Shingo Kunieda's incredible wheelchair tennis career by the numbers
As Shingo Kunieda brings an end to his phenomenal career in wheelchair tennis, we reflect on some of the standout statistics achieved by a truly special champion
3 – Kunieda led Japan to victory at the Wheelchair World Team Cup on 3 occasions – in 2003, 2007, 2018. He was also a 3-time winner of the Wheelchair Singles Masters – in 3 consecutive years from 2012-2014.
5 – Shingo Kunieda is the only player to medal at five successive Paralympic Games, claiming his first gold medal in doubles at Athens 2004, and his last, fittingly, in singles at his home games at Tokyo 2020.
6 – He won six Paralympic Medals in total, including gold medals in singles at Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Tokyo 2020, and doubles (with Satoshi Saida) at Athens 2004.
9 – Kunieda was diagnosed with spinal cancer at the age of nine. Two years later he took up wheelchair tennis, beginning the journey that would see him go on to become the most successful men's player in wheelchair tennis history.
10 – Kunieda was crowned ITF World Champion on 10 occasions, from 2008-2010, 2013-2015, 2018 and 2021-2022. Just three other players have won the award on more occasions: Esther Vergeer (13), Mike Bryan (12) and Bob Bryan (11).
22 – Kunieda recorded 22 singles wins to just two losses at the Paralympic Games. He has a 14-5 record in Paralympic doubles.
50 – Kunieda won an incredible 50 Grand Slam titles (28 singles, 22 doubles), and fittingly his final triumph was a brand-new achievement: his maiden singles triumph at Wimbledon and the completion of the career Grand Slam.
83 – Kunieda won 83 doubles titles with 18 different partners between 2002 and 2022. He enjoyed most success with Satoshi Saida, with whom he clinched 33 titles, and Stephane Houdet, who partnered him to 17 titles.
117 – Kunieda collected 117 career singles titles, from his first on home soil at the Kanagawa Open in August 2001 through to his last, also on home soil, at the Rakuten Japan Open in October 2022.
582 – Kunieda spent an incredible 582 weeks as men’s wheelchair singles world No. 1 during his career, and 102 weeks as doubles world No. 1. For context, that’s 209 weeks more than Novak Djokovic, who holds the men’s record with 373 weeks in the top spot.
699 – Kunieda ends his career with 699 wheelchair singles match-wins – just one shy of the 700 achieved by women’s wheelchair tennis legend Esther Vergeer. Overall, Kunieda recorded a 699-106 record in singles and 395-127 in doubles.