Sho Shimabukuro's Racquet - Player Profile

Sho Shimabukuro is a Japanese player with a career-high singles ranking of no 135. But what is his current racquet setup?

Sho Shimabukuro’s tennis racquet

Sho Shimabukuro’s racquet is a Yonex VCORE 98. He is endorsing the 2023 version, but a closer look at his racquet tells me it is either the red 2018 or the 2021 version of the VCORE underneath the paint. It does not look like the SV, which many pros seem to enjoy. He strings it with Yonex Polytour Strike. If you happen to know more about Shimabukuro’s racquet, please feel free to comment below.

Career Highlights and Stats

Shimabukuro was born on July 30, 1997 and he began playing tennis at the age of six with his siblings.

Height: 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Plays right-handed with a two-handed backhand.
Tennis idol while growing up was Roger Federer.
Favorite shot is forehand
Favorite surface is hard-court

Sho has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 135, which he achieved on October 2, 2023. He also reached a career-high doubles ranking of No. 376 on September 16, 2024.

His early career was challenging as he did not have international tour experience until after graduating from college. However, he has since made notable progress, with career highlights including:

2022: He earned his first career tour-level victory in a Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan. He also qualified for his first ATP Tour main draw at the Japan Open.
2023: Shimabukuro had a breakthrough year, winning his first two ATP Challenger Tour titles. He made his Grand Slam debut by qualifying for the main draws of both Wimbledon and the US Open. At Wimbledon, he lost in the first round to Grigor Dimitrov, and at the US Open, he lost in the first round.
2025: He has continued to compete in Challenger tournaments, reaching the finals of the Zhangjiagang Challenger in August and defeating fifth seed Tomas Machac at the Japan Open.

Over his career, he has accumulated a total of four career titles (including three Challenger titles) and prize money of around $700,000. He has a career singles win-loss record of 4–8 on the ATP Tour.