The History of the Japan Tennis Association
The Japan Tennis Association was originally founded in 1922 as the Nihon Teikyu Kyoukai, a voluntary organization. In 1980 it became an incorporated foundation (zaidan houjin) and changed its name to Zaidan Hojin Nihon Tenisu Kyokai, in English the Japan Tennis Association (JTA). It then became a public interest incorporated foundation (koueki zaidan houjin) in 2012. Its activities are aimed at promoting tennis as a lifetime sport, a competitive sport, and a spectator sport.
1. Founding of Nihon Teikyu Kyoukai
Since the introduction of Western-style tennis here, the desire of the Japanese people to interact internationally and to venture onto the global stage has grown steadily stronger. (In Japan this was called "hardball tennis" to differentiate it from "softball tennis.") Keio University adopted “hardball tennis” in 1913, helping to spread the sport throughout Japan.
In 1920, Zenzo Shimizu, who was working at the Kolkata Branch Office of Mitsui & Co. Ltd., went to Wimbledon alone and reached the All Comers’ finals (the semi-finals in the current system). Later that year, at the Antwerp Olympics in August, Ichiya Kumagai, then working at the New York Branch Office of Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha (Mitsubishi Company), won the silver medal in both singles and doubles matches, partnering with Seiichiro Kashio. These were the first medals won by Japanese athletes in Olympic history.
That autumn, while traveling overseas with his wife, Tsunekichi Asabuki, a businessman who was then known as the leading benefactor of tennis in Japan, met with Julian Myrick, President of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), and other officials. As the USTA, the founding association of the Davis Cup, recognized the presence of Japanese players in the sport, President Myrick strongly recommended that Japan participate in the Davis Cup, a national team competition. However, at that time Japan did not have a tennis association, the requisite organization to participate in the Davis Cup tournament. “As long as you have a board of directors and the documents, we will look after the rest” was the supportive advice from the USTA. When Mr. Asabuki returned to Japan, he negotiated with key individuals at universities and tennis clubs, secured a number of directors, and established the Nihon Teikyu Kyoukai. After being appointed president, he submitted an application to the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) in February 1921. With an endorsement from the United States, Japan succeeded in becoming an official member in March 1923.
Nihon Teikyu Kyoukai sent the first Japanese team consisting of three players, Kumagai, Shimizu, and Kashio, along with their manager, to the Davis Cup in 1921. The team defeated India and Australia, advancing to the Challenge Round (the finals in the current World Group) to play against the US team. After this breathtaking finale, Mr. Asabuki and others reorganized the association and launched an official inauguration on March 11, 1922 at the YMCA in Kanda, Tokyo. As dividends from the Davis Cup admission fees, the USTA sent US$20,000 to Japan, which served as operating funds for the Association.
The first All Japan Tennis Championships, played at the Tokyo Imperial University (the current University of Tokyo) tennis courts, kicked off in September 1922. The men’s singles champion was awarded the New York Cup, a trophy donated by the Japan Club in New York for winning the Challenge Round. In 1923 the ranking system was introduced. There were 20 men’s singles players and 10 doubles players in the All Japan ranking on January 4, 1924. The women’s games were introduced from the third All Japan Tennis Championships. The first rulebook was issued in 1925 and the tennis balls, with a ball test, were made official in 1927.
Implications of war surfaced as the years progressed. In 1942 the association as well as the Japan Sports Association were dissolved and unified into the government controlled Japan Sports Tennis Association, which remained essentially dormant until the end of the Pacific War.
2. Re-establishing Nihon Teikyu Kyoukai
Nihon Teikyu Kyoukai was re-established in November 1945 at their annual general meeting. The advent of the golden age of professional tennis began when open tennis tournaments were introduced around the world in 1968. However, as the Nihon Teikyu Kyoukai was associated with the Japan Amateur Sports Association, the headquarters of amateur sports, the amateur regulations restrained the registration of professional tennis players. Finally, the Japan Open, an international open tennis tournament, commenced in 1972, coinciding with a period of rapid economic growth in Japan. Tennis became a popular sport among the Japanese due to the large number of overseas tennis athletes making visits to Japan. Soon the number of tennis clubs and courts increased and the Nihon Teikyu Kyoukai needed to diversify. One of the efforts was to incorporate the association.
3. Rebirth as the Japan Tennis Association
Nihon Teikyu Kyoukai, which began as a voluntary organization, was reorganized to become the Zaidan Hojin Nihon Tenisu Kyokai, or the Japan Tennis Association (JTA), in 1980. In 1983 the Ariake Tennis Forest Park, owned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, was completed and used for major tennis tournaments. In 1991 a national training center (NTC) for JTA opened at the Asahi Seimei Kugayama Sports Center, which served as a major foothold in spreading and strengthening the sport. There was, however, a sea change in the social and economic situation in sports in Japan. Ten years later, in 2001, suffering a shortage of financial resources, JTA returned the NTC courts to Asahi Seimei.
