Ai Sugiyama

Ai Sugiyama (???) (born July 5, 1975, in Tokyo) is a Japanese tennis player, the second player in history from her country to be ranked #8 in the WTA singles rankings and only player in history to be ranked #1 in the doubles rankings. Though overshadowed by her predecessor Kimiko Date?s, Sugiyama has achieved remarkable results of her own, winning 36 titles (6 in singles and 30 in doubles, including four doubles Grand Slam titles). While she reached quarterfinals of Australian Open in 2000 and Wimbledon in 2004, she has yet reach a semifinal of a major while Date has reached the final four in three of the four Grand Slam.

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Tennis career

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In Collaboration: Mother and Daughter?s Global Challenge (?????????????????), authored by Sugiyama and her mother Fusako, she writes that she began playing tennis at age 5. Fusako and her husband had used tennis as a form of recreation without noticing that their older daughter was developing serious interest in the sport. Prior to then, her mother had allowed her to take up any hobby she liked such as painting, swimming, and piano. Thus, it came as a surprise when Sugiyama announced that she wanted to enroll in tennis lessons. Her commitment eventually led her to give up all other extracurricular involvements except the piano and she attended school established for serious athletes.

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In 1991, Ai reached #1 ranking at the junior level, prompting her to turn professinal a year later. At that time, her mother taught her to play tennis seriously unlike her amateur days because the spectators were paying to see her commitment and dedication toward the sport. In 1995, she competed in Roland Garros for the first time, reaching the final 16 of that tournament along with compatriots Date and Kyoko Nagatsuka.

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While Date had another rival in 1994 U.S. Open quarterfinalist Naoko Sawamatsu, Ai soon came to be regarded as Date?s future successor and Japan?s #2 player. At the 1996 Japan Open, Ai partnered with Date to win the doubles crown (and Date?s only doubles title). At the Federation Cup semifinals against the United States, she and Date represented her country as hosts. Although Japan lost 0-5 at that time, Ai played significantly better than Date, winning more games against Monica Seles and nearly defeating Lindsay Davenport. She also represented her country at the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, she defeated future tennis star Martina Hingis of Switzerland before falling to bronze medalist Jana Novotna of Czech Republic in the third round.

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Because Date retired in end of 1996 due to her awareness that she cannot physically handle more than fourteen tournaments, 1997 became the first of at least nine years where Sugiyama solely took the expectations of Japanese tennis on her own. She took up the challenge early on, losing in the finals to Russia?s Elena Likhovtseva in the finals of the Australian Women?s Hardcourt Championships (now Uncle Toby?s Tennis Classic). Ai also won her first title at the Japan Open and reached the finals of the Kremlin Cup, a Tier I event, losing to Novotna. At the end of the year, she was ranked at her career high #20 in singles.

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Ai continued to improve in 1998, taking out defending champion Likhovtseva en route to her second career singles title at the event in Gold Coast. She then reached semifinals at the Sydney International Tournament, a Tier II event, losing to Venus Williams. The early success earned her a #16 ranking in time to be seeded #16 at the Australian Open, where she reached the fourth round. She continued her amazing run by reaching the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, a Tier I event. Ai also successfully defended the Japan Open crown, defeating Corina Morariu of the United States. She also partnered with Likhovtseva in doubles, winning four titles and reaching the world championships at the end of the year. Ai even took out Steffi Graf of Germany in the second round of the Toshiba Tennis Classic (now Acura Classic), completing enraging whom many view as the best tennis player of all time. Her fortunes were dashed when she had to retire in the second round of the U.S. Open due to injury against Gala Leon Garcia of Spain. Although she pushed her career best ranking to #15, she was injured so long that she could not defend her points in Moscow and finished the year #18. Although withdrawal by Venus Williams would have placed Ai as an alternate, Graf pulled an amazing run of winning two tournaments in the last two weeks of the season and pushed her #22 ranking six places up (Graf went on to the semifinals of the event, finishing the year ranked #9). Awe-struck, yet heart-broken, Ai wrote in her homepage how disappointed she was at the time.

