(Photo credit score: Eric Bolte)
Kei Nishikori, a 12-time winner on the ATP Tour, mentioned his goodbye to professional tennis on Thursday following his first-round loss on the Japan Open.
He was defeated by Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 6-4 in Tokyo.
Nishikori, 36, introduced in April that he would retire on the finish of this season.
Limited by accidents the previous few seasons, Nishikori certified for only one ATP match this season and was eradicated within the second spherical in Washington, D.C., in July. He accepted a wild-card entry into the Japan Open, which he received twice throughout his 19-year profession.
‘Playing in Japan is at all times a particular second,’ Nishikori, visibly emotional after the match, mentioned in an on-court interview.
‘I want I might have put in a barely extra convincing efficiency. But I’m joyful I saved preventing proper to the tip.
‘I’m proud that I did not quit and performed proper to the end.’
Nishikori is called the highest male Asian singles participant in historical past, reaching No. 4 on the earth in 2015. He retires with a profession singles report of 452-233 and $26.2 million in earnings.
The largest win of his profession possible got here in 2014, when he defeated No. 1 Novak Djokovic on the U.S. Open to develop into the primary Asian man to qualify for the lads’s singles remaining at a Grand Slam match. He misplaced to Marin Cilic within the remaining.
Nishikori received the bronze medal on the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, defeating Rafael Nadal within the third-place match.
–Field Level Media