Can Kei Nishikori become the highest ranked Asian tennis player ever? – Tennis Special
Japan’s top tennis player, Kei Nishikori, has been on a continuous rise in the last couple of years. The 22-year-old is currently Asia’s highest ranked tennis player on the ATP World Tour.
Asians have started to dominate most of the sports, which can be seen by looking at the Medals table of 2012 London Olympics where two of its countries are in the top five list but they have always lagged behind Americans, Australians
and Europeans in tennis.
Paradorn Srichapan of Thailand is the highest ranked tennis player Asia has ever produced. The Thai player reached his top ranking of number nine in the world in 2003. However, Srichapan does not play any more as he got retired
from professional tennis two years ago.
In comparison, Nishikori is currently ranked 17th in the world. He attained his best ranking this March, when he rose to the 16th position in the ATP Singles Rankings.
The Japanese player first got into notice of the tennis world in 2008, when he came through the qualifying draws of the Delray Beach International and went on to capture the title, beating the then world number 12, James Blake
of USA, in the final. Nishikori was just 18-year-old at that time and was ranked 244th in the world. The Japanese national entered the list of top 100 players later in that year.
However, Nishikori’s ranking got stuck there, as his performance was not improving on a consistent basis. That stability came in his game from the start of 2011, when he reached the quarter-final of Aircel Chennai Open and after
that advanced to the third round at the Australian Open. The youngster also qualified for the title matches at the ATP World Tour 250 events in Houston and Basel but lost Ryan Sweeting and Roger Federer respectively. He also reached a couple of semi-finals
and by the end of the year he had reached 25th spot in the rankings.
Nishikori became the first Asian player in history to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open at the start of this year. He stunned the then world number six, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, in the fourth round, which was
the biggest win of his career at that time.
At the end of the match, Nishikori said, “(My previous) best result is 2008 US Open round of 16. That was couple years ago. And I played well end of last year, and now it’s like this. So, yeah, I feel I’m stepping up. I never feel
the pressure. You know, it’s (a great) honour to make a lot of history, to be No.1 player in Japan. But that never gives me the pressure.”
Nishikori has played consistently throughout the year, reaching round of 16 or quarter-finals of almost every tournament he has played. The Japanese stunned the fourth seeded Spaniard, David Ferrer, to reach the quarter-finals
at the London Olympics.
The way Nishikori is playing these days, the time is not far when he will break into the top 10. The Florida, USA resident is expected to overtake Srichapan’s highest Asian ranking of number nine soon. A couple of good performance
in big tournaments will do the job for Nishikori.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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