Kanoa Igarashi loves Nitto ATP Finals: ‘I take notes every day when I go home’ | ATP Tour
Nitto ATP Finals
Olympic medalist Igarashi loves Nitto ATP Finals: ‘I take notes every day when I go home’
Igarashi works as ATP content creator in Turin
November 12, 2025
Jack Howell/ATP Tour
Surfing star Kanoa Igarashi competes in the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time.
Andrew Eikenholz
Kanoa Igarashi knows what it takes to compete at the highest levels of sport and won a silver medal in surfing at the Tokyo Olympics. But that didn’t stop the 28-year-old from being impressed by what he saw at the Nitto ATP Finals.
“Tennis has always been the most physically and mentally difficult sport in the world,” Igarashi told ATPTour.com. “As an athlete, I look up to a lot of tennis players as inspiration and take a lot of ideas from them. But last week playing in a tournament in Paris was my first experience, and then all of a sudden, I’m in Turin, so it’s been a crazy few weeks for the little tennis part of my brain.”
Igarashi, who lives in Lisbon, quickly became a big fan of tennis. After competing in the Rolex Paris Masters and Nitto ATP Finals as an ATP content creator, the Japanese star got to know some of the best players in the sport.
“It’s crazy. Just developing relationships with some of these people and having good conversations with some of these athletes, it really made me realize the similarities between sports are crazy,” Igarashi said. “At the end of the day, we’re all trying to be the best, no matter what you play: football, basketball, tennis, or my sport, surfing. There are a lot of different ways to play your sport, but the goal is the same.”
Igarashi enjoys exchanging ideas on match preparation and training both on and off the field.
“Every day I go home and I take notes on some people. [They] Tell me and say, ‘Hey, have you ever trained like this or done this breathing exercise? Have you ever viewed your sport this way? ‘” Igarashi said. “[There are] A different perspective, a different angle, and I feel like I’ve grown a lot as an athlete and within my own sport. Suffice it to say, there are some things from the past few weeks that I will take with me into the upcoming season. “
One of the conversations that stood out was with Felix Auger-Aliassime, who qualified for Turin in the final week of the season. They talked about breathing and coping with stress.
“Tennis is all about resetting after every point, whether you win or losing, and staying fresh for the next point. The same goes for surfing. We catch waves and you should recalibrate after each wave and make sure you recalibrate physically and mentally to go into the next ride,” Igarashi said. “We talked a little bit about breathing and shared tips and methods that we use to deal with things in our own way.
“We bounced ideas off each other and it was a good conversation. He was philosophical. So was I. Especially with the sport I play, you really have to be. So that was cool.”
The ATP and TikTok have officially launched the Tennis Creator Network, a global creator program that debuted this week at the Nitto ATP Finals. Igarashi is a member of the Tennis Creators Network and represented Indian Wells in Turin. Learn more about this groundbreaking initiative here.
