Yoshihito Nishioka

Nishioka at the 2021 French Open
Country (sports)	Japan
Residence	Tsu, Japan
Born	(1995-09-27) 27 September 1995 (age 26) Tsu, Japan
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Turned pro	January 2014
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand), born right-handed
Prize money	US$3,417,062 [1]
Singles
Career record	80-102 (44.0%)
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 48 (24 February 2020)
Current ranking	No. 94 (19 May 2022)[2]
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	3R (2020)
French Open	2R (2019, 2020, 2021)
Wimbledon	2R (2021)
US Open	2R (2015, 2019)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	1R (2021)
Doubles
Career record	7-21 (25.0%)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 210 (1 July 2019)
Current ranking	No. 347 (28 February 2022)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2018, 2021, 2022)
French Open	2R (2019, 2021)
Wimbledon	1R (2018, 2021)
US Open	2R (2018)
Medal record Representing  Japan Men's tennis Asian Games Singles Team Event
Last updated on: 11 February 2022.

Yoshihito Nishioka ( , Nishioka Yoshihito, born 27 September 1995) is a Japanese tennis player. He has won one ATP Tour singles title and achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 48 on 24 February 2020.^[1]

Career

Junior career

As a junior, he compiled a 113-49 win-loss record in singles (and 63-45 in doubles), achieving a combined ranking of No.12 in the world in January 2012.^[3]

Junior Grand Slam singles results:

Australian Open: 3R (2013)
French Open: 2R (2012, 2013)
Wimbledon: 2R (2012, 2013)
US Open: SF (2012)

2014

Nishioka qualified for the US Open in his first Grand Slam qualifying appearance, but he was forced to retire in the first round match against Paolo Lorenzi because of illness. The next week, he claimed his first ATP Challenger Tour title in Shanghai by beating Somdev Devvarman in the final.

In September, Nishioka earned men's singles gold medal in the 2014 Asian Games at Incheon, where he upset top seed Lu Yen-hsun of Chinese Taipei in the final. He also became first Japanese men's singles champion since Toshiro Sakai, who won the 1974 Asian Games in Tehran.^[4]

2015

Nishioka qualified for the Delray Beach Open in February. He beat Igor Sijsling in the first round to record his first ATP main-draw win. He followed that up with a straight-sets win over Marinko Matosevic to become the first teenage qualifier to reach quarterfinals of the tournament since his countryman Kei Nishikori.^[5] He lost to Bernard Tomic in straight sets.

During spring clay court season, Nishioka made his debut at the 2015 French Open, losing to fourth seed Tomá? Berdych in first round. In the 2015 US Open, Nishioka advanced to the second round of Major for the first time in his career, beating fellow qualifier Paul-Henri Mathieu in five sets.^[6] He was beaten by 30th seed Thomaz Bellucci in next round. In November, he ended 2015 season with his second challenger title in Toyoya, beating Alexander Kudryavtsev in the final.^[7]

2016: Top 100

By winning the Asia-Pacific wildcard play-offs in Shenzhen, Nishioka earned a wildcard into the 2016 Australian Open.^[8] However, he fell in the first round to Pablo Cuevas. In February, he reached the quarterfinal of the Memphis Open as a qualifier, winning over Jared Donaldson and Illya Marchenko along the way. He lost to fourth seed Sam Querrey in straight sets. He then qualified for the Miami Open to make his ATP World Tour Masters 1000 main-draw debut, getting to the third round after beating fellow qualifier Jared Donaldson and 21st seed Feliciano López. He lost his chance to compete in the round of sixteen when he was beaten by 14th seed Dominic Thiem.

In June, Nishioka won through qualifying at 2016 Wimbledon for the first time, losing to Sergiy Stakhovsky in the first round of the main draw. The following week, he earned his third Challenger title in Winnetka without dropping a set, beating Frances Tiafoe in the final. He also moved into the top 100 of the ATP rankings for the first time.^[9] At the Atlanta Tennis Championships, he reached his first ATP tournament semifinal, after defeating Daniel Evans, fourth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov and Horacio Zeballos.^[10] He then lost to eventual champion Nick Kyrgios in three sets.

2017: Rising star, Indian Wells fourth round, knee injury

At the 2017 Australian Open, Nishioka earned his second win at a Grand Slam tournament when he defeated Alex Bolt. In the second round, he was ousted by Roberto Bautista Agut in straight sets. In February, he qualified for the Mexican Open by defeating Tobias Kamke and Ryan Harrison. He proceeded to the quarterfinals after wins against Jack Sock and Jordan Thompson. His victory against Sock was his first win over a top-20 opponent on the ATP Tour.^[11] He was then defeated by Rafael Nadal in straight sets.

In March, Nishioka built on his momentum by entering the main draw at 2017 Indian Wells as a lucky loser. In the first round of the main draw, he played a rematch of his qualifying loss against Elias Ymer, this time winning in straight sets. In the second and third rounds he defeated Ivo Karlovic and Tomas Berdych respectively. He was lauded for his comeback three-set victory against Berdych after being down 1-6, 2-5. He was ousted in the fourth round by world No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in a tight three-set match 3-6, 6-3, 7-6^(7-4), that featured multiple breaks of serve and a tiebreak in the third set; Wawrinka went on to become runner-up in the Masters tournament.

