Kei Nishikori

Kei Nishikori
Kei Nishikori at the US Open in 2016
Nation:	Japan
Birthday:	December 29, 1989
Size:	178 cm
Weight:	75 kg
1st professional season:	2007
Playing hand:	Right, two-handed backhand
Trainer:	Dante Bottini Michael Chang
Prize money:	$ 22,234,595
singles
Career record:	397: 186
Career title:	12
Highest ranking:	4 (March 2, 2015)
Current placement:	7th
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record:	25:31
Highest ranking:	167 (March 19, 2012)
Current placement:	347
Grand Slam record
Mixed
Grand Slam record
Olympic games
Last update of the infobox: July 1st, 2019
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

Kei Nishikori ( Japanese 錦 織 圭 Nishikori Kei ; born December 29, 1989 in Matsue , Shimane Prefecture ) is a Japanese tennis player .

Career

Kei Nishikori began playing tennis at the age of five and qualified for an ATP tournament for the first time in Los Angeles on July 17, 2007 at the age of 17 . Although he lost to Wesley Moodie in the first round , he was considered a great talent. Since October 17, 2011, he is the best-placed Japanese of all time. Nishikori reached the top 20 in the world rankings in 2012 after making it to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open , which he lost to Andy Murray . On May 12, 2014, he was the first Japanese to move into the top ten of the world rankings for the first time in ninth place.

2007

As a finalist in two events of the USTA Pro Circuit , Nishikori lost to Donald Young in Little Rock and Alex Bogomolov jr. in Carson . However, together with Young he won the double title in Little Rock. He also played with three-time French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten in Miami , where the doubles were eliminated in the first round. After his ATP World Tour debut in Los Angeles, he qualified for the Indianapolis Tennis Championships in July . There he defeated Alejandro Falla 6: 4, 6: 3 in the first round and celebrated his first victory at an ATP tournament. He then defeated Michael Berrer in three sets , making him the youngest quarter-finalist in Indianapolis since Boris Becker . He lost the game to Dmitri Tursunow . At his third ATP tournament in Washington, DC , he was eliminated in the second round against Julien Benneteau . His attempt to qualify for the US Open also failed. In Tokyo he received a wild card and lost to Zack Fleishman in the first round. On December 31, 2007 he was number 286 in the world rankings. He also received the Tokyo Sports Writers Club Award at the end of the year.

2008

In February 2008, Nishikori qualified in Delray Beach , where he reached his first ATP final and surprisingly won against James Blake . It was the first ATP title for a Japanese in 16 years. With this victory he improved to position 131 in the world rankings. At the clay court tournament in Bermuda on April 27, he celebrated a tournament victory on the ATP Challenger Tour . Nishikori had to cancel his Wimbledon debut on June 23 against Marc Gicquel due to an abdominal muscle injury that got worse in the course of the encounter. Gicquel won the game by surrendering 4-6, 7-5.

Then Nishikori played for his country at the Olympic Games in Beijing, where he lost to Rainer Schüttler in the first round .

His first US Open appearance with the professionals brought him to the round of 16 in 2008. In round one he beat Juan Mónaco , who was 29th, in four sets, then the world number 94. Roko Karanušić , who gave up after losing two sets. In the third round he sensationally defeated number 4 seeded David Ferrer in a thrilling five set match . He lost the round of 16 against the 17th placed Juan Martín del Potro in three sets. In Tokyo he reached the round of 16. In Stockholm he was in the semi-finals, but failed there because of Robin Söderling .

2009 to 2012

At the beginning of the 2009 season he reached the quarter-finals in Brisbane , but had to admit defeat to Paul-Henri Mathieu 3: 6, 4: 6. In his debut at the Australian Open , he lost to Jürgen Melzer in the first round . In early March he played on the side of Gō Soeda , Satoshi Iwabuchi and Takao Suzuki in the game against China for the Japanese Davis Cup team . He won his singles against Zhang Ze in three sets and helped Japan reach the semi-finals against Uzbekistan .

Due to an elbow injury, he had to end the season early in March, and after a year break, he made his comeback in 2010. In the 2010 season he remained without a finals.

Nishikori achieved his breakthrough in the 2011 season when he reached the semifinals several times, for example at the Shanghai Masters , and the final of the Swiss Indoors Basel , after knocking out the then world number one Novak Đoković . He lost the final against Roger Federer with 1: 6, 3: 6.

