Jayce
Watanabe Yudai, born in 1997, moves like a phantom with his speed, while Higashino Arisa, born in 1996, excels in explosive kills from a jumping start with both feet. This Japanese mixed doubles pair, who have been holding hands since high school, have shown outstanding performances and results in the fierce world badminton mixed doubles scene in recent years.
Left-handed Watanabe, standing at 1.65 meters, does not have the innate advantage of height or arm length. However, he possesses agile court movement and unpredictable changes in speed, often producing extraordinary lines seemingly out of dire situations. Higashino, although not known for delicate technique, actively moves on the court and can seamlessly transition to the backcourt to launch continuous attacks that leave opponents helpless. This pair, who won the All England mixed doubles championship shortly after turning 20, also secured the bronze medal in mixed doubles at the Tokyo Olympics, undoubtedly positioning themselves as formidable rivals for China’s national badminton team in the coming years.
Watanabe Yudai / Higashino Arisa
Straightforward Path of Doubles
Watanabe Yudai, who spanned both men’s doubles and mixed doubles, has always been full of vitality on the court, resembling a giant with unlimited physical stamina, shuttling across the court, displaying astonishing jumping power.
Watanabe was born in 1997 in Suginami Ward, western Tokyo, famous in recent years for becoming a hub of the anime industry. During elementary school, due to his parents’ connections, Watanabe participated in baseball and badminton clubs. Gradually, his badminton talent emerged, leading him to enroll in Japan’s badminton player training base, Fuchu Daiichi Junior High School. At that time, his coach was a friend of Watanabe Yudai’s father and also the father of Japan’s current badminton women’s singles star, Ohori Saya.
In Watanabe’s memory, during elementary and junior high school, his entire focus was on badminton. At that time, he envied his peers who could play freely after school, while he had no time to chat with classmates because he might be late if he did not rush to the gym. During that time, he also participated in some school and external competitions, but his results were not outstanding. It was not until he entered Fuchu Daiichi Junior High School, which provided more comprehensive training support, that Watanabe gradually developed a bond with badminton driven by his competitive spirit. In his first year of high school, he won the National Youth Championship, solidifying his belief in continuing to play badminton and aspiring to become a professional badminton player.
Since high school, Watanabe has been competing overseas. In 2014, at the age of under 17, he participated in the Asian Youth Games and won third place in men’s doubles with his partner, Ken Misaki. In the same year in April, he teamed up with his senior schoolmate Higashino Arisa at the World Youth Games held in Malaysia and won third place in mixed doubles. In 2015, Watanabe continued to compete in the World Youth Games and Asian Youth Games, winning two runner-up titles in men’s doubles. At the Russian Badminton Grand Prix, he and Higashino won second place in mixed doubles.
With amazing physical fitness, he almost blossomed comprehensively during high school. In men’s singles, men’s doubles, and mixed doubles, he simultaneously made good results, also laying a good technical foundation.
After graduating from high school, Watanabe joined the well-known Japanese company Unisys and became a member of its badminton club. Also, in this 18-year-old year, he repeatedly considered the direction of his future. Due to his height, it was difficult to have more advantages on the court. Watanabe decided to take doubles as his development direction so that he could make a breakthrough on the international stage. In 2016, he began to specialize in doubles and won the runner-up in men’s doubles at the Vietnam Open. In the mixed doubles final, he defeated the Thai combination 2-0 and won his first international competition championship.
Watanabe Yudai / Higashino Arisa
Tokyo Cycle Doubles Path
As a key member of the Tokyo Olympic cycle, under the arrangement of the Unisys club, Watanabe Yudai began to partner with the 11-year-old senior partner Endo Daisuke in men’s doubles, while Higashino Arisa, who had been in high school, continued to be the partner since high school.
At the age of 20, he started to fully climb the stage of adult competitions. The best result in men’s doubles was the semi-finals of the Malaysia Open, and in mixed doubles, he also reached the semi-finals of the All England Open. In 2017, although Watanabe did not have amazing results, he accumulated a lot of tacit understanding and competition experience with his two partners.
