Kei Nishikori (?? ? Nishikori Kei, [?i?iko??

i kei]; born 29 December 1989) is a

Japanese professional tennis player. He is the only male Japanese tennis player
ever to be ranked inside the top 5 in singles, and first reached his career-high
singles ranking of world No. 4 in March 2015. He is currently ranked world No. 6 by
the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).[3]

He has won 12 singles titles and was runner-up at the 2014 US Open,[4] making him
the first male player representing an Asian country to reach a Grand Slam singles
final.[5] He also became the first man from Asia to qualify for the ATP World Tour
Finals and reached the semifinals in 2014 and 2016.[6] In addition, Nishikori
defeated Rafael Nadal to win the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de
Janeiro.A finalist in two USTA Pro Circuit events, Nishikori lost to Donald Young
in Little Rock, Arkansas and Alex Bogomolov, Jr. in Carson, California. He
partnered with Young to win the doubles title at Little Rock. At the Sony Ericsson
Open in Miami, Nishikori paired with triple French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten,
but the two were defeated in the first round. Nishikori served as a hitting partner
for Roger Federer at Wimbledon.

After his ATP main draw debut in Los Angeles, Nishikori qualified for the
Indianapolis Tennis Championships in July. He beat Alejandro Falla in the first
round to record his first ATP main-draw win. He followed that up with a three-set
win over Michael Berrer, the eliminator of seventh seed Robby Ginepri, to advance
to his first ATP quarterfinal. Although he lost to Dmitry Tursunov in two sets,
Nishikori became the youngest player to reach the quarterfinals at Indianapolis
since Boris Becker in 1985.

Later that month, Nishikori headed to Washington, D.C. for his third career ATP
event. He defeated Teymuraz Gabashvili in the first round before falling to Julien
Benneteau in the second. He qualified for the China Open in Beijing, losing in the
first round to Ivan Ljubicic. In October, Nishikori received a wildcard entry to
the AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo, where he lost in the first round
to Zack Fleishman. He participated in the tournament's draw ceremony and was
honored with an award from the Tokyo Sports Writers Club. Nishikori finished the
year representing Japan at the Asian Hopman Cup competition in Bangkok,
Thailand.Nishikori started the year by reaching the semifinals of the Miami
challenger tournament. He then entered the Delray Beach tournament as a qualifier
ranked world No. 244. He gained entrance to the main draw by defeating Nicol�s
Todero and Alex Bogomolov, Jr.. In the first round, he defeated Florian Mayer due
to a retirement in the second set. In the second round, Nishikori defeated Amer
Delic, another qualifier. In the quarterfinals, he won against Bobby Reynolds. In
the semifinals, he upset Sam Querrey. In the final, Nishikori upset top seed James
Blake in three sets to become the first Japanese man in nearly 16 years to win an
ATP event.[13]

Nishikori lost in the first round of the Miami Masters to the Spanish player Albert
Monta��s. He faced James Blake again, this time at the River Oaks International
tournament in Houston, Texas in the first round, but Kei lost in two sets. He went
out in the third round of the 2008 Queen's Club Championships against Rafael Nadal
in just over two hours. Facing the world No. 2, Nishikori played well in the match
and showed promise. His first Grand Slam appearance at the 2008 Wimbledon
Championships on 23 June 2008 ended in a first-round forfeiture to French player
Marc Gicquel. Suffering from an abdominal muscle strain, Nishikori retired after
the second set. In August, he entered the Beijing Olympics on a wildcard.[14]
There, he lost in the first round to Rainer Sch�ttler of Germany.