Nishikori made it to the quarter-finals at the Australian Open in 2012 , in which he clearly had to admit defeat to Andy Murray 3: 6, 3: 6, 1: 6. He also reached the quarter-finals of the individual competition at the Olympic Games . He lost the game to Juan Martín del Potro . In doubles , he failed with Go Soeda in the opening round. His first biggest success was in October when he won the Japan Open , when he became the first Japanese to triumph there in 40 years. Against Milos Raonic Nishikori won with his fourth match point 7: 6, 3: 6 and 6: 0. In 2013, the victory in Memphis was followed by the second title in a tournament in the category ATP World Tour 500 .

Since 2014: Establishment in the top ten and Grand Slam finals

Nishikori at the 2013 Wimbledon tournament

After winning tournaments in Memphis and Barcelona as well as participating in the finals in Madrid , his first in a Masters, Kei Nishikori moved into the top ten of the world rankings for the first time. On May 12, 2014 it was listed in ninth place. He celebrated his greatest career success at the US Open when he became the first Japanese to reach the final of a Grand Slam after winning over Milos Raonic, Stanislas Wawrinka and world number one Novak Đoković. He lost this against Marin Čilić with 3: 6, 3: 6 and 3: 6. After the US Open, he collected two more titles: He won the tournament in Kuala Lumpur and then for the second time since 2012 the title in Tokyo . In the final he defeated Milos Raonic. Kei Nishikori qualified due to the successful season for the ATP World Tour Finals , where he reached the semi-finals after victories over Andy Murray and David Ferrer. In this he was defeated by Novak Đoković in three sets. Kei Nishikori was named Japan's Sportsman of the Year in 2014.

He started the 2015 season with the quarter-finals at the Australian Open . He then won the tournament in Memphis for the third time in a row . In the further course of the season he was able to win the tournaments in Barcelona , where he defended his title, and the tournament in Washington, DC . At the French Open he reached the quarterfinals, which he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in five sets, at Wimbledon and at the US Open he was eliminated early. In 2016 Nishikori was a little more successful at major tournaments. He reached the quarter-finals against Đoković in Melbourne , where he was eliminated in three sets, at the US Open he was eliminated from the eventual tournament winner Stan Wawrinka in the semifinals in four sets. At Masters tournaments he reached the finals in Miami and Toronto , which he lost in two sets to Novak Đoković. There are also two more semi-finals in Madrid and Rome . He also reached the semifinals at the ATP World Tour Finals , where he was also defeated by Đoković. Before that, he prevailed in the group against Stan Wawrinka and Marin Čilić. He finished the season in fifth place in the world rankings.

In 2017, Nishikori was also less successful due to a hand injury. In none of the major tournaments he could reach the semi-finals. Among other things, he failed at the Australian Open in the round of 16 against eventual tournament winner Roger Federer in five sets with 7: 6, 1: 6, 4: 6, 6: 4, 3: 6. Only at the French Open he reached the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by Andy Murray in four sets. Shortly before the North American hard court season, he announced that the season was over for him. He fell out of the top 20 in the world rankings for the first time since 2014. In 2018 he made his comeback on the tour at the new tournament in New York , where he lost to Kevin Anderson in the tiebreak of the third set in the semifinals . In April he reached the final at the Monte-Carlo Masters , but also lost his fourth Masters final against Rafael Nadal with 3: 6 and 2: 6. At the US Open , Nishikori reached the semi-finals for the third time, where Novak Đoković was again the final destination. At the end of the season he qualified again for the ATP Finals , where he defeated Roger Federer in two sets in his opening match, but lost the next two matches against Kevin Anderson and Dominic Thiem . Nishikori was able to finish the season in ninth place in the top ten.

At the beginning of the 2019 season, he won the tournament in Brisbane in three sets against Daniil Medvedev and ended his losing streak of nine final defeats in a row, which had lasted since April 2016. At the Australian Open , he was in the quarterfinals for the fourth time, but gave up against Novak Đoković in the middle of the second set due to thigh problems.

successes

Legend (number of victories) Grand Slam ATP finals ATP Masters Series ATP World Tour Masters 1000 ATP International Series Gold ATP World Tour 500 (6) ATP International Series ATP World Tour 250 (6) ATP Challenger Tour (7)

