Preview: 2024 ITF Masters 45 World Team Championships in Tokyo, Japan
The 2024 ITF Masters 45+ World Team Championships are being held in Japan’s capital city Tokyo, the first time an ITF Masters World Championships will be held in Asia.
Kicking off on Sunday, the ITF Masters 45+ World Team Championships will see a total of 47 teams – from nations in every region across the globe – compete to become World Champions in the Men’s Dubler Cup and Women’s Margaret Court Cup.
An exciting line-up of nations are preparing to compete at the Ariake Tennis Park, the iconic venue of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, including Korea Rep., Hong Kong, Philippines and China, for whom this represents their first World Championships.
On the men’s side, 2023 World Champions France, captained by former ATP 407 Xavier Audouy, will look to defend their title. France will face stiff competition from Netherlands, who boast two former World Champions in Bart Beks and Marcus Hilpert, Spain, who are led by serial World Champion Roberto Menendez Ferre, and the USA, who are spearheaded by former finalist Wojtek Bratek.
Philippines will look to spring a surprise – former MT700 Aichi winner Rolando Jr. Ruel leads the debutant side. Japan will be dangerous too, with home advantage spurring on a strong-looking team, which includes former ATP 219 Takahiro Terachi and former ATP 717 Naoki Arimoto.
On the women's side, the competition is just as fierce. Returning champions France look formidable with former top 300 WTA star Ségolène Berger and World Championships stalwart Carine Maisonnave forming a strong top two.
2023 runners-up Germany are aiming to go one better this year, with ITF No. 5 Mirja Wagner spearheading the team, while Spain will aim to challenge, led by former WTA 140 Gisela Riera-Roura. Elsewhere, the Asian teams will be hoping to upset the European heavyweights. China, Japan and Korea each have the potential to be the dark horse in 2024.
The ITF Masters 45+ World Individual Championships then take place the following week, from 23 – 30 November in Tokyo. The tournament will see many of the stars from the Teams competition go for individual glory.
It is difficult to look past former World Champions Beks and Menendez Ferre as favourites on the men’s side, while former WTA 239 and ITF #1 Julie Thu will hope to top off an outstanding 2024, in which she has won two MT1000s and three MT700s, with World Championships glory.