Taro Daniel

Tennis career

Taro Daniel began playing tennis at age seven, training at the Shinrin Longwood Tennis Club in Nagoya City during his years in Japan. He placed third in the under-12 division of the All Japan Junior Tennis Tournament.

2011–13: First Challenger final, top 250

Early in his career, he won several ITF Futures events in Spain and Portugal. On the ATP Challenger Tour, he reached the semifinals at Yokohama in November 2012 and his first Challenger final at Yeongwol in November 2013, where he lost to fourth seed Bradley Klahn. Between 2011 and 2013, his ATP ranking rose from world No. 978 to 241.

2014: Grand Slam debut

At the 2014 Australian Open, Daniel reached the third qualifying round, losing to Thomaz Bellucci. He then qualified for his first ATP tournament and made the quarterfinals of the Chile Open, defeating Bellucci and eighth seed Federico Delbonis before losing to third seed Nicolas Almagro.

That year, he was nominated for the Japan Davis Cup team for the first time, playing in the World Group quarterfinal against the Czech Republic; he lost a five-set singles rubber to Lukáš Rosol and also fell to Jiří Veselý. Daniel qualified for the 2014 US Open for his Grand Slam main-draw debut, losing to fifth seed Milos Raonic in the first round. The following week, he reached the final at the Seville Challenger, where top seed Pablo Carreño Busta defeated him.

2015: Top 100

In 2015, Daniel claimed his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Vercelli by defeating Filippo Volandri. He qualified for the French Open, losing to 32nd seed Fernando Verdasco in the first round. In July, he won the Fürth Challenger, beating top seeds Blaž Rola and Albert Montañés. At the 2015 Davis Cup World Group play-offs against Colombia, Daniel won his first Davis Cup match, defeating Alejandro Falla to help Japan remain in the World Group for 2016.

He later qualified for the Valencia Open and reached the second round, losing to sixth seed Guillermo García-López. He finished the 2015 season with his third Challenger title in Yokohama, defeating countryman Go Soeda in the final. On 23 November 2015, he entered the top 100 for the first time at world No. 93.

Did You Know?

• He spent most of his elementary school days in Saitama, Japan.
• He has one younger sister named Kana.