In team competitions, Watanabe won a bronze medal with Japan in the men's team event at the 2022 Asian Games. He was also part of the Japanese squad that won the country's first men's team title at the 2026 Asia Team Championships.
Early life and junior career
Watanabe started his badminton career when he was four years old, entering the badminton club under the influence of his sister. He later concentrated on badminton in kindergarten, and when he was in elementary school, he won the Saitama school championships for three consecutive years. Watanabe entered the Saitama Sakae Junior and Senior High School, and won the singles title at the national junior championships, also placing third in the doubles event.
He competed with the national junior team at the 2015 and 2016 Asia and World Junior Championships. In 2015, he won a bronze medal in boys' singles and helped the team secure a mixed team bronze at the Asian Championships; he contributed to two additional team bronze medals at the 2016 Asian and World Junior Championships.
In 2020, Watanabe won a bronze medal with the Japanese men's team at the Asia Team Championships. After the international circuit resumed following the COVID-19 pandemic, he made his Super 1000 debut at the 2021 All England Open, where he lost in the first round to Viktor Axelsen. Later that year, he made his World Championships debut in Huelva, advancing to the second round. His best result of the 2022 season was a quarterfinal finish at the Australian Open.
2023–2024
In March, Watanabe won his first World Tour Super 300 title at the Swiss Open, becoming the first Japanese player to win the tournament's men's singles title. He defeated second seed Lee Zii Jia in the semi-finals and Chou Tien-chen in the final. In November, he reached his second final of the season at the Korea Masters, where he finished as the runner-up to compatriot Kento Momota.
Watanabe began 2024 by winning another men's team bronze medal at the Asia Team Championships.
In July, he claimed his first Super 500 title at the Canada Open, defeating compatriot Kodai Naraoka the quarter-finals and Alex Lanier in the final. Later in the season, Watanabe advanced to his first Super 750 final at the Denmark Open, where he defeated Olympic silver medalist Kunlavut Vitidsarn before finishing as runner-up to Anders Antonsen.
His other results that season included semi-final appearances at the Arctic Open and the U.S. Open, as well as quarter-final finishes at the All England Open, China Open, and India Open. His notable victories during the season included a win over world number 3 Li Shifeng at the India Open and two wins against Olympic bronze medalist Lee Zii Jia at the China and Arctic Opens. Following these performances, Watanabe reached a career-high world ranking of 11 on 22 October.
2025
Watanabe experienced a challenging start to his 2025 season, suffering early-round exits in several tournaments, including the Super 1000 Malaysia Open and Indonesia Open. His form improved in July at the Super 750 Japan Open, where he reached the semifinals of the tournament for the first time. En route, he defeated Chou Tien-chen in the second round and Weng Hongyang in the quarter-finals. Watanabe credited advice from compatriot Kento Momota, which encouraged him to adopt a "challenger spirit" to overcome his slump. Later in the season, he reached the quarter-finals of the Arctic Open and French Open, although he was eliminated in the first round of both World Championships and China Open. In team competition, he won a bronze medal with Japanese team at the Sudirman Cup.
2026
In February, Watanabe was part of the Japanese squad that won Japan's first men's team title at the Asia Team Championships. In March, Watanabe competed at the All England Open, where he upset third seed Anders Antonsen in the opening round before being eliminated in the quarter-finals by Canada's Victor Lai. In April, Watanabe competed at the Asian Championships in Ningbo, China, defeating Zaki Ubaidillah in the first round before falling to Loh Kean Yew in the second round. In May, he reached the quarter-finals at the Thailand Open, where he defeated sixth seed Kodai Naraoka in the second round before losing to world No. 1 Shi Yuqi. Later that month, he reached the semi-finals of the Singapore Open. He defeated India's Lakshya Sen in the quarter-finals before losing to Loh Kean Yew.
In July, Watanabe reached his second Super 750 final at the Japan Open, defeating Antonsen in the quarter-finals and Yushi Tanaka in the semi-finals before finishing as runner-up to Christo Popov. In October, he reached the semi-finals of the Arctic Open, defeating Chou Tien-chen in the quarter-finals before losing to Tanaka in three games.
The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super1000, Super750, Super500, Super300, and the BWF Tour Super100.
↑Sukumar, Dev (10 January 2018). "Action-Packed Season Ahead!". Badminton World Federation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
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