{"id":560178,"date":"2026-05-01T07:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T07:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/560178\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T07:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T07:58:07","slug":"japans-kei-nishikori-to-retire-at-end-of-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/560178\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan&#8217;s Kei Nishikori to retire at end of 2026 season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Nishikori, who started his professional career in 2007, won 12 ATP Tour titles and has been playing on the Challenger Tour tour this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He last competed on the main ATP Tour at the Cincinnati Open in August 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">One of Nishikori&#8217;s most notable wins was beating 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the 2014 US Open.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Reaching the ATP Tour, playing at the highest level of competition and maintaining a presence in the top 10 is something I am extremely proud of,&#8221; said Nishikori.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Whether in victory or defeat, the special atmosphere I felt in packed arenas is irreplaceable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;There were also times when I was overwhelmed by frustration and anxiety due to repeated injuries that prevented me from playing as I wanted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Even so, my love for tennis and my belief that I could become a stronger player always brought me back to the court.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I feel that all of these experiences have enriched and shaped my life. I am deeply grateful [to] my family and to everyone who has supported me at all times.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nishikori, who started his professional career in 2007, won 12 ATP Tour titles and has been playing on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-560178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}