Title after covering Hard Court (10) Sand (2) Lawn (0)

singles

Tournament victories

ATP World Tour

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	February 17, 2008	Delray Beach	Hard court	James Blake	3: 6, 6: 1, 6: 4
2.	October 7, 2012	Tokyo (1)	Hard court	Milos Raonic	7: 6 5 , 3: 6, 6: 0
3.	February 24, 2013	Memphis (1)	Hard court (i)	Feliciano López	6: 2, 6: 3
4th	February 16, 2014	Memphis (2)	Hard court (i)	Ivo Karlović	6: 4, 7: 6 0
5.	April 27, 2014	Barcelona (1)	sand	Santiago Giraldo	6: 2, 6: 2
6th	September 28, 2014	Kuala Lumpur	Hard court (i)	Julien Benneteau	7: 6 4 , 6: 4
7th	5th October 2014	Tokyo (2)	Hard court	Milos Raonic	7: 6 5 , 4: 6, 6: 4
8th.	February 15, 2015	Memphis (3)	Hard court (i)	Kevin Anderson	6: 4, 6: 4
9.	April 26, 2015	Barcelona (2)	sand	Pablo Andújar	6: 4, 6: 4
10.	August 9, 2015	Washington	Hard court	John Isner	4: 6, 6: 4, 6: 4
11.	February 14, 2016	Memphis (4)	Hard court (i)	Taylor Fritz	6: 4, 6: 4
12.	January 6, 2019	Brisbane	Hard court	Daniil Medvedev	6: 4, 3: 6, 6: 2

Nishikori on serve

ATP Challenger Tour

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	April 27, 2008	Bermuda	sand	Viktor Troicki	2: 6, 7: 5, 7: 6 5
2.	May 9, 2010	Savannah	sand	Ryan Sweeting	6: 4, 6: 0
3.	May 15, 2010	Sarasota	sand	Brian Dabul	2: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4
4th	August 15, 2010	Binghamton	Hard court	Robert Kendrick	6: 3, 7: 6 4
5.	November 14, 2010	Knoxville	Hard court (i)	Robert Kendrick	6: 1, 6: 4
6th	3rd February 2018	Dallas	Hard court (i)	Mackenzie McDonald	6: 1, 6: 4

Final participation

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	April 10, 2011	Houston	sand	Ryan Sweeting	4: 6, 6: 7 3
2.	November 6, 2011	Basel (1)	Hard court (i)	Roger Federer	1: 6, 3: 6
3.	May 11, 2014	Madrid	sand	Rafael Nadal	6: 2, 4: 6, 0: 3 task
4th	September 8, 2014	US Open	Hard court	Marin Čilić	3: 6, 3: 6, 3: 6
5.	March 1, 2015	Acapulco	Hard court	David Ferrer	3: 6, 5: 7
6th	3rd April 2016	Miami	Hard court	Novak Đoković	3: 6, 3: 6
7th	April 24, 2016	Barcelona	sand	Rafael Nadal	4: 6, 5: 7
8th.	July 31, 2016	Toronto	Hard court	Novak Đoković	3: 6, 5: 7
9.	October 30, 2016	Basel (2)	Hard court (i)	Marin Čilić	1: 6, 6: 7 5
10.	January 8, 2017	Brisbane	Hard court	Grigor Dimitrov	2: 6, 6: 2, 3: 6
11.	19th February 2017	Buenos Aires	sand	Oleksandr Dolhopolov	6: 7 4 , 4: 6
12.	April 22, 2018	Monte Carlo	sand	Rafael Nadal	3: 6, 2: 6
13.	October 7, 2018	Tokyo	Hard court	Daniil Medvedev	2: 6, 4: 6
14th	October 28, 2018	Vienna	Hard court (i)	Kevin Anderson	3: 6, 6: 7 3

Double

Tournament victories

No.	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
1.	June 1, 2008	Izmir	Hard court	Jesse Levine	Nathan Thompson Danai Udomchoke	6: 1, 7: 5

Final participation

No.	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
1.	January 11, 2015	Brisbane	Hard court	Oleksandr Dolhopolov	Jamie Murray John Peers	3: 6, 6: 7 4

