ITF

209 My biggest dream right now is to win in Rio, and another gold in the singles in Tokyo four years later. Around the time of Athens, the Paralympics was becoming a recognised event. After Beijing and London, the media coverage was visibly getting bigger and bigger. Before Athens, the Paralympics was seen as a social event, but since Athens it has become more like a sporting event. The London audience were sports fans, but in Beijing they probably didn't know a lot about tennis, so the biggest cheer in the match was for a lob. Each time there was a lob, it got a big cheer. Maybe it has something to do with the lob in table tennis, which is a popular shot in that sport. Table tennis is popular in China. Until 2008 in Beijing, I had a day job. I was an office worker at Reitaku University in Japan. But after winning a medal in Beijing I decided to become a professional tennis player. By winning that medal, I had quite a lot of media coverage. I wanted to play tennis professionally and IMG became my agent. So in that sense, the Paralympics changed my life. I no longer had to worry about financial matters. In 2012, six months before the Paralympics, I had an elbow operation. From the following day until the day of the final, I was told by my mental trainer to perform a particular image training. I installed on my iPad some wallpaper of the tennis court at Eton Manor in London, and spent five minutes each day imagining myself playing there. I remember the night before the final I did that, and the image in my head was of me hitting the winning shot and celebrating the moment of victory. And the way I celebrated was exactly the same when I actually won the final the following day. When I'm playing other matches and things are getting tough, I think about how I won the gold medals at the Paralympics, then I can get through that tough match. And also, when I think about Rio, I'll tell myself it's going to be even tougher, then somehow that works and my performance level goes up, and I play better. The fact I've won the Paralympics, I think, supports me in lots of ways. WOWOW [Japanese TV channel] are showing more matches, so now I get recognised more. In the past, I'd be recognised, but people would only congratulate me for winning a medal. Now people see me play more on TV, so those people who recognise me now not only congratulate me, but know how I won and comment on how well I played. In the Paralympics, I got to meet people from different countries who played different sports and with a different level of disability. For example, in the restaurant, which is big, I've seen someone with no arms but still using a spoon with their foot to have a meal. Some people are from poorer countries. Those people would have not much more than a wooden stick in place of a walking stick. It made me think there are lots of different people in the world. I can learn from the Paralympics. In the wheelchair tennis field, I will only see wheelchair users, but in the Paralympics, different people use different things. It's a very good opportunity to learn.

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