Jirō Satō

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Satō (left), with Jacques Brugnon (1929)

Jirō Satō ( Japanese 佐藤 次郎 , Satō Jirō ; * January 5, 1908 in Gunma Prefecture ; † April 5, 1934 in the Strait of Malacca ), also Jiro Satoh , was a Japanese tennis player . In the early 1930s he was one of the world's best tennis players.

Life

Satō, an economics student from Waseda University , took part in tennis tournaments from 1929. In 1931 he won the Japanese championships against his brother Hyotare . On a tour of Europe in the same year he moved into the final of the British Indoor Championships . At the French Championships he reached the semifinals in 1931 and 1933, at Wimbledon in 1932 and 1933. At the Australian Championships in 1932 he also reached the semifinals straight away, at the US Championships in 1933 he reached the second round. In 1933 he was ranked 3rd in the world rankings by Arthur Wallis Myers .

From 1931 he played for Japan in the Davis Cup . On April 5, 1934, on a boat trip to Europe for the Davis Cup match against Australia, Satō committed suicide in the Strait of Malacca by jumping overboard. A suicide note that he left behind showed his fear of not fulfilling the expectations placed in him. His fiancée Sanae Okada , then one of the best tennis players in Japan, reported after his death that Satō wanted to take a break from tennis in 1934 and only refrained from his plan under pressure from the Japanese Tennis Association.

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personal data
SURNAME Satō, Jirō
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Satoh, Jiro; 佐藤 次郎 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese tennis player
DATE OF BIRTH January 5, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Gunma Prefecture
DATE OF DEATH April 5, 1934
Place of death Strait of Malacca