Kei Nishikori (Japan Warriors) vs Nick Kyrgios (Singapore Slammers)
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One of the most successful Asian players on the ATP World Tour – and the highest-ranked, Nishikori followed in the footsteps of Thai former Top 10 player Paradorn Srichaphan in giving Asia a top-10 singles player.
Currently World No. 5, 26-year-old Nishikori has had a particularly strong season. Most recently, the Japanese ace progressed beyond the round robin stages at the year-ending ATP World Tour – but that is an indicator, perhaps, of the singularly consistent 2016 he has seen.
After a quarter-final finish at the Australian Open, Nishikori picked up to win the ATP250 Memphis Open soon after, with a brilliant clay-court season ahead. After finishing in the quarter-finals with a loss to Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells, Nishikori finished in the finals in Miami – losing to Novak Djokovic, and then again at the finals in Barcelona, where he was runner-up to Nadal.
But perhaps one of Nishikori’s best performances in the first half of the season came in the finals of the Madrid Masters, where he threatened to oust Novak Djokovic from the tournament – then did it again at the Italian Open semifinal.
After a finals finish at the Rogers Cup, Nishikori beat Gael Monfils and Rafael Nadal en route to an Olympic bronze, the first Olympic medal of his career.
Nishikori would then oust current World No. 1 Andy Murray from the US Open at the quarter-finals, locked in a three-hour, five set epic with the Scot, scalping a set off eventual champion Stan Wawrinka in the semi-finals.
Nick Kyrgios, the enfant terrible of the current sport, has also had a strong season, despite his on-and-off-court antics detracting from strong gameplay and what is doubtless strong talent and an acumen for the sport.
The 22-year-old, who does not have a full-time coach yet, won the Rakuten Japan Open this season, one of three titles he has won this year – each on hard court. Perhaps one of Kyrgios’ biggest failings has been the young Australian’s patchy form, which has seen him suffer surprise losses to players far lower-ranked than himself, and his attitude has caused him major problems – and fines levied by the ATP.
Earlier this year, Kyrgios was levied a suspension by the ATP after throwing a match against Germany’s Mischa Zverev; that also saw him ordered to undergo psychological counseling, which the player is said to have accepted.
The two have played each other three times before, two of those this year. Nishikori was taken to three sets by a strong battle from Kyrgios at the Madrid Masters this year, with two of those sets going to tiebreak before the Japanese ace pulled back in the third.
Prodigious skill aside, it will be interesting to see two players so different in temperament – the quiet, stolid Nishikori and the aggressive, angry Kyrgios – take the court yet again.
