Yuta Watanabe (badminton)

Yuta Watanabe (渡辺 勇大, Watanabe Yūta, born 13 June 1997) is a Japanese badminton player. He is a member of the Nihon Unisys team, and national team A representative. Known for his quick and explosive movements with signature drop shots on court, Watanabe, together with Arisa Higashino, had won 2 consecutive bronze medals in the mixed doubles event at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics, as well as being four-time BWF World Championships medalists.
Watanabe started his career in badminton when he joined the Kodaira junior club in Tokyo in 2005. He had shown his talent in badminton when he won some national event when he was in the elementary school. He made a partnership with Arisa Higashino as his senior in Tomioka Dai-ichi Junior High School in 2012.
Watanabe was selected to join national junior team competed at the 2014 Asian Junior Championships, and helped the team win the mixed team bronze medal. He also settled for another bronze medal in the boys' doubles event partnered with Kenya Mitsuhashi. At the World Junior Championships in Alor Setar, Malaysia, he won the bronze medals in the mixed doubles event with Arisa Higashino and in the mixed team event. In June 2014, he made his first appearance in the senior international event at the Japan Open, competed in the mixed doubles with Higashino, but the duo was defeated in the first round. He captured two titles at the 2014 Korea Junior Open in the boys' and mixed doubles event teamed-up with Mitsuhashi and Chiharu Shida respectively.
Watanabe started the 2015 season, by winning the boys' doubles title at the Dutch Junior tournament with Kenya Mitsuhashi, and finished as the semi-finalists in the mixed doubles with Chiharu Shida, and later won the mixed doubles title in German Junior tournament. In July, he competed at the Asian Junior Championships, clinched the bronze medals in the boys' singles and mixed team events. He reached his first final in the senior international event at the 2015 Russian Open a BWF Grand Prix tournament, where he and his partner Higashino defeated by Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying. At the Danish Junior Cup, he clinched two titles by winning the boys' singles and doubles events. In November, he won the boys' doubles bronze medal at the World Junior Championships in Lima, Peru.
In 2016, Watanabe won his first senior title at Vietnam International Challenge in the mixed doubles paired-up with Higashino, besides that he became a runner-up in the men's doubles with Mitsuhashi. In 2017, Watanabe started a new partnership with Hiroyuki Endo in the men's doubles. The notional points they both have managed them to compete in the Superseries event; while he and Higashino also have sufficient ranking to entered the Superseries stage. The best achievement during the season is to reach the semi-finals at German Open and Malaysia Masters in the men's doubles, and also semi-finals at the All England Open in the mixed doubles.
Significant progress occurs in 2018 season. Watanabe with his partner Higashino in the mixed doubles and Endo in the men's doubles are able to break the international doubles stage by reaching third and five place in the BWF rankings. Watanabe and Higashino became the first mixed doubles from Japan to win the All England Open since the tournament was first contested in 1899. En route to the finals, they beating the top three seeds, and then clinched the title after defeating the fifth seeded pair Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong in the rubber game. Both also won the Hong Kong Open after beating Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping in the finals. It was their first win over the world silver medallists in six meetings. Besides that, the duo finished in the semi-finals at the Malaysia, Japan, French, and Fuzhou China Opens; and in the year-end tournament BWF World Tour Finals. Meanwhile, paired with Endo, they won the Korea Open title; and finished as finalists in the Malaysia Open, Thailand Open, and World Tour Finals. Watanabe also part of the Japanese national team that won the silver medal in the Thomas Cup and the bronze in the Asian Games.
In the first half of the 2019 season, Watanabe has collected three titles, two in the men's doubles at the German Open and Asian Championships; and also a title in the mixed doubles at the Malaysia Masters. At the Asian Championships, Watanabe and Endo beating the top seeds and current World number 1, Gideon and Sukamuljo with a landslide score of 21–18, 21–3. He reached the finals in the mixed doubles at the All England Open, and the finals in the men's doubles at the New Zealand Open. Together with the National team, he won the silver medal at the Asia Mixed Team Championships and at the Sudirman Cup.
