Kei Nishikori is a professional tennis player who is of Japanese descent. He’s considered to be the best tennis player to come out of Asia in recent years and the reason isn’t far-fetched. He has won 11 singles titles and reached the US Open final. He was the first Asian to reach the final of a Grand Slam. Find out more about this future tennis legend here including his net worth, parents, siblings, wife, girlfriend etc.
Kei Nishikori’s bio
Kei Nishikori was born on December 29, 1989 in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. He started playing tennis at the age of five and won a Japanese tennis tournament at the age of eleven. After graduating from high school at the age of 13, Nishikori moved to the United States to pursue his dream of becoming a professional tennis player. He was part of a group of talented young Japanese players sponsored by Sony CEO Mr. Morita to train at IMG Academy in Florida. IMG Academy offers one of the world’s most competitive junior tennis coaching programs and has produced stars such as Andréa Agassi and Maria Sharapova.
career
Nishikori started training in earnest and gradually, by the age of 17, he won the ITF Futures singles title in Mexico. He turned pro in 2007 and broke into the top 100 in 2008 at the age of 18. He also won the ATP Newcomer of the Year in the same year. To date, Kei Nishikori has participated in a total of 548 career matches, of which he has won 374. He has won 11 singles titles including Delray Beach Open (2008), Japanese Open (2012 & 2014), Malaysian Open (2014), Citi Open (2015), Barcelona Open (2014 & 2015), Memphis Open (2013, 2014, 2015). and 2016).
In terms of the Grand Slams, Kei Nishikori hasn’t performed shoddily at all. He has made it to the quarterfinals of every Grand Slam, becoming the first Asian player to achieve such a feat. Nishikori’s best Grand Slam performance to date was certainly the 2014 US Open, where he reached the final. In the semifinals, he defeated then-world champion and tournament favorite Novak Djokovic in four sets – 6-4, 1-6, 7-6, 6-3.
After that, he marched to the final where he lost to Marin Cilic in three straight sets. Despite the loss, Nishikori had already done enough and finished the year ranked 5th in the men’s ATP individual rankings. He became the highest-ranked Asian in ATP World Tour history and the first Asian man to reach the final of a Grand Slam tournament.
Wealth (Income) – How rich is Kei Nishikori?
Kei Nishikori is reportedly worth a cool $9million. His sources of income include his earnings from the various tournaments he has participated in. He has earned at least $20 million ($20,211,966) in prize money to date. Also, Nishikori is one of the most commercially profitable athletes in the world. He has endorsements at several Japanese and international companies including Asahi, NTT, Japan Airlines, Lixil and Nissin (noodle companies), Uniqlo, Wilson, Nike, Procter & Gamble, Jaguar and Tag Heuer.
wife or girlfriend
Kei Nishikori is reportedly dating Honami Tsuboi, a former gymnast who represented Japan at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Honami retired from gymnastics in 2010 and is now a certified yoga teacher. She regularly appears at her husband’s tennis events and is often seen at court supporting him.
parents and siblings
Kei Nishikori comes from a family of four. His father Kiyoshi is an engineer and his mother Eri is a piano teacher. He also has an older sister named Reina who works in Tokyo. Nishikori’s parents played a crucial role in his becoming a successful tennis player. He first fell in love with tennis at the age of five after his father bought him a children’s racquet on his way back from a business trip to Hawaii.
He started hitting balls against the wall with ease and as such his parents decide to enroll him in a local tennis school. Second, his parents recognized that he needed to move abroad to be successful and supported his decision to move to the United States at a young age to pursue his dream of becoming a tennis player.
height and weight
Kei Nishikori is of modest stature. He is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 170 pounds or 77 kg. He’s small by professional tennis standards, but he makes up for it with his aggressive play, which includes a forehand uncommon in Asian players. Nishikori is currently coached by a former professional tennis player, Michael Chang. Chang is an American of Chinese descent and the youngest man to win a Grand Slam. He did so at the 1989 French Open at the age of 17 years and four months.