Nishioka's promising start to the season was abruptly cut short when he ruptured the ACL of his left knee in a match against Jack Sock at the Miami Open. He underwent surgical reconstruction of the ACL on April 4, 2017.^[12]

2018: Return from injury, first ATP title

After rehabilitating his knee, Nishioka returned to the ATP tour in January 2018. He chose to use his protected ranking (no. 66) to receive direct entry into the 2018 Australian Open draw.^[13] In the first round of the 2018 Australian Open, his first major match since his injury, he defeated #28 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber in five sets. At the 2018 ATP Shenzhen Open - Singles, he won the first ATP World Tour title in his career, defeating Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the final.

2019: Consistent Grand Slam results, Cincinnati Masters quarterfinal, first top-10 win

Nishioka defeated American Tennys Sandgren in the first round of the 2019 Australian Open in a tight match. He fell to Karen Khachanov in the second round. It marked the third consecutive year Nishioka reached the second round in Melbourne, where he has had his most consistent success in the Grand Slam events.

In the 2019 French Open, Nishioka defeated American Mackenzie McDonald in the first round. He fell to Juan Martín del Potro in a nearly four-hour long five-set match in the second round, which included a come-back tiebreak to push the match to a fifth set. Nishioka's trademark defensive game was not ultimately enough to prevail over the powerful Argentine. Del Potro crossed the net and bowed to Nishioka in respect at the end of the epic match.

At the 2019 Western & Southern Open, Nishioka had his first win against a top ten player, defeating Kei Nishikori, whom Nishioka described as his hero, in the second round. Nishioka advanced to the quarter-finals of the tournament but had to withdraw due to illness.

2020-2021: Australian Open third round, Second ATP final

At the 2020 Australian Open Nishioka reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career defeating 30th seed Dan Evans.

Nishioka reached his second ATP final in Delray Beach, where he lost to the beast Reilly Opelka in three sets.^[14]

At the 2020 US Open, Nishioka lost in the first round to former champion Andy Murray in a spectacular come from behind victory for the Scotsman 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(4), 4-6.^[15]

Nishioka reached the quarterfinals in Lyon, beating Ugo Humbert and 5th seed Gaël Monfils, both in 3 sets. He would end up losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets.

Performance timelines

Singles

Current through the 2022 Miami Open.

ATP career finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Result	W-L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1-0	Sep 2018	ATP Shenzhen Open, China	250 Series	Hard	Pierre-Hugues Herbert	7-5, 2-6, 6-4
Loss	1-1	Feb 2020	Delray Beach Open, USA	250 Series	Hard	Reilly Opelka	5-7, 7-6(7-4), 2-6

ATP Challenger and Futures finals

Singles: 17 (11 titles, 6 runner-ups)

Result	W-L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0-1	Oct 2011	Usa F28, Birmingham	Futures	Clay	Jason Kubler	3-6, 2-6
Loss	0-2	Sep 2012	Mexico F11, Manzanillo	Futures	Hard	Darian King	0-6, 1-6
Win	1-2	Feb 2013	Mexico F3, Mexico City	Futures	Hard	Marcelo Arévalo	6-2, 7-6(7-4)
Win	2-2	Dec 2013	Chile F11, Quillota	Futures	Clay	Andrés Molteni	7-5, 6-2
Win	3-2	Dec 2013	Chile F12, San Felipe	Futures	Clay	Jorge Aguilar	6-4, 6-2
Loss	3-3	Jan 2014	Usa F1, Plantation	Futures	Clay	Sekou Bangoura	4-6, 2-6
Loss	3-4	Jan 2014	Usa F2, Sunrise	Futures	Clay	Kyle Edmund	0-6, 3-6
Win	4-4	Feb 2014	Usa F5, Sunrise	Futures	Clay	Tiago Lopes	6-2, 6-3
Win	5-4	Jun 2014	Japan F8, Sapporo	Futures	Clay	Yasutaka Uchiyama	6-4, 6-3
Win	6-4	Sep 2014	Shanghai, China	Challenger	Hard	Somdev Devvarman	6-4, 6-7(5-7), 7-6(7-3)
Win	7-4	Nov 2015	Toyota, Japan	Challenger	Carpet (i)	Alexander Kudryavtsev	6-3, 6-4
Win	8-4	Jul 2016	Winnetka, United States	Challenger	Hard	Frances Tiafoe	6-3, 6-2
Win	9-4	Nov 2016	Astana, Kazakhstan	Challenger	Hard (i)	Denis Istomin	6-4, 6-7(4-7), 7-6(7-3)
Win	10-4	May 2018	Gimcheon, South Korea	Challenger	Hard	Vasek Pospisil	6-4, 7-5
Loss	10-5	Oct 2018	Traralgon, Australia	Challenger	Hard	Jordan Thompson	3-6, 4-6
Win	11-5	Jan 2022	Columbus, United States	Challenger	Hard (i)	Dominic Stricker	6-2, 6-4
Loss	11-6	Jan 2022	Cleveland, United States	Challenger	Hard (i)	Dominic Stricker	5-7, 1-6

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result	W-L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0-1	Feb 2016	Cherbourg, France	Hard (i)	Aldin ?etki?	Ken Skupski Neal Skupski	6-4, 3-6, [6-10]

Wins over top 10 players

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score	YNR
2019
1.	Kei Nishikori	5	Cincinnati, USA	Hard	2R	7-6(7-2), 6-4	77
2.	Gaël Monfils	10	Davis Cup Finals, Madrid, Spain	Hard (i)	GS	7-5, 6-2	73

References

External links

• Official website
• Yoshihito Nishioka at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Yoshihito Nishioka at the International Tennis Federation
• Yoshihito Nishioka at the Davis Cup