Kei Nishikori's Exit Interview

A wide-ranging interview with the Japanese superstar in his final year on tour.

WASHINGTON — Kei Nishikori, 36, is calling an end to a career that both exceeded all expectations and left him wanting more.

And to be clear, Nishikori did a whole, whole lot, mostly what was perhaps the toughest era men’s tennis has ever had.

Nishikori, who broke nearly every record for men’s tennis players from Japan and all of Asia, spent 212 weeks in the ATP Top 10, including an uninterrupted three-year residency from September 2014 to September 2017. He spent 75 of those weeks inside the Top 5, reaching a peak of No. 4.

He qualified for the year-end championships four times. He reached the quarterfinals or better at the majors twelve times, with his best run taking him to the final at the 2014 U.S. Open. He also reached four Masters 1000 finals, and won an Olympic bronze medal in 2016.

Nishikori has been a less visible presence in recent years—his last major quarterfinal was in 2019—but his legacy remains strong, and his career still has a few tournaments left in it. His intended remaining schedule includes Washington this week—where he’ll play Jerry Shang in an opening round match on Monday evening—as well as the U.S. Open, where he hopes to receive wild cards to play both in the singles qualifying draw and in mixed doubles with Naomi Osaka. His farewell ATP event is slated to be in Tokyo this fall.

At ATP-WTA 500 Washington, the first tournament Nishikori will play since his retirement announcement nearly three months ago, the Japanese superstar sat down for an interview with Bounces about his game, his rivals, his generation, his proudest moments, and his regrets.

Kei Nishikori being interviewed for this article. (Photo by Kathleen Ricker for Bounces)

“I’m, like, 50 percent happy. 50 percent, I’m not happy, because I didn’t win Masters or Grand Slams. I won a couple of tournaments, but I don’t have a big result like other guys. So that’s something I’m…kind of sad about.” —Kei Nishikori

To read our whole one-on-one interview, please subscribe to Bounces! -Ben