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1999 began to be the start of a turning point in her career. Early round losses in Australia and Tokyo plummeted her rankings quickly. She could not defend her title in the Japan Open, forfeiting it to Amy Frazier of the United States. She did manage to reach the semifinals of Toyota Princess Cup, a Tier II event in Tokyo and the quarterfinals in Moscow. Ai also won the mixed doubles with India?s Mahesh Bupathi at the U.S. Open, her first major. The press was not kind to her, as they portrayed her victory press conference as a form of a wedding announcement and pointed out that she has yet to prove herself in singles. Moreover, her doubles success in 1998 evaporated, winning only two titles. This prompted her to split with Likhovtseva after barely qualifying for the world championships, while she privately commented afterwards that she couldn?t cope someone she didn?t like. (On the contrary, Ai writes about her friendship with Likhovtseva though off the court.)

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In Collaboration, Ai admits that this year was the start of her unravelling mentally and physically. Feeling uncomfortable with her mother being around all the time, she told Fusako to stay away from her career because she had already hired her a coach with her tennis. Her mother writes that since she never experienced her daughter rebel, she quietly accepted Ai?s demand and concentrated full-time on her job as a tennis clinic coach back home. Little did Ai know that her career would only plummet for the worse.

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At first, 2000 seemed to be an unbelievable year for Ai, reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open before losing to eventual winner Jennifer Capriati of the United States. However, that was really the highest point in her singles season. As there was so much expectations that she would finally reach the semifinals in the Tier I event at Tokyo, an early round loss there a sharp criticism in her website and prompted her to delete that message immediately. She did manage to reach the fourth round of Roland Garros, losing to finalist Conchita Martinez of Spain despite having a 3-1 lead in the final set. The summer tournaments showed how out of shape Ai was, failing to win a single match.

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Prior to the U.S. Open, Ai called her mother, asking her for her help. Her mother was working with one of her students in a domestic tournament, but flew as soon as she could. In observing her daughter?s tennis she realized that everything was out of control. Realizing that her coach was not doing a good job, they allowed that contract to expire. Despite the gravity of the situation, her mother made a commitment with her daughter to return the basics and patiently wait as long as it takes until the results showing. Ironically, Ai dominated the doubles in the same year, partnering with Frenchwoman Julie Halard-Decugis. She reached quarterfinals of Australian Open, semifinals of Roland Garros, finals of Wimbledon, and won the U.S. Open along with nine other titles. However, her incredible success in doubles did not console her at all, always insisting that she wants to translate her results into singles. She even angered many of her fans back home by playing overseas instead of the Japan Open, giving the title to Halard-Decugis, who won three out of four titles in Japan during that time period.

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Ai slowly changed her lifestyle in 2001. For example, she redesigned her website and became more engaging with detailed messages. She probably found it less depressing when she took time to write how she felt and prepared for tournaments on the internet. When a first round to France?s Amelie Mauresmo in Melbourne dropped her rankings to 49 and placed her on the verge of losing the spot as Japan?s top player, she was quite frank about it. In an interview one week later in Tokyo, she said that she expected that to happen due to her dismal summer last year, but it was still shocking to see it. In response to a question about her double success, she replied that she enjoyed doubles, but she reiterated her desire to translate that to singles success. Her biggest success came at Wimbledon, reaching third round in singles to France?s Sandrine Testud, finals in doubles with Kim Clijsters of Belgium, and quarterfinals in mixed doubles. This was the year where she had several very close encounters with Testud. The match in Wimbledon was a close one and she might have won it had she not been stung by a hornet. Following a straight sets win over the Frenchwoman in Tokyo, she explained how she was a woman who would always make some kind of comeback so she was wondering what she would do to come back in that match. Days after 9/11, she wrote how it was surreal to that the city where she had been a few days earlier had experienced such a catastrophe and she can?t forgive whoever that committed those crimes. Ai continued to play a few more tournaments, reaching semifinals in Japan Open to Monica Seles of the United States (Seles had won three consecutive tournaments in Tokyo, Sao Paulo, and Shanghai) and quarterfinals in Shanghai. She later wrote how lucky she was to have played the tournaments in Linz and Pattaya because points from those tournaments helped her regain the top 25 singles ranking.

