is a Japanese badminton player who competes in the men's singles event. He achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 18. Hailing from Kikuchi, Kumamoto, he is a member of the Japan national team and plays for the NTT East Badminton Team since graduating from Nihon University in April 2022. In 2024, Tanaka won his first BWF World Tour title at the Super 300 Orléans Masters. He subsequently won two additional Super 300 titles, the 2024 U.S. Open and the 2026 Swiss Open, and finished as the runner-up at the 2025 Australian Open (Super 500). Representing Japan, Tanaka was part of the squad that won the country's first men's team gold medal at the 2026 Asia Team Championships. Domestically, he is a two-time men's singles champion at the All Japan Championships, winning the title in 2021 and 2024.
Career 2020–2021: International debut and first titles Tanaka made his senior international debut in 2020 and was selected for the Japanese national team for the first time, notably without having competed on the international junior circuit. That year, he won his first international title at the Peru Future Series and finished as the runner-up at the Jamaica International, facing compatriot Takuma Obayashi in both finals. Although the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed his 2021 international season, Tanaka won his first All Japan Championships title. In the final, he defeated pre-tournament favorite Kodai Naraoka.
2022: Two International Challenge titles and world's top 100 In 2022, Tanaka secured two international titles and broke into the world's top 100 for the first time. He won the Polish International, defeating Jan Louda, and the North Harbour International, where he overcame Riku Hatano. He also finished as the runner-up to Hatano at the Réunion Open. Earlier in the year, after graduating from Nihon University, Tanaka joined the NTT East Badminton Team in April. By the end of the year, his performances propelled him to a world ranking of No. 91.
2023: Super 100 runner-up and two International Challenge/Series titles
In 2023, Tanaka finished as the runner-up at the Super 100 Kaohsiung Masters, where he lost to Lin Chun-yi. Tanaka also reached the semifinals at the Indonesia Masters Super 100 I. Earlier in the year, he won two BWF International Challenge/Series titles: the Estonian International, where he defeated Alex Lanier, and the Osaka International, where he defeated Alwi Farhan. Following these results, Tanaka achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 41 on 2 October.
2024: Two Super 300 titles and second All Japan champion title Tanaka's 2024 season highlighted by winning two Super 300 titles. He won his first BWF World Tour title in March at the Orléans Masters, defeating compatriot Koo Takahashi, followed by the U.S. Open title, where he defeated Lei Lanxi. His results on the world tour included semifinal and quarterfinal finishes at the Canada Open and Japan Open, respectively. Additionally, he won the Denmark Challenge in May, where he defeated Alex Lanier. These results propelled his world ranking from No. 56 at the beginning of the year to a career-high of No. 27, breaking into the top 30 for the first time
Nationally, Tanaka won the Japan Ranking Circuit Tournament in May. He concluded the year by securing his second All Japan Championships title, defeating top seed Kodai Naraoka in the semifinal. His national victories came under the coaching of two-time world champion Kento Momota, who had retired from international competition earlier that year.
2025: World Championships debut and Australian Open runner-up In February, Tanaka contributed to the bronze medal win at the Asia Mixed Team Championships. On the BWF World Tour, at the Super 1000 All England Open in March, he defeated eighth-seed Kodai Naraoka in the opening round. He later reached the semifinals of the Super 500 Malaysia Masters in May, where he was defeated by Srikanth Kidambi. Following a second-round appearance at the Super 1000 Indonesia Open, Tanaka achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 19 on 24 June.
In August, Tanaka made his World Championships debut, upsetting world No. 4 Li Shifeng in the first round before being eliminated in the second round. He concluded the season with a runner-up finish at the Super 500 Australian Open in November. During the tournament, Tanaka eliminated top seed Jonatan Christie and Lin Chun-yi to reach the final, where he lost to Lakshya Sen.
2026: Historic team title and Swiss Open champion Tanaka began the season at the Malaysia Open, where he was eliminated in the first round. He was part of the Japanese team that won Japan's first men's team title at the Asia Team Championships. In the final against China, he defeated Hu Zhe'an in straight games. He won his first title of the year in the Swiss Open against Alwi Farhan. In April, Tanaka competed at the Asian Championships in Ningbo, China. He defeated Jeon Hyeok-jin in the first round before being eliminated in the second round by Kunlavut Vitidsarn. In July, Tanaka reached his first Super 750 semifinal at the Japan Open. In the opening round, he defeated the eighth seed, Li Shifeng, securing his second consecutive victory over the player. He then advanced to the semifinals by upsetting world No. 2 Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the quarterfinals.
Playing style Tanaka describes his playing style as attacking, built on speed and a persistent effort to retrieve every shuttle. His motto, "one last push after getting tired," reflects this approach, which is designed to prevent the shuttle from landing on his side of the court.
Tanaka's speed and court movement have been praised by other players. Kento Momota, the two-time world champion, described him as exceptionally fast, rating his movement into the rear court as world-class. Asian Games gold medalist Jonatan Christie similarly praised his movement, technique, and shot quality, saying that his style compares favourably with that of other Japanese players. Christie also cited the accuracy of Tanaka's attacking and defensive play, along with his patience during rallies.
Momota also highlighted the sharpness of Tanaka's strokes, his defensive ability, and his capacity to establish an attacking rhythm while maintaining patient rallies. However, Momota observed that Tanaka's tendency to become overly eager during matches could lead to unforced errors. Tanaka acknowledged this, saying he sometimes focused too heavily on executing his own game rather than adapting to his opponent, and identified reducing errors, improving his tactical awareness, and refining his technique as areas for development.
