Kei Nishikori's Japan Open will be his last match; those who have supported him since childhood share their thoughts

Former world No. 4 Kei Nishikori (36) of Uniqlo, who has announced his retirement from men's tennis at the end of this season, will play his last tournament at the Kinoshita Group Japan Open (Ariake Tennis Park, Tokyo), which begins on the 30th. People deeply involved in the retirement of a star who will go down in tennis history expressed their various thoughts.

Kei Nishikori ``I want to finish without regrets'' Japan OP starts on 30th - Men's tennis

◇“This kid is interesting.”

Masaaki Morita, a former Sony vice president who also made great contributions to the tennis world, saw Nishikori as an elementary school student and thought, ``This kid is interesting. He has a very good competitive instinct.'' He is the founder of the Masaaki Morita Tennis Fund, which has supported the growth of many talented players, and also served as the president of the Japan Tennis Association. Nishikori, who moved to the United States at the age of 13, was an early supporter of the fund.

Morita started supporting young players with the idea that he wanted to create players who would be comfortable playing abroad, sending promising players to IMG Academy in Florida, USA, to hone their skills. The basic period is two years, and only players who have cleared the set challenges will be supported from the third year onwards. ``Nishikori completed the tournament perfectly and made it all the way to the age of 17, when he turned professional,'' he recalls happily.

When he was informed of his decision to retire, he accepted it, saying, ``If I think I've reached my limit, I can't tell you to do more.'' I think you've done what you can.'' His future success was not predicted from his childhood. We would like to pay tribute to Nishikori, who has achieved achievements beyond imagination, such as becoming runner-up at the US Open.

◇Mr. Matsuoka: “I learned a lot.”

Shuzo Matsuoka is the Japan Association's deputy head of training and training, and has been watching Nishikori for a long time as an instructor and commentator. The first time they met was at a national tournament for under-12s, and ``It was a style of Japanese tennis that I had never seen before.'' Although he shared a variety of things during the junior training camp he led, he says, ``If anything, I spent most of my time learning.''

``You're playing some kind of game with a racket, a ball, and a court. It feels like you're playing,'' says Nishikori and Roger Federer (Switzerland), who has won a total of 20 Grand Slam tournaments.

At the age of 18, Nishikori became the second Japanese player to win on tour after Matsuoka. In October 2011, he surpassed Matsuoka's world ranking of 46th, the highest Japanese player ever achieved during his active career. Although it was a big event for the Japanese tennis world, Matsuoka says, ``It's not at that level. I was thinking that I could win a Grand Slam tournament, and that I wanted to break into the top 10 quickly.''

``From now on, I think people will start to understand just how amazing Nishikori was.'' He added, ``Just meeting him is an inspiration, and he has the power to change your life.'' He hopes that he will continue to have a positive impact on the tennis world even after he retires.