In the second half of 2019 season, Watanabe has won a title in the mixed doubles. Together with Higashino, they defended the Hong Kong Open title. Their journey in the remainder of the season does look quite difficult. In four meetings against Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong, they only managed to win once, in the group stage of the World Tour Finals; the rest were losses in the finals of the Thailand Open, as well in the semi-finals of the World Championships, French Open and World Tour Finals. The head-to-head record between the pairs stood at 2–8. Meanwhile, with Endo, their best result were finalists in the World Tour Finals, where the duo failed for the sixth time to beat the Indonesian veteran pair Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan in their seven meetings.
In 2020, Watanabe participated in the Badminton Asia Team Championships, where the Japanese men's team finished in the semi-finals. Watanabe then made history for Japan badminton, as he and his partner Endo, becoming the first Japanese men's doubles champions at the All England Open, after beating Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the final. It was their sixth straight win over Gideon and Sukamuljo. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous tournaments on the 2020 BWF World Tour were either cancelled or rescheduled for later in the year. He competed in the national events in December, and managed to claim his fourth mixed doubles consecutive title at the Japanese National Championships with Higashino, and third title in the men's doubles with Endo.
In March, Watanabe won both the men's and mixed doubles disciplines in the All England Open with Hiroyuki Endo and Arisa Higashino. He was the first player in over 19 years to accomplish such a feat. In July, he competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the men's doubles partnering Endo, and in the mixed doubles with Higashino. Watanabe and Endo's pace was stopped in the quarter-finals to eventual gold medalists Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin, while in the mixed doubles, Watanabe and Higashino clinched a bronze medal after winning the bronze medal game against Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet in straight games. Since Endo decided to retire from international tournaments after the Tokyo Olympics, Watanabe has focused on competing in mixed doubles. After the Olympics, Watanabe and Higashino reached five finals, winning the Denmark and French Opens, and became a finalist in the Indonesia Open, World Tour Finals, and also at the World Championships.
In 2022, Watanebe only won a title, where he and his partner, Higashino, successfully to defend the All England Open in March. Furthermore, he and his partner won the silver medal in the World Championships defeating by Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong in the finals, and a bronze medal in the Asian Championships defeating by Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping in the semi-finals. Another results that they achieved in 2022 were the finalists in the Indonesia and Japan Opens. Watanabe and Higashino then reached their career high as world number 1 in the BWF mixed doubles ranking on 8 November 2022.
Watanabe started the 2023 season by competing in the Malaysia Open, where he and his partner, Higashino, finished as the finalists. In the following week, they emerged as a champion in the India Open, after their opponent Wang Yilyu and Huang Dongping withdrawn from the final match. In March, they unable to defend their All England Open title, since Watanabe struggling with injury in the second round against Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun. Watanabe helps the national team advanced to the knocked out stage in the Sudirman Cup, where the team finished in the semi-finals. In June, Watanabe and Higashino reached the finals in the Singapore and Indonesia Opens. In the next tournaments, they stopped in the quarter-finals of the Canada Open to Taiwanese pairing Lee Jhe-huei and Hsu Ya-ching, and then in the semi-finals of the Korea Open to Chinese rising star Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin. The duo then won the Japan Open, becoming the first ever Japanaese pairing to claimed the Japan Open title since it was first contested in 1982. They clinched the bronze medal in the World Championships defeating by Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung in the semi-finals. He competed in the 2022 Asian Games, won a silver in the mixed doubles and a bronze in the men's team event. In the rest of the season, Watanabe and Higashino finished as the semi-finalists in the French Open, Japan Masters, as well in the year-end finals tournament the World Tour Finals.
Watanabe and Higashino opened the 2024 season as a champion in the Malaysia Open. Another result that the duo achieved in the first half of the season were finalists in the All England Open, quarter-finalists in the India Open, French Open, and at the Asian Championships. In two tournaments before the Paris Olympics, they suffered early rounds defeat in the Singapore and Indonesia Opens. He then made his second appearance at the Olympics in the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning a bronze medal after defeating Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yoo-jung in the bronze medal match. Watanabe ended his 13 years partnership with Higashino, after the quarter-finals defeat in the Japan Open. He then made a new partnership with Maya Taguchi, and made a debut in the Denmark Open, where they lost in the first round. They suffered a series of defeats in the early rounds in the first round of the Japan Masters and in the second round of the China Masters.
Mixed doubles
Mixed doubles
Mixed doubles
Men's doubles
Mixed doubles
Boys' doubles
Mixed doubles
Boys' singles
Boys' doubles
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.
Men's doubles
Mixed doubles
The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017.
Mixed doubles
Men's doubles
Mixed doubles