Nishikori calls time on career with defeat at Japan Open

Japan’s Kei Nishikori, Asia’s most decorated men’s tennis player, brought the curtain down on his pioneering career on Thursday, losing 6-4, 6-4 to Frances Tiafoe on home turf.

The 36-year-old announced his retirement in May, having notched a string of professional accolades but falling just short of the game’s elite names due to persistent injury.

Fans packed Tokyo’s Ariake Colosseum and showered the former world number four with cheers and applause as he fell to the second-seeded Tiafoe in the opening round of the Japan Open. “Playing in Japan is always special,” Nishikori told the crowd during an on-court ceremony after the match. “I wish I could show a bit more and better performance. But I am happy that in my spirit I remained competitive until the end,” he said with a boyish smile while fighting back tears.

“I am proud that I didn’t give up and played until the end.” Nishikori became the first Japanese player to reach a Grand Slam final, losing the 2014 US Open to Croatia’s Marin Cilic. He was the first Japanese man to make the top 10 in the ATP world rankings and won 12 titles on tour, including two victories in Tokyo. Nishikori also won bronze in the men’s singles at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

He has been dogged by injuries for years and said this year that he was “barely hanging on” in terms of physical fitness. He produced the best season of his career in 2014, winning four ATP titles and upsetting then world number one Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the US Open on the way to defeat by Cilic.

At his last Grand Slam tournament in August, he was beaten by his much younger compatriot Rei Sakamoto, 20, in the third round of qualifying at the US Open.