Personal life Tanaka married on 5 February 2025.
Achievements BWF World Tour (3 titles, 2 runners-up) 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 Tours are divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.
Men's singles Year Tournament Level Opponent Score Result Ref 2023 Kaohsiung Masters Super 100 Lin Chun-yi 21–11, 17–21, 14–21 Runner-up 2024 Orléans Masters Super 300 Koo Takahashi 21–18, 21–10 Winner 2024 U.S. Open Super 300 Lei Lanxi 15–21, 21–18, 21–15 Winner 2025 Australian Open Super 500 Lakshya Sen 15–21, 11–21 Runner-up 2026 Swiss Open Super 300 Alwi Farhan 21–18, 21–12 Winner
BWF International Challenge/Series (6 titles, 2 runners-up) Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result Ref 2020 Jamaica International Takuma Obayashi 11–21, 21–17, 12–21 Runner-up 2020 Peru Future Series Takuma Obayashi 21–13, 8–21, 21–18 Winner 2022 Réunion Open Riku Hatano 16–21, 17–21 Runner-up 2022 Polish International Jan Louda 21–13, 21–15 Winner 2022 North Harbour International Riku Hatano 21–13, 21–18 Winner 2023 Estonian International Alex Lanier 21–13, 15–21, 21–12 Winner 2023 Osaka International Alwi Farhan 15–21, 21–14, 21–17 Winner 2024 Denmark Challenge Alex Lanier 15–21, 21–12, 21–11 Winner
BWF International Challenge tournament BWF International Series tournament BWF Future Series tournament
Performance timeline
National team Team events 2025 2026 Ref Asia Mixed Team Championships B NH Asia Team Championships NH G Asian Games NH 5th Thomas Cup NH 5th
Individual competitions Men's singles Event 2025 2026 Ref Asian Championships 2R 2R World Championships 2R 3R
Tournament BWF World Tour Best Ref 2023 2024 2025 2026 Malaysia Open A 2R 1R 2R ('25) India Open A 1R 1R 1R ('25, '26) Indonesia Masters A 1R QF QF ('26) All England Open A 2R 1R 2R ('25) Swiss Open A 1R 2R W W ('26) Orléans Masters A W 2R 2R W ('24) Thailand Open A 1R 2R 2R ('26) Baoji China Masters N/A SF A SF ('24) Malaysia Masters A SF A SF ('25) Singapore Open A 1R 1R 1R ('25, '26) Indonesia Open A 2R QF QF ('26) Australian Open A F 2R F ('25) U.S. Open 2R W A W ('24) Canada Open A SF A SF ('24) Japan Open A QF 1R SF SF ('26) China Open A 1R 1R 1R 1R ('24, '25, '26) Korea Masters 2R A 2R ('23) China Masters A 1R 1R 1R 1R ('24, '25, '26) Indonesia Masters Super 100SF A SF ('23) QF Vietnam Open 3R A 3R ('23) Arctic Open A 2R 2R Q 2R ('24, '25) Denmark Open A 1R 2R Q 2R ('25) French Open A 1R Q 1R ('25) Korea Open A 1R 1R Q 1R ('24, '25) Japan Masters A 1R 2R Q 2R ('25) Kaohsiung Masters F A F ('23) Hong Kong Open A 1R 1R 1R ('24, '25) Spain Masters A QF NH QF ('24) Year-end ranking 56 27 19 19 Tournament 2023 2024 2025 2026 Best Ref
Wins over top-10 ranked players Wins over players who were ranked in the world's top 10 at the time the match was played.
# Opponent Tournament Score 1 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 9 2024 Japan Open 1R 21–17, 5–4 retired 31 2 Kodai Naraoka 8 2025 All England Open 1R 21–13, 15–21, 21–9 26 3 Li Shifeng 4 2025 World Championships 1R 19–21, 21–11, 21–15 27 4 Jonatan Christie 4 2025 Australian Open 1R 21–17, 21–7 26 5 Shi Yuqi 1 2026 Indonesia Open 2R 21–16, 21–11 21 6 Li Shifeng 8 2026 Japan Open 1R 21–17, 19–21, 21–15 22 7 Kunlavut Vitidsarn 2 2026 Japan Open QF 20–22, 21–16, 21–18 22
Record against selected opponents Record against Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 4 September 2026.
Player Matches Win Lost Victor Lai 1 0 1 –1 Shi Yuqi 4 1 3 –2 Chou Tien-chen 3 0 3 –3 Anders Antonsen 3 0 3 –3 Viktor Axelsen 2 0 2 –2 Alex Lanier 4 3 1 +2 Christo Popov 2 1 1 0 Kevin Cordón 1 1 0 +1
Player Matches Win Lost Srikanth Kidambi 2 1 1 0 Prannoy H. S. 2 2 0 +2 Lakshya Sen 2 0 2 –2 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 3 2 1 +1 Kodai Naraoka 2 1 1 0 Lee Zii Jia 1 0 1 –1 Loh Kean Yew 1 0 1 –1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn 4 1 3 –2
References
External links
Yushi Tanaka at Badminton Association of Japan
Yushi Tanaka at NTT East Yushi Tanaka at J Sports TV Yushi Tanaka at Smash and Net TV Yushi Tanaka at Badminton Spirit