Lily Miyazaki on her US Open run, doubles titles and looking ahead to a return to Shrewsbury
Lily Miyazaki is enjoying one of the best seasons of her career so far this year. The British No.5 has broken new ground multiple times in 2023, having achieved a career-high ranking of world No.154, a feat at the semi-finals at the Lexus Surbiton Trophy and qualifying for her first Grand Slam outside of Wimbledon at the US Open, where she reached a career-best second round at a major.
Coming off the back of a successful British grass court season, the 27-year-old kick-started the summer hard court swing with a doubles title at the W25 Roehampton event. Miyazaki teamed up with Georgia’s Mariam Bolkvadze to wrap up the women’s doubles title without dropping a set – marking her seventh ITF doubles title.
With more career milestones ticked off this year, we caught up with Miyazaki to get her thoughts on the season so far, some of her highlights, and what she has in store for the rest of the season
“I enjoy playing doubles - it’s a completely different dynamic because you have a teammate,” Miyazaki said. “I try to play whenever I can and it was good to get a win here at home just before the US Open, so maybe it gave me a bit of confidence and the extra matches I played helped.
“What happened at the US Open, I really wasn’t expecting. Qualifying for my first Grand Slam and getting my first major win was great.
“I learnt that my game is good enough if I put it out there – I just need to keep working hard and hopefully I can do it again in the future.”
With her training base being at the National Tennis Centre (NTC) in Roehampton, Miyazaki has naturally formed close bonds with fellow British players – particularly Jodie Burrage who has had her own breakthrough season this year, having cracked the top 100 for the first time in her career.
“It’s great to have Jodie (Burrage) around and we share the same coach. What she’s done this year and last year as well - it’s been great to see the improvements that she’s made and the rise up the rankings.
“She’s achieved so much already and I’m sure she’ll continue to do more but it’s definitely inspired me and the other British players as well.”
With just a few weeks left of the 2023 season, the Brit still has a lot more to give as she looks to continue building her ranking and finish the year on a high.
Next up for Miyazaki is a feature at the W100 event Shrewsbury – the biggest event in women’s tennis to be staged in the UK outside of the summer grass court season and part of our Performance Competitions Calendar.
Despite a strong field of competitors set to take to the court in Shrewsbury, Miyazaki’s recent form and success at the tournament last year places her in a strong position as one of the favourites to go the distance later this month.
“It’s definitely nice to play at home in front of the home crowd. It makes you feel more comfortable and makes you want to do well. I’m looking forward to playing in Glasgow and Shrewsbury in a few weeks.
“Last year I made the quarter-finals (in Shrewsbury). It’s a really nice event, they do a really great job with getting people to come and watch and it’s such a nice club. I really enjoyed playing there and I’m hoping I can do even better this year”.
“The rest of the year I’ll probably play indoors mainly in Europe. There are a few tournaments here (in the UK) and in France, so I’ll play those.
“Then I’ll do a three or four-week training block in November or December to try and get ready for Australia in January.”
Want to see Miyazaki in action at the W100 Shrewsbury event between 15-22 October? It’s not too late to grab your tickets.
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