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The results in 2002 showed that Ai was slowly pulling herself back to the form that took her to a top 15 single rankings in four years earlier. This was the first year where top 32 players were seeded at a major. Seeded 24 in the Melbourne, she recounted how it was much easier for her to pass early rounds as a seeded player. She seemed very animated when she won one game in her 0-6, 1-6 fourth round loss to Seles in the fourth round Pacific Life Open. After looking for several doubles partner, she settled down with her countrywoman Rika Fujiwara and surprisingly reached the semifinals of Roland Garros. She also played a decent tournament at Wimbledon, even leading Seles in the third round. Her results in summer improve considerably as she reached quarterfinals in singles and finals in doubles with Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova in San Diego, semifinals in singles and finals in doubles with Hantuchova in Los Angeles, and third round to Jennifer Capriati of the United States in singles and finals in doubles with Fujiwara in Montreal. Her match in San Diego against Hantuchova was somewhat controversial as an umpire stopped play at match point and awarded the match to her because Hantuchova had allegedly took too much time between serves. Ai wrote how her doubles partner was very professional in handling the situation and played well in doubles with her. Her match against Capriati was a very close one, but her inability to capitalize in key points led her to scratch her racquet with the ground. American commentators commented that that is probably the most frustration one can see from her. Ai continued to do well in doubles, reaching the semifinals of the world championships with Fujiwara. After the national championships, she wrote how thankful she was for Fujiwara because she felt old and tired often, but her partner kept her going through many matches.

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No one surely expected Ai to have such a magnificent year as 2003. A slow start and bad luck did not help her in the tournaments in Australia and Japan. What was interesting in her schedule was taking a swing towards Europe after the Toray Pan Pacific Open. In one interesting match, she was up 6-2, 5-1 against France?s Nathalie Dechy before her opponent?s homecrowd winning the match 6-4. She did have tight matches against Monica Seles in Tokyo, who reached the finals of that event, and relatively tight matches against host competitors Justine Henin Hardenne and Amelie Mauresmo, but no one clearly expected below.

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Ai Sugiyama entered the 2003 State Farm Championships (proved to be the last time the event was played) unseeded. Her best results in this new event were reaching quarterfinals in 2000 to Russia?s Anna Kournikova and semifinals in doubles in 2002. Defeating #3 seed Lindsay Davenport in the second round itself was a major upset in Ai?s career. Although the 1998 U.S. Open champion and 1996 Olympic gold medalist was ill at the time, Ai never came close to defeating her in any of her previous matches. The withdrawal of reigning all four Grand Slam champion Serena Williams of the United States, the outlook for Ai to actually win the tournament significantly brightened, though very few people dared to say that. Not only did she overcome a tight match against #6 seed Eleni Danilidou of Greece in the quarterfinals, Ai saved a matchpoint in semifinals against Alexandra Stevenson in the last day of the event. Since Ai has not reached finals of any event since Japan Open in 1998, this success was a miracle in itself. However, the week was not over for her. A few hours later, Ai played against reigning world champion Kim Clijsters of Belgium in the finals, where she made an incredible three set comeback to win her fourth singles title, the first since 1998. In the meantime, Ai had reached to the finals with Clijsters in doubles. After winning relatively easily in the semifinals on the last day, they decided to play the finals afterwards as well rather than holding off until Monday. At the end of the day, having played more than seven hours of tennis and more than 104 games over four matches, Ai emerged with two trophies in her hands.

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This win really shocked many people, prompting celebrities such as 1995 Wimbledon men?s quarterfinalist Shuzo Matsuoka to congratulate her in her homepage. In retrospect, however, neither Ai nor her mother seemed to have been surprised by this stunning achievement. In Collaboration, they both discussed how the were working on this comeback since her slump in the summer of 2000. They credit it to hard work and recommitment to the sport in those long period of distress.

