Japanese star Kei Nishikori seemed all excited to take part in this year’s Miami Open. The 31-year-old Japanese announced his participation on his social media handle Twitter.
Nishikori, Japanese top player to pair up with Bulgarian Tennis sensation Grigor Dimitrov to compete in the Men’s Doubles category. This is going to be the duo’s third time pairing up with each other.
Kei, 31 made it to the Dubai quarterfinal last week. However he ended up losing to South African Lloyd Harris in three sets.
Kei Nishikori of Japan in a match against Llyod Harris of Dubai Open. (Image courtesy: Getty Images)
Kei and Grigor had weird endings to their doubles career whenever they took to the court. The duo paired up for the first time in 2013 at Brisbane, when they had to give walkover to their opponents Marcelo Melo and Tommy Robredo in the semi final.
Hello @MiamiOpen 👋
— Kei Nishikori (@keinishikori) March 24, 2021
The pair, again had to give walkover to their opponents for the second time in succession, that too in semi final at Brisbane back in 2016.
Adding on, Nishikori and Dimitrov has faced each other across various competitions a significant amount of time over the years.
Kei Nishikori of Japan and Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in a match against each other. (Image courtesy: Getty Images)
Kei Nishikori, a name long forgotten
The former ATP world number 4 Nishikori was in the news in 2016 and became household name of Japan when he defeated current world number three Rafael Nadal to clinch Olympic Bronze medal in Tennis in Brazil. The medal was Japan’s first ever prize in the sport in 96 years.
There was a time when Kei Nishikori used to be in the top ten of ATP for weeks straight. As the time went by, the tennis fans started to let slip of the Japanese’s achievements. However, the Nishikori fans are elated at the announcement and seemed happy to see him back.
Happy Birthday to Japanese tennis player Kei Nishikori! Remember his medal at Rio 2016, where he beat Rafael Nadal in the bronze medal match? 🎾#StrongerTogether@ITFTennis @Japan_Olympic @keinishikori pic.twitter.com/Xp9F5fUHhr
— Olympics (@Olympics) December 29, 2020
Nishikori and Dimitrov are to face Doubles specialist Raven Klaasen and Ben McLachlan in their opener at Miami Masters. The tennis experts are of the opinion that this match-up is a tough draw for the Japanese and Bulgarian to open up with.
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