In the year before the Olympic points match, Watanabe Yudai created the highest match appearance record of 101 games for the season. That year, they repeatedly entered the semi-finals or finals in the tour match, and the men’s doubles ranking began to move forward in the top ten in the world. It’s just that when the men’s doubles masters are crowded, the world’s top competitions are monopolized by the Indonesian “Hengshan”, “Little Yellow People”, and the Chinese Badminton Association’s “Double Towers” combinations, the new and old combinations of Watanabe and Endo did not attract people’s attention.
In the mixed doubles competition, Watanabe and Higashino’s performance has become increasingly stable this year, and their results have also begun to break through. What really makes people remember them is the mixed doubles final of the All England Open in 2018. After 62 minutes of fighting, they won the 15-21, 22-20, 21-16 reverse championship against Zheng Siwei/Huang Yaqiong, who had been winning all the way at that time, and won the first top event championship for both young people. The young people also realized the breakthrough of the gold medal in the mixed doubles project of Japan in the All England Open.
Watanabe and Higashino’s victory this time is not an occasional occurrence. A large part of the reason for the significant improvement in strength comes from Yan Weide, the former Malaysian national team mixed doubles coach who joined the Japanese team coaching staff at the end of 2017, which also completely restructured the way the two completely rely on physical advantages to play. Watanabe recalled: “Before that, I was playing too much with my body, regardless of how I played first. But in this way, the level is limited. Coach Yan Weide came, and he taught me to play with my brain, no matter how the situation is, I must strengthen cooperation and play with the partner for the purpose of scoring. ’
Although he is only 1.65 meters tall, his explosive power and jumping power are full of strength, Watanabe moves quickly on the court, like a ghost, and Higashino’s outstanding explosive power also makes their combination play aggressive. Under the guidance of the new coach, they have new vitality. When Watanabe finds an opportunity to disrupt the opponent’s rhythm, Higashino will promptly make up for it, using strength to suppress the opponent, and even change positions to the backcourt to continuously jump to attack, making the faster Watanabe faster Catching the opponent’s weaknesses, scoring and winning.
2019 was a year of breakthrough for Watanabe, with a relatively flat men’s doubles project. Due to the continuous defeat of the world’s number one Sukamoyo/Gidean, he and Daisuke Endo, who had a large age gap, were hailed as the biggest nemesis of the Indonesian “Little Yellow People”. In the game, they began to play defensive counterattacks out of the ordinary, and the abundant physical strength and spring-like legs allowed Watanabe to play “shooting and killing and shooting” on the doubles court. On this year, they won the Asian Games men’s doubles championship, and also won the second place in the year-end finals, ranking fifth in the world. His performance in mixed doubles also amazed people. In Malaysia and Hong Kong, they won championships in mixed doubles, and they won second place in the All England and Thailand Opens. At this time, their mixed doubles ranking rose to third in the world.
In 2020, due to the epidemic, many games were canceled one after another, but Watanabe Yudai shone brightly in Birmingham, England. He and Endo defeated Indonesia’s old combination Ama/Handora, ranked second in the world in the men’s doubles final, even facing the “Little Yellow People” combination that had won five consecutive times, and they did not relax. This game was called an epic confrontation by people. Sukamoyo/Gidean changed their previous style and began to quickly attack the entire game. However, Watanabe and Endo’s defense was as solid as gold soup. After a hard fight for three games, they won 21-18, 12-21, 21-19 again against the “Little Yellow People” and won their first life in the men’s doubles championship.
In the first half of 2021, the only tournament Watanabe participated in was the All England Open, where he triumphed in both men’s doubles and mixed doubles, once again astonishing the badminton world.
At the end of July 2021, Watanabe finally awaited the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics. Standing on the badminton court at the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza in Tokyo, he felt different than ever before. Although there was some nervousness, the Olympics brought more excitement to Watanabe. Together with Higashino, they became the only homegrown players to step onto the podium at the Tokyo Olympics. In the mixed doubles bronze medal match, they defeated Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet with scores of 21-17 and 23-21. After clinching the winning point, the two young athletes, carrying the hopes of the Japanese delegation, embraced tightly. From that moment on, the golden dream of the Paris Olympics became the next pursuit for Watanabe and Higashino.
