is an American-born Japanese professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player who specializes in doubles. She reached her career-high rankings of world No. 4 in doubles and No. 119 in singles. Shibahara has won eleven doubles titles on the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...

, including two WTA 1000, the 2021 Miami Open and the 2023 National Bank Open. Shibahara won her first

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

title at the

2022 French Open The 2022 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 22 May to 5 June 2022, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. J ...

, alongside

Wesley Koolhof Wesley Koolhof (; born 17 April 1989) is a Dutch former professional tennis player who was ranked World No. 1 in doubles. He is a two-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2023 Wimbledon Championships in men's doubles with Neal Skupski an ...

in mixed doubles. Partnering with

Shuko Aoyama is a Japanese professional tennis player who specializes in doubles. Aoyama turned professional after graduating from Waseda University. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 182, on 9 February 2015, and a doubles ranking of ...

, she reached the women's doubles finals at the

2023 Australian Open The 2023 Australian Open was a Grand Slam level tennis tournament held at Melbourne Park, from 16–29 January 2023. It was the 111th edition of the Australian Open, the 55th in the Open Era, and the first major of the year. The tournament ...

, in addition to the semifinals at the

2021 Wimbledon Championships The 2021 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom, the first since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. N ...

, the 2022 Australian Open, and at the 2021 WTA Finals. She made her Billie Jean King Cup debut for Japan in 2020, and also participated in the

2020 Olympic Games The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in Tokyo. Until July 2019, Shibahara represented her country of birth, the United States.

College

In 2016, she graduated from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School and attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

before turning pro after her sophomore season.

Professional

2016: Major debut

Shibahara made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the US Open in the girls' doubles draw, partnering with

Jada Hart Jada Myii Hart (born 19 March 1998) is an inactive American tennis player. Hart graduated from Riverside Virtual School in 2016 and is currently attending UCLA. Jada Hart is a four time all-American at UCLA. There have been only eight other Bru ...

as a wildcard. Shibahara and Hart then won the US Open girls' doubles title. The pair also entered with wildcards the women’s doubles event in which they lost in the first round.

2019: Focus on doubles, partnership with Shuko Aoyama

Shibahara played her first five doubles tournaments of the year with Hayley Carter winning two titles and reaching another final. This raised her ranking from No. 205 to an entry into the top 100, with a doubles ranking of world No. 98 on May 20. Shibahara then played tournaments with eight other partners before playing her first tournament with

in August at the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, where they reached the final. Shibahara said, "Our chemistry was spot on from the beginning, where I would set her up from the baseline and she just moves all over the net". Shibahara and Aoyama played five more tournaments together in 2019, winning their first two titles at the

Tianjin Open The Tianjin Open was an International-level WTA tennis event held at the Tianjin International Tennis Center. The venue has a center court that seats 3,500 people, as well as 12 outdoor courts with lights, four indoor courts and a tennis club. I ...

(Shibahara's first WTA Tour-level title) and

Kremlin Cup The Kremlin Cup () is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts, which was suspended in 2022. It was part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour and was a Premier Tournament on the WTA Tour. It was held annually at the ...

in Moscow. By the end of the year, Shibahara's WTA doubles ranking was world No. 31. In singles, she started the year playing a mixture of ITF and WTA Challenger tournaments. Following a quarterfinal result at the 100k Vancouver Open, her singles ranking reached a career-high of world No. 416, on 19 August 2019.

2020–2021: WTA 1000 title, Olympic & WTA Finals semifinalist

Partnering Aoyama, Shibahara won her maiden WTA 1000 title at the 2021 Miami Open and participated in the Tennis at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Japan. She also reached the semifinals at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

and of the WTA Finals, seeded No. 2. She won seven more titles, five being at the WTA 500 level, during her successful partnership with Aoyama. Also in 2021 Shibahara made her WTA Tour-level main draw debut in singles in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

as a lucky loser but lost to

Bethanie Mattek-Sands Bethanie Mattek-Sands ( Bethanie Lynn Mattek; born March 23, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. She has won nine Grand Slam titles (five in women's doubles and four in mixed doubles), and an Olympic gold medal, and is a former w ...

2022: Maiden mixed-doubles title, world No. 4 in doubles

At the

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

, she reached the semifinals of a major for the second time in her career, partnering again with Shuko Aoyama. Later, she set a new career-high ranking of No. 4, on 21 March 2022, after making the Indian Wells Open final where she partnered with Asia Muhammad. At the

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

, she won the first major title of her career in mixed doubles, partnering with

. She became the first Japanese player in 25 years to win the mixed doubles championship in Paris, since Rika Hiraki and

Mahesh Bhupathi Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born 7 June 1974) is an Indian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a major tournament (with Rika Hiraki). With his win at the 2006 Australian Open mixed doubles, he ...

took home the title in 1997.