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Many players seemed to have been worried about her physical condition afterwards, as she had to undergo some massage and treatment for her next event. Ai had somewhat of a disappointment the following week in Indian Wells, where she failed in eight attempts to reach the final eight of the Tier I event. In this particular match, Ai had baggled #8 seed Chanda Rubin of the U.S. as a #21 seed, but could not finish the job. She carried her momentum back home, as she joined her countrywomen Shinobu Asagoe, Rika Fujiwara, Saori Obata to represent their country in defeating South Korea, People?s Republic of China, New Zealand, Thailand, and Hong Kong in the Asia/ Oceania qualifying for the Federation Cup. Ai even succeded in the claycourt season, reaching semifinals of the Italian Open, losing to Clijsters. As the #16 seed at Roland Garros, she pushed defending champion Serena Williams to the limit in the fourth round. In the doubles, she was seeded #2 with Clijsters and won the event in a tight match against top seeds Paola Suarez of Argentina and Spain?s Virginia Ruano-Pascual. Ai then reached round of 16 as #13 at Wimbledon, losing to Clijsters as well, but won the doubles event. During the summer hardcourt season, Ai successfully defended her semifinal points from last year in Los Angeles by reaching the final four, losing to #2 seed Davenport as the #4 seed. Entering the U.S. Open as the #15 seed, she had decent chances to reach the quarterfinals, but days of rain delays and controversial scheduling changes weakened her playing, losing to Italy?s Francesca Schiavone (Schiavone proved to cause trouble often after this match, much in the same way Leon Garcia did years earlier). Although Clijsters ?convinced? her to pull out of the event because they were fed up with the scheduling in the year, Ai was not quite happy with the decision, declaring that they will not be teaming up next year. She was in the position to win her third Japan Open title afterwards, but faulty serve receiving against her opponent in the quarterfinals in that event fractured her finger, placing her season in jeopardy.

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People quietly knew that her ranking was going up, perhaps even reaching the top eight tha would prompt her to qualify for the world championships in Los Angeles. The possibility remained very true as Ai became not only the first woman from Japan to win both singles and doubles in a Tier II event, but also the second woman to do so as well. As the #2 seed in Linz Ladies Open in Austria, she defeated #4 seed Nadia Petrova of Russia in the finals as well as winning the doubles event with South Africa?s Liezel Huber. Ai would have sealed her chance to qualify had she went on to win the event in Philadelphia the following week, but ultimately succumed to France?s Amelie Mauresmo in the semifinals despite holding a match point. The withdrawals of Venus and Serena Williams, as well as Lindsay Davenport secured Ai?s qualification to Los Angeles, where for the first time, she defeated reigning Roland Garros and US Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne. Bonus points from this match enabled her to finish in the top 10 for the first time in her career. A loss in the doubles finals proved costly as she could not keep the world?s #1 ranking in doubles at the season?s end.

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Although Ai aanswered in an interview that her goal of 2004 was to reach the top 5, she must have known that her success in 2003 was a miracle in itself. But, winning the first event of the year in Gold Coast for the second time seemed to have suggested it could happen, as she jumped to #8 in rankings. That possibility was short-lived as she was stunned by her countrywoman Obata in the second round of the Australian Open. Worse, she caught an epidemic of cold that was plaguing Japan at the time of the Toray Pan Pacific Open. Because athletes could not take any form of medication as a policy, Ai later vividly reflected that her mother was very committed to doing everything she can in treating her daughter?s illness. Cancelling the Arizona event was somewhat costly to Ai?s rankings, but she reached the semifinals of a new event in Dubai. Afterwards, she did not succeed in many other tournaments. At Roland Garros, there was somewhat a lot of attention drawn to her losing second round in singles and opening round in doubles to her countrywomen Asagoe and Fujiwara. After her singles loss, she explained how physically and mentally she was torn apart.

