Tennis excluded from live broadcast at Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya

Tennis at the Asian Games 2026 begins on September 27 at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in Nagoya, Japan and runs through October 3, but the sport has been omitted from the list of events to be broadcast or live streamed at the Aichi-Nagoya Games.

The tournament features five medal events. Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong enters as the top seed in the men’s singles, with Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko and China’s Wu Yibing also among the leading men. In the women’s draw the Philippines’ Alexandra Eala is the outright favourite; ranked world No. 18, Eala relinquished her spot at the WTA 1000 China Open, along with the ranking points and prize money, to represent her country and is the only player inside the top 20 in this edition. India’s entries include Sumit Nagal and DK Suresh in the men’s singles and a doubles contingent led by Yuki Bhambri and N. Sriram Balaji.

Organisers had originally planned for tennis to be televised by the Games’ host broadcaster, China Media Group-International Media Port, but media reports say those plans were altered after several leading players from China and Japan opted not to participate. The Chinese Tennis Association confirmed that Zheng Qinwen, Zhang Zhizhen and Shang Juncheng are skipping Nagoya to compete in Beijing, and Japanese stars including Naomi Osaka and Kei Nishikori have also chosen not to play in Nagoya.

Tennis was left out of the host broadcaster’s guaranteed world feed, a change that the organisers say reduces costs; reports state that by dropping live coverage the host nation saves a significant portion of the budget allocated for the Games and can reallocate those funds. The move has been cited in media accounts as another addition to the growing list of organisation blunders at the Aichi-Nagoya Games.

There were exceptions for national broadcasters: the Philippines’ official Games broadcaster, Cignal TV, invested an extra P1 million to install its own cameras and digital equipment at the Higashiyama venue to ensure Filipino fans could watch Alexandra Eala’s matches live.

In India, Sony Sports Network and SonyLIV hold the Asian Games broadcast rights, but because tennis is not part of the guaranteed world feed it is unlikely to be available live to the Indian audience unless Sony arranges separate coverage similar to Cignal TV’s setup.

The tennis programme at Higashiyama Park Tennis Center continues until October 3, when the five medal events conclude.