Stint as Davis Cup coach lures Tom Shimada back to tennis stage

After 15 years traveling the pro tennis circuit, Tom Shimada spent several years entirely content to remain close to home on Hilton Head Island. He’s always enjoyed the game, but he didn’t need the stage.

That said, he wouldn’t have traded his seat on the other side of the Atlantic two weekends ago.

Before some 9,000 increasingly uneasy British fans, Shimada watched from his coaching perch as Japan’s Davis Cup team put the defending champions on upset alert before world No. 3 Andy Murray grinded out a five-set, five-hour marathon over Kei Nishikori for the clinching point.

“That was really a clash of the titans,” Shimada said shortly after his return. “I was just lucky enough to have one of the best seats in the house.

“We were very close to pulling off the upset. I think maybe 95 percent of the people (in the arena) were not cheering for us. We came up a little short, but I’m definitely really proud of the guys and how they competed.”

The battle certainly did nothing to dampen Shimada’s rekindled enthusiasm for the occasional big stage. Though it’ll be another six months before Japan returns to Davis Cup competition, he hopes he’ll get another call to coach.

“Of course I’d love to be part of the team,” he said.

Shimada, 41, has coached part-time at the Van Der Meer Tennis Academy since settling in the Lowcountry in 2008, not long after he retired from competition. He found his greatest success in doubles, winning three ATP events and representing Japan in the 2000 Olympics in Australia.

Born in Philadelphia to Japanese parents, his dual citizenship allowed him to compete for his parents’ homeland.

“Honestly, my level was not high enough to do something like that for the United States,” he said.

With other business interests on the island and weary of the travel demands, Shimada was happy to keep his hand in the game without making it his focal point. He trained a handful of Japanese players as they came through, especially when the Savannah Challenger came each spring, but enjoyed staying home with his family.

“I wasn’t really looking to continue to travel,” Shimada said. “I took a little time away from it, though I always stayed in the game.”

His perspective changed somewhat, though, with a trip to Canada last spring. As something of a 40th birthday present to himself, he took the family to Vancouver to watch Japan take on the host nation in last year’s opening World Group round.

“When I played (Davis Cup), we were always one group below,” Shimada said. “I didn’t have the pleasure of playing those countries in that great atmosphere. It stirred up feelings that I’d like to be part of that. So I threw out a couple of feelers.”

The Japan Tennis Association not only knew Shimada, of course, but was aware of some work he had done with Davis Cup player Yoshihito Nishioka. The federation asked Shimada to serve as one of two coaches last September when Japan visited Colombia to keep its place in the World Group.

Japan won that encounter 3-2, and the federation asked Shimada back for this year’s opening round.

“I passed at least one test,” he said.

Coaching the team event, he noted, requires a different touch because he doesn’t work with the players all year.

“A lot of it is creating team chemistry,” he said. “I also have a lot of doubles experience. That was kind of my niche as a player, so one of my main responsibilities has been to get the guys prepared for the doubles match.”

Though Britain was the heavy favorite, Murray was coming off a five-week layoff to welcome his first child into the world. With Nishikori rising to No. 6 in the rankings, both easily prevailed over the others’ second singles participants.

Murray also teamed with his brother, Jamie, to win doubles and give Britain a 2-1 win heading into the critical match.

“That first round is sometimes the best time (to catch an upset),” Shimada said. “I think on paper, we were favored to win (the second singles) if it got to that point. Everybody knew what was at stake. There was no hiding the fact that (Murray-Nishikori) was going to decide the winner.”

Murray took the first two sets, 7-5 and then an 8-6 tiebreaker in the second. Nishikori won a tense third set, breaking Murray’s serve in the eighth game, and owned the fourth.

But Murray found a second wind in the fifth set, breaking Nishikori three consecutive times on the way to a 6-3 clincher.

“We were just one match away from it being an unbelievable weekend,” Shimada said.

This story was originally published March 15, 2016 at 7:40 PM with the headline "Stint as Davis Cup coach lures Tom Shimada back to tennis stage."