Balance sheet

singles

Tournament 1	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	total
Australian Open	VF	-	AF	VF	VF	AF	AF	-	3R	-	1R	-	-	-	VF
French Open	VF	AF	VF	AF	VF	1R	AF	VF	1R	2R	-	2Q	-	-	VF
Wimbledon	VF	VF	3R	AF	2R	AF	3R	3R	1R	1R	-	1R	-	-	VF
US Open	3R	HF	-	HF	1R	F.	1R	3R	1R	3R	-	AF	2Q	-	F.
ATP Finals 2	-	RR	-	HF	RR	HF	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	HF
Indian Wells Masters	3R	-	VF	VF	AF	3R	3R	2R	1R	-	1R	1R	-	-	VF
Miami Masters	2R	3R	VF	F.	VF	HF	AF	AF	2R	-	-	1R	-	-	F.
Monte Carlo Masters	2R	F.	-	-	-	-	-	AF	-	-	-	-	-	-	F.
Madrid Masters 3	3R	1R	VF	HF	HF	F.	VF	-	1R	-	-	-	-	-	HF
Rome Masters	VF	VF	AF	HF	VF	-	2R	-	2Q	-	-	-	-	-	HF
Hamburg Masters 4	not carried out											-	-	-	-
Canada Masters	2R	1R	2R	F.	HF	-	AF	2R	-	-	-	-	1Q	-	F.
Cincinnati Masters	2R	2R	-	AF	-	-	1R	AF	1R	-	-	-	-	-	AF
Shanghai Masters	-	VF	-	-	AF	2R	AF	2R	HF	1Q	-	not carried out			HF
Paris Masters	-	VF	-	AF	AF	HF	AF	AF	1R	-	-	-	-	-	HF
Olympic games	not carried out			B.	not carried out			VF	not carried out			1R	n / A		0
Davis Cup 5	-	-	-	Flat share	Flat share	VF	Flat share	K1	Flat share	-	K1	K1	-	-	VF
Tournament participation 6	6th	20th	14th	20th	19th	18th	20th	19th	22nd	9	6th	12	5	0	198
Finals reached	1	3	2	5	4th	6th	1	1	2	0	0	1	0	0	26th
Individual titles won	1	0	0	1	3	4th	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	12
Hard court wins / defeats	15: 8	27:14	15: 6	41:16	35:11	39:10	26:13	23:11	26:14	2: 5	3: 6	13: 7	3: 5	0-0	268: 127
Sand victories / defeats	10: 5	11: 5	12: 5	13: 4	15: 3	10: 2	8: 4	7: 4	7: 5	1: 1	0-0	0: 1	0-0	0-0	94:39
Turf wins / defeats	4: 1	5: 2	3: 2	4: 1	4: 2	5: 2	2: 2	7: 3	3: 3	0: 3	0-0	3: 4	0-0	0-0	40:24
Carpet wins / defeats 7	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-0	0-0	0-0	0-0	1-0
Overall wins / defeats 8	13: 5	43:21	30:13	58:21	54:16	54:14	36:19	37:18	36:22	3: 9	4: 6	16:12	3: 5	0-0	403: 190
World ranking points	2180	3590	1885	4905	4235	5025	1915	1830	1430	554	85	640	133	37	N / A
Year-end position	13	9	22nd	5	8th	5	17th	19th	25th	98	409	63	241	603	N / A

Explanation of symbols: S = tournament victory; F, HF, VF, AF = entry into the final / semi-finals / quarter-finals / round of 16; 1R, 2R, 3R = elimination in the 1st / 2nd / 3rd main round; RR = Round Robin (group stage)

¹ tournament result in brackets means that the player has not yet finished the tournament; it shows its current tournament status. After the player finishes the tournament, the bracket is removed.
² before 2009 Tennis Masters Cup .
³ Before 2002 the Masters tournament in Madrid was held in Stuttgart, Essen and Stockholm. In 2009 there was a change of surface from hard court to sand.
⁴ The Hamburg tournament has not been part of the Masters series since 2009.
⁵ PO = playoff (promotion and relegation round in the Davis Cup world group), WG = world group, K1, K2, K3 = continental groups.
⁶ In contrast to the ATP ranking , only tournaments of the ATP World Tour as well as the four Grand Slam tournaments and the ATP World Tour Finals are counted here (as well as for the number of finals and titles won) . H. no Challenger or Future tournaments or team competitions ( Davis Cup or World Team Cup ). However, the latter count in the win / lose statistics.
⁷ No more ATP tournaments have been held on carpet since the 2009 season.
⁸ As of November 12, 2019

Web links

Commons : Kei Nishikori  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• ATP profile Kei Nishikori (English)
• ITF profile Kei Nishikori (English)
• Davis Cup stats by Kei Nishikori (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Felix Lill: O Kei, that wasn't bad! In: taz.de. October 8, 2012, accessed December 9, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Semi-finals US Open: Nishikori creates the sensation. In: spiegel.com. September 6, 2014, accessed July 4, 2016 . 
3. ↑ Marin Cilic wins the US Open. In: bz-berlin.de. September 9, 2014, accessed July 4, 2016 . 
4. ↑ Next top 10 player injured: Nishikori also ends tennis season. In: ran.de. August 16, 2017, accessed April 7, 2019 .