2023: Australian finalist & Canadian champion in doubles, WTA 1000 debut in singles

At the

, she reached the semifinals of a major for the third time in her career, partnering again with Shuko Aoyama. The pair defeated second-seeded pair of Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula to reach their first Grand Slam final. However, they were defeated in straight sets by defending champions, Krejčíková and Siniaková. She won her ninth title at the Rosmalen Open and her first WTA 1000 title at the Canadian Open, partnering Aoyama. She qualified for the singles main draw of the WTA 1000 Guadalajara Open but lost to

Karolína Plíšková Karolína Plíšková (; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), holding the position for a total of eight weeks, and has been ...

. In doubles, the pair Shibahara and Aoyama qualified for the WTA Finals for the second time with a seeding of No. 3 but lost in the round robin stage.

2024–2025: First WTA wins & quarterfinal, major & top 150 debuts in singles

After entering the main draw as a lucky loser, Shibahara won her first WTA Tour singles main-draw match, when she defeated Tamara Korpatsch in three sets in the first round at the WTA 250

Prague Open In tennis, Prague Open may refer to: * Prague Open (1987–1999) * 1992 HTC Prague Open, HTC Prague Open, held only in 1992 * BVV Prague Open (1993–1994) * I.ČLTK Prague Open, Advantage Cars Prague Open * WTA Prague Open, Livesport Prague Open * ...

, her second career victory over a top 100 player. She also made her major debut in singles at the 2024 US Open, after qualifying into the main draw. She recorded her first singles win at a major over Australian Daria Saville, before losing to world No. 1,

Iga Świątek Iga Natalia Świątek (; born 31 May 2001) is a Polish professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women’s singles by the Women's Tennis Association, Women’s Tenn ...

in the second round, in straight sets. She also qualified for the main draw at the WTA 500 Guadalajara Open for the second time and defeated another Australian and fellow qualifier,

Kimberly Birrell Kimberly Birrell (born 29 April 1998) is an Australian professional tennis player. Birrell reached a career-high WTA ranking of No. 68 on 17 March 2025 and a doubles ranking of No. 162 on 9 September 2024. Birrell is the current No. 1 Australi ...

, for her second WTA Tour win. She won her 11th doubles title at the 2024 Japan Women's Open in Osaka partnering

Laura Siegemund Laura Natalie Siegemund (born 4 March 1988) is a German professional tennis player. Siegemund reached her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 4 on 29 January 2024 and has won fourteen doubles titles on the WTA Tour. She is a three-time Gran ...

. Shibahara and Siegemund ended runners-up at the

Pan Pacific Open The Pan Pacific Open, currently sponsored by Toray Industries, is a women's outdoor hardcourt tennis tournament held annually in Tokyo, Japan. It is a WTA 500-level tournament. History The tournament was first held in 1973 as the Toray Sillook Ch ...

, losing to Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the final. At the 2025 ATX Open, Shibahara qualified for the main draw and reached her first WTA Tour quarterfinal defeating

Kaja Juvan Kaja Juvan (born 25 November 2000) is a Slovenian tennis player. She turned professional on 17 October 2016 and has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 58, achieved on 6 June 2022. On 18 July 2022, she peaked at No. 97 in the WTA doubles ...

and again Kimberly Birrell. As a result, she returned to world No. 134 in the singles rankings on 3 March 2025.

Performance timeline

''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records and career statistics.''

Doubles

''Current through the 2023 Indian Wells Open.''

Mixed doubles

Grand Slam tournament finals

Women's doubles: 1 (runner-up)

Mixed doubles: 1 (title)

Other significant finals

WTA 1000 tournaments

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

WTA Tour finals

Doubles: 18 (11 titles, 7 runner-ups)

WTA Challenger finals

Doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner–ups)

ITF Circuit finals

Singles: 5 (1 title, 4 runner-ups)

Doubles: 10 (8 titles, 2 runner–ups)

Junior Grand Slam finals

Girls' doubles: 1 (title)

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shibahara, Ena 1998 births Living people Sportspeople from Mountain View, California American female tennis players Japanese female tennis players American tennis players of Japanese descent US Open (tennis) junior champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' doubles French Open champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Olympic tennis players for Japan Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century American sportswomen UCLA Bruins women's tennis players Tennis players from California 21st-century Japanese sportswomen