the longest-running ATP tournament in Asia, and this year the prestigious event will feature 11 of the world’s top 20 players when it begins next week.

And we, at Tennishead, have got everything you need to know about the ATP 500 event in Tokyo:

When is the Japan Open 2023?

The main draw of the Japan Open will begin on Monday 16th October, with the tournament concluding with both the singles and doubles finals taking place on Sunday 22nd October.

Qualifying will be conducted over the coming weekend before the main event begins on Monday.

Who is playing in the Japan Open?

The Japan Open consists of a 32-man draw that features 11 of the top 20 ranked players, with world No.8 and defending champion Taylor Fritz as the top seed.

Fritz is the only former champion in the Japanese capital, and is joined by fellow top 10 players Casper Ruud and Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Alexander Zverev.

With the race to the ATP Finals hotting up, Fritz, Ruud, Zverev and others will all be scrapping for precious ranking points in the latter stages of the 2023 season.

Wildcards have been awarded exclusively to Japanese players, with Yosuke Watanuki, Sho Shimabukuro and Shintaro Mochizuki receiving direct entry into the main draw.

Here is the full direct entry list to the Japan Open:

Seed	Name	Seeding Ranking	Entry Ranking
1	Taylor Fritz	8	8
2	Casper Ruud	9	9
3	Alexander Zverev	10	10
4	Alex de Minaur	11	12
5	Tommy Paul	12	13
6	Frances Tiafoe	13	11
7	Karen Khachanov	14	15
8	Felix Auger-Aliassime	15	14
	Cameron Norrie	16	17
	Hubert Hurkacz	17	16
	Ben Shelton	20	19
	Francisco Cerundolo	21	21
	Tomas Martin Etcheverry	31	35
	Mackenzie McDonald	38	39
	Max Purcell	41	43
	Alexei Popyrin	43	45
	Daniel Altmaier	47	49
	Yoshihito Nishioka	48	46
	Sebastian Ofner	49	59
	Aslan Karatsev	52	63
	Aleksandar Vukic	54	50
	Christopher O’Connell	58	53
	Zhizhen Zhang	60	60
	Jordan Thompson	62	56
	(WC) Yosuke Watanuki	79
	Diego Schwartzman	130	136
	(WC) Sho Shimabukuro	135
	(WC) Shintaro Mochizuki	201

Where is the Japan Open held?

The Japan Open is held at the Ariake Tennis Forest Park, with the tennis complex holding a total of 48 courts and actually hosted the recent Tokyo Olympic Games.

This complex’s main court named the Ariake Coliseum holds a maximum of 10,000 spectators, and is one of the only tennis venues to have a retractable roof.

How much prize money is on offer at the Japan Open 2023?

Total prize pot (for both singles and doubles): $2,013,940

Singles Prize Money Distribution:

Event	Winner	Finalist	Semi-finalist	Quarter-finalist	Round of 16	Round of 32
Singles	$376,620	$202,640	$108,000	$55,170	$29,455	$15,710

What are the ranking points for the Japan Open 2023?

Event	Winner	Finalist	Semi-finalist	Quarter-finalist	Round of 16	Round of 32	Qualified	Qualifying Round Two	Qualifying Round One
Singles	500	300	180	90	45	0	20	10	0
Doubles	500	300	180	90	0	—	45	25	0

Previous winners of the Japan Open

Last year’s singles final at the Japan Open saw Fritz beat his compatriot Frances Tiafoe, to win the fourth of what is now six ATP titles.

Here are the last 10 singles and doubles winners of the 51-year-old tournament:

2011	Andy Murray	Andy and Jamie Murray
2012	Kei Nishikori	Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares
2013	Juan Martin del Potro	Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin
2014	Kei Nishikori (2)	Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Michal Przysiezny
2015	Stan Wawrinka	Raven Klaasen and Marcelo Melo
2016	Nick Kyrgios	Marcel Granollers and Marcin Matkowski
2017	David Goffin	Ben McLachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama
2018	Daniil Medvedev	Ben McLachlan and Jan-Lennard Struff
2019	Novak Djokovic	Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin
2022	Taylor Fritz	Mackenzie McDonald and Marcelo Melo