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Ai entered Wimbledon 2004 as #11 seed. All of her singles matches were aired live in a cable channel in Japan, as well as in tape in the National Broadcasting Channel (NHK) and commentated by her predecessor Kimiko Date. Perhaps fortunate in the draw, she did not have much trouble reaching fourth round in singles. At that round, she fought off a tight match against Thailand?s Tamarine Tanasugarn, a former rival of hers as Asia?s top player. In the quarterfinals, she was six points from reaching the semifinals against Russia?s Maria Sharapova, but her opponent raised up her level, running away with the win (and ultimately the title). Some Japanese people regretted that she lost that match, but it is highly doubtable if she would have defeated Davenport in the semifinals and defending champion Serena Williams in the finals the way Sharapova did. In the meantime, Ai managed to reach the finals again in the doubles event and the quarterfinals in mixed doubles. Her singles ranking returned to the top 10. This success brought a lot of attention to people back home. In her subsequent arrival back home at the airport, she stated how it was one of her meaningful tournaments she had played, having played sixteen matches at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. It also brought pressure for her to reconsider not playing in Athens, which she finally agreed to do after refusing to do so for much of the year. It was during this time period when Ai and her mother released their autobiography.

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In preparation for her third Summer Olympic Games, she teamed up with Asagoe for a few hardcourt events, even winning one in Canada. It was somewhat unfortunate that despite reaching quarterfinals of the singles event for the first time, she lost to someone she could have won. Ai did reach doubles semifinals, but finished up fourth place in the event. She carried this success to the U.S. Open, reaching round of 16 for the second year in a row. She held a set point against Jennifer Capriati of the United States, but could not capitalize. Pairing up with Elena Dementieva of Russia, she reached the semifinals before Dementieva had to pull out in preparation for her singles finals. She had modest results at the end of the year, but did reach quarterfinals of Swisscom Challenge in Zurich, a Tier I event. While the results were decent enough for Ai to stay in the top 16, the results were disappointing enough that she privately contemplated retiring from the sport. This was clearly not visible from anyone?s mind as she and her mother happily took part in several Japan television interviews and shows that exemplified athlete parent-child relationships.

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2005 surely frightened many of her fans that she may retire as she lost in the opening round in ten events. In response to many worried letters, she wrote that she had been injured at the end of the year and was not prepared for the events in January. She flew to Italy for a short trip to receive laser treatment before spring. Ai also struggled to keep a stable doubles partner, switching from Dementieva to her former partner Elena Likhovtseva, who reached semifinals of Roland Garros this year, and eventually to Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova. With Hantuchova, she won one event in England.

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Ai received a lot of attention at the Tier I event in San Diego, where she defeated top players such as reigning US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in her route to the finals. When asked why Japanese players perform so well at this event (Ai had reached quarterfinals in 2001 and 2002 and Kimiko Date defeated Argentina?s Gabriela Sabatini, Spain?s Conchita Martinez and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario to win in 1996), she suggested that the Japanese community there as well as the player-friendly event may have helped her play well. Interestingly, her semifinal opponent was 2002 Asian Games winner Akiko Morigami while People?s Republic of China fielded Shuai Peng, who defeated Kim Clijsters en route to the final 4. Having to play until midnight on Saturday proved costly as Ai was no match for France?s Mary Pierce, who reached finals of Roland Garros and eventually finals of U.S. Open. In her loss, Ai amazingly saved seven match points. She was somewhat lucky to be seeded at the U.S. Open through this event. In singles, she had two monumental comebacks to reach third round. That was not enough to compete against Kim Clijsters in the third round, who never lost a single match on hardcourts in North America except once. Particularly controversial was her doubles pairing with Hantuchova. Some analysts observed in their second round loss that essentially Ai was playing one on two, barely scraping off a set in a three set defeat. Seemingly disappointed at lack of communication, Ai stated that she will no longer play with the Slovakian phenom. Some tabloid newspapers in Japan attempted to make money of this seemingly small incident by headlining it as ?Sugiyama breaks up with her doubles partner in fury!? Ai did reach quarterfinals of the mixed doubles event. She plans to play three more events before the end of the season in Japan, South Korea, and Switzerland.

