Ena Shibahara was a standout at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School before making a splash at UCLA, where she won 67 singles matches in her first two years with the Bruins. Along the way she tallied the team’s best winning percentage in doubles, and with teammate Jada Hart earned the US Open Junior doubles title in 2016. She ended her tenure at UCLA with a 21-match unbeaten streak in doubles play before opting to jump to the pro ranks and forego her remaining seasons with the Bruins.
Her journey since then has been peppered with highlights – five ITF Tour titles, then eight career doubles titles in 11 finals appearances on the WTA Tour. She’s reached as high as #4 in world doubles rankings and remains still in the top ten, approaching a cool $1 million in early career earnings at the age of 24.
From Westwood to all corners of the globe, the Rancho Palos Verdes native is experiencing life in the fast lane as a professional athlete. “The tour is so much fun traveling around the world,” she told USTASoCal.com, “and playing against the top players is such an amazing experience. Of course, there are many challenges and obstacle along the way that I had to learn to deal with, but it is all worth it in the end because I get to do what I love while exploring the world.”
Despite her upbringing in Southern California, Shibahara opted to represent her ancestral country of Japan when she turned pro. It was a decision prompted by her relationship with her grandparents, and a promise she knew she would keep.
“I considered playing for USA since I grew up here and played for them in the juniors,” she said. “It was a very difficult decision to make. But I made a promise to my grandparents a long time ago, that I would play in front of them at the Tokyo Olympics, representing Japan. And I was very happy that I could achieve that last year for myself and of course, for them.”
At the Olympics, Shibahara competed alongside her most accomplished teammate, Shuko Aoyama, who helped Shibahara to her eight career doubles titles. The team was regularly a threat to reach the late rounds and compete for tournament crowns, reaching the semis at the Australian Open before the team split to allow Shibahara to pursue opportunities in singles competiton.
“I always wanted to play doubles with Shuko since she’s one of the best doubles players out there,” Shibahara recalls of her good fortune. Taking the risk by reaching out to an accomplished player, Shibahara caught Aoyama at the right time – she was in need of a partner for a WTRA event in San Jose. Shibahara jumped at the chance, and in their first event together they reached the tournament final. “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. And it was so easy to play with her as well, since she is the kindest people on and off the court.”
Even as she prepared to re-emerge on the singles circuit, Shibahara values her time in the doubles arena, noting that many parts of the doubles game can prove essential in gaining success playing singles. “I think doubles is so important since you learn how to work and communicate as a team from a young age,” she said, “and you create such great friendships with your partners.”
Many of those friendships were born right here in Southern California, playing junior tournaments from the Central Coast to Los Angeles to San Diego. Shibahara still owns plenty of trophies from her junior days, including SoCal’s annual Junior Sectionals.
“Junior Sectionals was one of my favorite tournaments for sure,” Shibahara remembered. “Especially since they had singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. My favorite memory of that tournament was winning the triple crown (all three events) in one year. It was a such a great accomplishment for me and gave me so much confidence going forward.”
As for her upcoming schedule, Shibahara has been testing the waters of the ITF/USTA circuit to sharpen her singles game while still logging doubles court time with Asia Muhammad, a Long Beach native. The two stormed into the doubles final at the BNP Paribas Open in March, showing signs of a promising partnership and writing another early chapter in the emergence of a new face making waves on the WTA Tour.