| Growth of Tennis in Japan: The Development of the Player |
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By Andre Chris Smith, 10 NIS 4 ALL
As we come to the end of Wimbledon in London and go into the beginning of the US Open Series in the United States we look at two players that have come across our tennis radar screen with a surprise. Go Soeda and Kei Nishikori both players from Japan and both different style of players. As we watch the European players dominate our ATP (Men) Circuit and the WTA (Women) Circuit we notice on the baseline the Asian players moving in to the spotlight. Two Asian players in particular; Go Soeda and Kei Nishikori, both are from Japan but only Go Soeda currently still lives in Japan. Kei Nishikori lives in Bradenton, Florida and Go Soeda lives in Kanagawa, Japan; where he was born and raised.  Go Soeda is ranked #118 in singles and 342 in doubles, but is moving swiftly up through the ranks. With his win recently in Newport, Rhode Island against Taylor Dent (USA), Go is looking pretty good for doing well this year. Go Soeda did not advance to far in the Wimbledon Championship Tournament but he played very well. In his first round match in the Qualifying he played against Inigo Cervantes-Huegun (ESP) and won in straight sets. In the 2nd Round he played against Alexandre Sidorenko (FRA) and also won in straight sets. When he got to the 3rd round Go had a little trouble dropping the 1st and 2nd set to Jesse Witten (USA) but coming back in the 3rd set. He unfortunately could not hold up to Jesse Witten (USA) in the 4th set to lose 2-6, 2-6, 6-2, 4-6. He finally played against Martin Fishcher (AUT) and lost in straight sets 4-6, 3-6, 1-6. He then began his trek to Newport, Rhode Island.
Go Soeda standing at 5ft. 10in., 148lbs he is a force to be reckoned with after turning Pro in 2003 he has masked 234 wins (including ITF Challengers and ITF Pro Circuits) and 147 losses in singles and in doubles he has a record of 61 wins and 92 doubles. As of today Go has spanned the ATP Ranking from Year-End 2003 to 2009 as between 630 to 241. On the other spectrum of career development is Kei Nishikori born in Shimane, Japan, but currently resides in Bradenton, Florida. Kei Nishikori (JPN) had a little tougher time in the Wimbledon Championship Tournament he met Rafael Nadal (ESP) in the 1st Round and loss 2-6, 4-6, 4-6. His match statistics were good for someone up against Rafael Nadal; with 1st serve percentage at 63%, winning % of 1st serve at 71%, and Net approaches at 77%. His downfall in the match was his 8 double faults, 29 winners, 27% receiving points won (from serves), and his 33% break point conversions. Overall the match was somewhat evenly played between Kei Nishikori and Rafael Nadal but the experience outweighed the inexperience.  This experience should not distract from the overwhelming and outstanding record that Kei Nishikori has accumulated in the past 3 years of playing on the ATP circuit. That’s right, just 3 years; because has of July 17, 2007 when he qualified to play in his first ATP Main Draw event at the Countrywide Classic (Los Angeles, CA.) at the age of 17 he had not been noticed. Before that time Kei Nishikori was what everyone in the tennis industry would call a ‘Bollettieri Baby.’ Kei was trained and still trains at the Bollettieri Tennis Academy and is coached there by Glenn Weiner. That loss at the Countrywide Classic (to Wesley Moodie), was not unfortunate. Also in 2007 he competed in the 2007 Sony Ericsson Open and won the Luxilon Cup by defeating Michael McClune.
Kei is currently ranked at 420 but his record is amazing for the amount of matches he has played. His current Year End Singles are 15 wins and 7 losses, Career Singles (Tour Level Only) 24 wins and 28 losses, Career Singles (including ITF Challengers and ITF Pro Circuits) is 74 wins and 50 losses and for Career Doubles (including ITF Challengers and ITF Pro Circuits) is 11 wins and 9 losses. According to ATP Ranking Kei has ranged from 605 to 420 in Singles (even making it to #63 in 2008) and 975 to 593 in doubles from the years of 2006 to 2009. As the Asian Tennis players begin to develop a presence on the pro circuit we have to look at the source behind the presence…The Asian Tennis Federation. The Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) a non-profit organization affiliated with the International Tennis Federation is responsible for the increase of participation in Asia, facilitates the development of the standard of Asian tennis, and supports its 44 member associations through the implementation of a wide range of programs. Within these programs are the organization of regional/international tennis events, coaching certification courses, tennis officiating seminars, administrative workshops, junior development, and various other development and growth of tennis in the region. The Asian Tennis player will continue to make a name for themselves with the overwhelming support that is developed and nurtured through the Asian Tennis Federation. As we sit back and watch tennis grow worldwide with the development of new programs, new events, and new associations we can’t overlook the growing strength that the Asian tennis players are showing. In closing, as we spent the last several years watching the European community explode in the tennis community, we stopped watching the other part of the world and now the Asian community has sneaked up and begun to devour us like a dragon devouring his prey. Asian tennis players such as Kei Nishikori and Go Soeda have just begun to make its mark and it’s not over by a long shot. These two players are just at the beginning of their career and as fans in the tennis world we get to enjoy the fresh blood to tennis that is going to develop into another explosion as we had in the 70’s, 80’s, and the 90’s. Watch out the 2000’s are exploding all over again. Read more at: http://10nis4all.wordpress.com/ |
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