Rakuten Japan Open Storylines
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RAKUTEN JAPAN OPEN STORYLINES Musashino Forest Sport Plaza | Tokyo, Japan | 1-7 October 2018 Draw: S-32, D-16 | Prize Money: $1,781,930 | Surface: Indoor Hard ATP World Tour Info Tournament Info ATP PR & Marketing ATPWorldTour.com RakutenOpen.com Brendan Gilson: [email protected] Twitter: @ATPWorldTour @RakutenOpen Press Officer: [email protected] Facebook: @ATPWorldTour @RakutenJapanOpen TV & Radio: TennisTV.com 10 THINGS TO WATCH IN TOKYO 1) 500 Club: The capital cities of Tokyo and Beijing are hosting ATP World Tour 500 events this week. At the Rakuten Japan Open, two-time champion Kei Nishikori continues his push towards the Nitto ATP Finals alongside fellow ATP Race to London contenders Marin Cilic and Kevin Anderson. Four of the Top 5 #NextGenATP players in the ATP Race to Milan are also playing in Tokyo. 2) Title Drought: Nishikori has won six of his 11 ATP World Tour titles at the 500-level, highlighted by Tokyo in 2012 and 2014. However, the highest-ranked Asian player in ATP history has played 46 tour-level events since his most recent title at 2016 Memphis. Nishikori, the former World No. 4, is 0-7 in his last seven finals, with losses at three ATP Masters 1000s and two ATP World Tour 500s. 3) Belated Birthday: Cilic, a two-time Tokyo semi-finalist, turned 30 on 28 September. His birthday means that no Grand Slam men’s singles champions are currently under the age of 30. Nishikori, who lost to Cilic in the 2014 US Open final, is one of three twenty-something Grand Slam runners- up along with Milos Raonic (2016 Wimbledon) and Dominic Thiem (2018 Roland Garros). 4) On the Edge: Anderson is eighth in the ATP Race to London and would occupy the last spot at the Nitto ATP Finals if the season ended today. The Wimbledon finalist leads No. 9 John Isner by 520 points and No. 10 Nishikori by 885 points with a maximum of 3,250 points still on the line in 2018. 5) Tight Race: Fewer than 1,000 points separate Nos. 2-5 in the ATP Race to Milan. Tokyo players Stefanos Tsitsipas, Denis Shapovalov, Alex de Minaur and Frances Tiafoe are all on pace to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals. Of the four, only Shapovalov competed at the inaugural event. 6) Greece Lightning: Tsitsipas broke into the Top 15 in August following a fourth-round run at Wimbledon and four Top 10 wins en route to the Toronto final. He is the first Greek to be ranked that high, reach the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam and play for an ATP Masters 1000 championship. 7) Trailblazers: Shapovalov became the youngest semi-finalist in ATP Masters 1000 Madrid history, Tiafoe won the Delray Beach title to become the youngest American champion since 2002 and de Minaur achieved a new career-high ranking 16 times in eight months, rising from No. 208 to No. 38. 8) Curious Kyrgios: Nick Kyrgios won the biggest of his four ATP World Tour titles at 2016 Tokyo. The Aussie opted to play Beijing instead in 2017, losing in the final to Rafael Nadal. Kyrgios returns to Tokyo as the defending champion of sorts following the withdrawal of 2017 winner David Goffin. 9) Wawrinka Rising: Like Kyrgios, Stan Wawrinka is back in Tokyo for the first time since winning the title. The 2015 champion withdrew in 2016 due to a back injury and did not play in 2017 after two left knee surgeries. Wawrinka rose from No. 263 on 11 June to No. 75 on 24 September. 10) Local Flavor: For the fifth straight year, all three Tokyo wild cards are Japanese. In 2018, they are Istanbul champion Taro Daniel, Shenzhen semi-finalist Yoshihito Nishioka and Yuichi Sugita. Information accurate as of Friday, 28 September at 12 pm ET. For the latest stats, facts and figures about the ATP World Tour, follow @ATPMediaInfo on Twitter. .