During the sluggish economic period in 2001, when JTA was in the midst of a shortage of financial resources, Masaaki Morita was appointed president of JTA and under the slogans "a new JTA" and "Japan Service Association." To the best of his ability, he reorganized the association, secured financial resources, and introduced efforts to become more international. He reconfigured the Japan Open as a tennis festival in Asia and devoted himself to the tournament. The audience swelled from 25,706 spectators in 1999 to 72,386 spectators in 2006. A tennis-specific NTC with indoor tennis courts located in the Ajinomoto National Training Center opened on January 21, 2008. In April of that same year, JTA also introduced a One Coin Entry Fee to strengthen the NTC and nurture tennis in Japan, helping increase the number of participants in tennis tournaments.
4. Appointing a New President and Becoming a Public Interest Incorporated Foundation
In June of 2011, Masaaki Morita, who led the Japan Tennis Association for 11 years as president, retired and was replaced by Nobuo Kuroyanagi. The Japan Tennis Association became a public interest incorporated foundation in April of 2012.
Tennis is a sport that everyone can enjoy throughout his or her life. It is a traditional public sport and plays an important role as an international sport of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Japan Tennis Association as a public interest incorporated foundation, designated the promotion of tennis as a lifelong sport as well as a competitive and spectator sport. as its goal. Furthermore, with the preferential tax treatment granted to public interest incorporated foundations in mind, the newly appointed president instructed the expansion of the donation system as a means to strengthen the financial foundation of the association.
Under the newly appointed president, the Japan Tennis Association set forth “Fairness, Teamwork and Globalism” as its operating principles. Furthermore, the new president had a sense of crisis about the decreasing tennis population especially among the young and ordered an analysis of tennis population in order to verify the related activities.
From a policy perspective, he prioritized creating an introductory tool for the promotion of tennis, Tennis Play & Stay, visited 9 regions annually, shared his sense of crisis and called for an expansion of promotional activities.
He worked to spread regional Tennis Play & Stay by distributing special subsidies to the 9 regional tennis associations in 2013 and to 47 local tennis associations in 2014. When Kei Nishikori reached the finals at the US Open in September of 2014, Japan saw an increase in public interest in tennis, propelling the promotion of tennis in the nation.
After becoming a public interest incorporated foundation, the Japan Tennis Association worked on strengthening its governance. The compliance office was established, a portal for reports and consultations to serve the whistle blowing system was established, and the efforts were made to improve the management and operation of the JTA to the level regularly seen in private companies.
In 2016, a new development in the 3rd operating principle of the association - “globalism” -was established. In March, the JTA funded and implemented a special junior development program, to provide training while competing overseas, in addition to the existing junior development program at the National Training Center focused on the Olympics, Davis Cup and Fed Cup.
In September 2016, the JTA and the French Tennis Federation (FFT) signed a memorandum that promises mutual cooperation between the two countries.
The memorandum signed by the JTA and the FFT stipulates improvement in international competition, promotion, hosting of tournaments, instructors’ training, research and exchange of information as areas of cooperation for the future. This memorandum was the first of its kind the JTA signed with another overseas governing entity of tennis.
The 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo provides the JTA with a great opportunity. It is no other than the fact that public funds will be put into tennis as an official sport and the player development policies will evolve. The renovation of the Ariake Tennis Forest Park, which will be the site of the Olympic and Paralympic tennis competition, means the expansion of the tennis facilities that will serve as a legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and will have an important meaning for tennis as a spectator sport.
On the other hand, social issues stemming from scandals involving athletes and instructors remind us all of the importance of education during the junior years of athletes. The JTA began promoting fair play at tournament matches, as well as the 5-point Principle of Self-Judgement based on recognition of the importance of following rules, strengthening existing governance, and securing compliance.
The JTA started the “Shake hands, Greetings and Fair Play” movement in 2017, which calls for greetings and hand shakes before the start of matches. This supports one of the goals of promoting tennis - to develop boys and girls as sound, fair and international individuals.
2017 was an important year for establishing a foundation and environment for the promotion and development of tennis. The system of junior JPIN was completed thanks to the understanding and cooperation of the regional and local tennis associations, and the test run of the junior ranking system started in April of 2018.
In accordance with the permeation of promotional activities, the goals of the JTA’s activities have been amended from “tennis development, player development” to “tennis development, junior player development and player development.” In March of 2018, the JTA completed “the mid- to- long term strategic plan” for Japan’s tennis.
The total business scale was 2,269,780,000 JPY in 2017. Since the total business scale of the first year after becoming a public interest incorporated foundation was 1,364,530,000JPY, the growth of 66.3% took place over the period of 6 years. According to the research report on tennis issued in March of 2017, the tennis population increased from 3,990,000 people in 2014 to 4,390,000 people in 2016
(updated on July 3rd, 2018)