page_title: Kei Nishikori
section_title: 2016: Olympic bronze medal
hierarchical_section_title: Kei Nishikori / Career / 2016: Olympic bronze medal
caption_attribution_description: Nishikori US16 (53)
context_page_description: Kei Nishikori is a Japanese professional tennis player. He is the only male Japanese tennis player in history to be ranked inside the top 5 in singles, and first reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 in March 2015. He is currently ranked world No. 31 by the Association of Tennis Professionals.
  Nishikori has won 12 singles titles and was runner-up at the 2014 US Open, making him the first male player representing an Asian country to reach a Grand Slam singles final. He also became the first man from Asia to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals and reached the semifinals in 2014 and 2016. In addition, Nishikori defeated Rafael Nadal to win the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, bringing Japan its first Olympic tennis medal in 96 years.
context_section_description: Nishikori began the season ranked No. 8. In January, he entered the Brisbane International as the No. 2 seed where he advanced to the quarterfinals with a bye and a straight sets win over Mikhail Kukushkin, but was eventually upset by seventh seed Bernard Tomic in three sets. At the Australian Open, Nishikori was seeded seventh. He began with victories over Philipp Kohlschreiber, Austin Krajicek and Guillermo García-López before beating ninth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach his third Australian Open quarterfinal, where he lost to Novak Djokovic. Nishikori next competed at the Memphis Open where he was seeded first and was the three-time defending champion. Nishikori received a bye into the second round and advanced to the semifinals without dropping a set. In the semifinals, Nishikori beat Sam Querrey in three sets and later beat young American Taylor Fritz in straight sets to win his fourth straight Memphis title and his 11th ATP title overall. He joined Jimmy Connors as the only four-time winners of the event.
  During the March Masters, Nishikori reached the quarterfinals in the Indian Wells Masters for the first time in his career after defeating Mikhail Kukushkin, Steve Johnson in straight sets and saving a match point against ninth seed John Isner in Nishikori's serve in the third set. He lost to fourth seed Rafael Nadal in straight sets. Nishikori improved his feat by reaching the quarterfinal again in the Miami Open by beating Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Alexandr Dolgopolov and Roberto Bautista Agut in straight sets. He then reached the semifinals of the tournament for the second time in his career after saving five match points and beating Gaël Monfils in a comeback three-set match. He then reached his second final in a Masters 1000 after dismantling Nick Kyrgios in straight sets. He lost to then world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the final in straight sets.
  For the 5th consecutive year, Nishikori did not play in Monte Carlo and instead turned his focus to defending his Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell title. He reached the final without losing a set, but lost in straight sets to resurgent nine-time champion Rafael Nadal in the final. He followed his good run by reaching the semifinals in the Mutua Madrid Open, beating Fabio Fognini, Richard Gasquet for the first time in 7 meetings and rising teenage star Nick Kyrgios. He lost in the semifinal to Novak Djokovic in straight sets despite a close 2nd set. Nishikori then replicated his Madrid run by reaching the semifinals of the Italian Open for the first time after beating Viktor Troicki in the opener in three sets, followed by wins over Richard Gasquet and Dominic Thiem in straight sets. He lost in the semifinal against world Novak Djokovic in a marathon 3 hours three-setter despite winning the first set 6–2 and managed to pull off a tiebreak in the third set. He later participated at the French Open but unfortunately lost to an in-form Gasquet in the fourth round in 4 sets. Nishikori began his grass season at the Halle Open, but retired in the 2nd round due to a hip injury. His next tournament was at Wimbledon, where he retired in the fourth round against Marin Čilić, once again due to injury.
  With Murray, Federer and Nadal absent, Nishikori was seeded 3rd for the Rogers Cup Masters in Toronto. After beating Grigor Dimitrov and Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively, Nishikori then lost to Djokovic in straight sets in the finals, going 0–5 so far in the season against the Serb. Nishikori then participated in the 2016 Summer Olympics, where he reached the semis before being defeated by World No. 2 Andy Murray in straight sets. However, he later acquired the bronze medal after he defeated Rafael Nadal 6–2, 6–7 (1), 6–3, becoming the first Japanese man to win an Olympic tennis medal since Ichiya Kumagae in the 1920 Summer Olympics.
  Nishikori nearly replicated his 2014 US Open run by reaching the semifinals of the US Open, defeating Benjamin Becker, Karen Khachanov and Nicolas Mahut respectively in four sets, followed by a straight sets fourth-round win a
caption: Nishikori at the 2016 US Open
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