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Personal and Family Life

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Her father is in the medical field while her younger sister Mai is an amateur golf player. Her mother Fusako was a psychology major working for her husband?s laboratory at the university. While Ai was born in Tokyo, she spent much of her life in Shizuoka and Kanagawa. Ai comes from a relatively liberal background. Her maternal grandmother was an avid golfer with her grandfather preparing dinners whenever she went off to the links. When Ai?s mother was going to marry her father, her grandmother told her, ?You are not going to enter the Sugiyama family. You are going to create a new family with your husband.?

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Ai was academically successful in school, so much that her teachers could not believe it. In one instance, the papers she submitted in high school was so well-written that her teacher accused her of plagiarizing. When her mother heard of such hurtful incident, she encouraged her daughter ?You are doing really well so that no one can believe that you can both play tennis and study hard. Look at Seichi Ozawa (former conductor of Boston Pops Orchestra). His talent was not recognized in Japan so he went abroad and succeeded so well.? Ai?s mother was not the kind of person who would order her mother around, but would ask lots of questions all the time to her daughter and letting her make decisions. Her philosophy succeeded in raising both daughters and enjoying in the process; in fact, so much that Fusako has moved on to raise other children through her tennis academy in Japan.

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Her mother writes that she had two major fights with her daughter in the past. The first one was when she was very little. For some forgotten reason, her daughter had lied to her and her mother clearly saw through it. She did not explode or yell at her daughter, but calmly stated, ?If you lie to me again, I will cut off your tongue with a scissor?. While they don?t really remember what happened then, it was a shocking event that Ai remembers vividly. The second incident was towards beginning of Ai?s professional career when she let her doubles partner withdraw from the event without any serious discussion about it. When her mother found about it, she was upset for three days, telling her that she didn ot want to see her daughter again. Ai writes that those three days were the most frightening time of her life. She later learned her mother?s philosophy that as professionals, they are expected to perform for their audience, who pay to see her play. Unlike amateur events, professional events are ones that cannot be taken lightly because of that. As a result, while Ai has dropped out of matches in the past due to injuries, she has grown to take every singles and doubles match seriously. One major testimony to this fact her not giving up in the 2005 Acura Classic finals against Mary Pierce when she was down 0-6, 0-4.

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Unlike some professional tennis player whose parents expect their children to perform well, her mother is very modest about her role as the captain of Team Ai. She states that her main job is coordinate necessary resources, such as arranging coaches, searching hitting partners, looking for suitable hotel and facilities, and scouting on her potential opponents in tournaments.

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Her parents noted her competitive spirit since she was little. In one incident, the three would play cards for fun, but Ai would always be very upset at herself whenver she loses. In fact, when her parents would lose to their daughter on purpose, Ai would know that and insisted that she wants to win fair and square.

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Interestingly, Ai is a Christian, but not as explicit as Michael Chang is. Her faith comes from her mother, who had known a Catholic priest prior to getting married. After stopping going to church, she met this priest once again a few years ago. Sensing that it is some kind of God?s calling, she and Ai decided to get baptized. Ai?s Christian name is Maria Christine, which her mother states is somewhat greedy of Ai to choose a name derived from Jesus Christ and his mother St. Mary.

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In regards to life after tennis, she is not sure about her future plans. Although her mother?s work inspires her, Ai states that she wants to carve her own future. She stated an interest in continnuing to play doubles, taking her partners to events across the globe. She has not ruled out coaching prospective youths. In respect to rising star Aiko Nakamura, whom analyst say is the first Japanese to have an attacking weapon that both Sugiyama and Date lacked, Ai flatly stated that she would coach her if she retired. Ai also stated that she would like to get married one day and have children, but she does not see herself in that situation anytime soon.

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