Japanese Kei Nishikori, the most decorated Asian player in men's competition, on Thursday, brought down the curtain on his career by losing to American Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 6-4 at home and among his fans in the Tokyo Tennis Tournament (500 points).
Nishikori (36 years old) announced his retirement last May, after achieving a series of achievements during his professional career, but he was unable to reach the ranks of the game’s elite due to the repeated injuries he suffered.
Fans gathered at the Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, chanting and applauding the former world number four, who lost to Tiafoe, the second seed in the tournament, in the first round.
“Playing in Japan is always special,” Nishikori told the fans during a ceremony held on the field after the match.
While holding back his tears and with a childish smile, he added: “I was hoping to do more and perform a little better, but I am happy that I maintained my competitiveness until the end.”
He continued: “I am proud that I did not give up and continued playing until the end.”
Nishikori became the first Japanese player to reach the final of a Grand Slam tournament, when he lost the US Open final in 2014 to Croatian Marin Cilic.
He was also the first Japanese player to exceed the threshold of the top ten in the world rankings of the Professional Players Association, and he won 12 titles during his career, including two titles in Tokyo.
Nishikori also won a bronze medal in the men's singles competition at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Injuries plagued him for years, and he said this year that he was suffering a lot physically.
He had the best season of his career in 2014, when he won four titles on the professional tour, and was able to eliminate the then world number one Serbian Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the US Open, before losing the final to Cilic.
In his last participation in a Grand Slam tournament, last August, Nishikori lost to his younger compatriot Rei Sakamoto, 20 years old, in the third round of the qualifiers for the US Championship.
Thomas Weikert announced that he will not run for a new term as president of the German Olympic Sports Federation next December.
Weikert said, in a statement published by the Federation on its website, Thursday: “I feel that I no longer have the strength to devote myself to the duties of president for another 4 years to the best of my ability, and this is the least that the German Olympic Sports Federation deserves.”
He added: “I found that the burden was enormous, and I could not force myself to bear it for another 4 years, especially considering my family.”
Weickert (64 years old) explained that the growing opposition from sports federations in German states and national federations had no role in his decision.
Weikert, the former president of the International Table Tennis Federation and the German Olympic Sports Federation, has been president since December 2021, succeeding Alfons Hormann. Weikert won early elections 5 years ago at the expense of former fencer Claudia Böckel, and was re-elected by acclamation one year later for a 4-year term.
A committee is responsible for identifying potential candidates to succeed Weikert.
Member organizations of the German Olympic Sports Federation can submit their proposals, while the nomination deadline ends on October 30. The elections are scheduled to be held next December 5 during the Federation’s General Assembly meeting in Frankfurt.
Among the potential candidates are Michael Muntz, a member of the Executive Committee of the German Federation and a member of the International Olympic Committee, and Martin Inglehart, President of the German Triathlon Federation, who lost to Hormann in the elections for the presidency of the German Olympic Sports Federation in 2018.
The Portuguese national team's No. 7 shirt will not remain without its owner against Denmark, Thursday, after the official match list revealed that Rafael Leao will wear the number that has been associated, over the past years, with national team captain Cristiano Ronaldo, who left his country's camp on the eve of the match.
According to the Portuguese newspaper “Apola”, the list of players published by the European Football Association (UEFA), on the morning of the match, showed that the number 7 shirt was assigned to Leão, during the scheduled match at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, within the European Nations League.
The transfer of the number to Leao comes after Ronaldo left the Portuguese national team camp, as the European Nations League regulations require that the numbers of players included in the match list be from 1 to 23, which means that the Portuguese national team was obligated to assign the number 7 to one of its players.
Ronaldo was given the number 7 in the Portuguese national team after Luis Figo, before the number became his constant throughout his long international career.
The match list did not contain any other surprises in terms of those excluded, after coach Jorge Jesus had summoned 25 players to the camp, while the match list allowed for only 23 players.
Jesus was forced to exclude players in previous matches, but he did not need to make the same decision against Denmark, after Ronaldo left the camp, in addition to the absence of Francisco Conceicao due to injury, which was announced during the press conference that preceded the match.
