The rising sun

旭日初升

Japan’s Kei Nishikori had an excellent run at the Shanghai Rolex Masters 1000 last month making him the highest ranked male player in Japanese history.

在上个月的“上海劳力士网球大师赛”中，日本选手锦织圭的出色表现使他成为了日本历史上排名最高的男运动员。

At 6:30AM Monday morning, I started thinking about what I will write in this issue. The successful defense of Andy Murray was atop the list.  But as the sun was glazing at me, I thought I should write about the rising sun.    

Land of the rising sun, Japan and its tennis fans should be beaming these days after the campaign of Kei Nishikori during the Masters Series 1000 in Shanghai.  The successful run which lasted until the semi-finals has catapulted the Japanese pro into number 30 in the world, jumping 17 places in the rankings.  En route to the semifinals he had beaten a top ten player Jo-Wilfred Tsonga.  It was Nishikori's best performance at an ATP World Masters 1000 event and only his second win over a top-10 player in 11 attempts.  He is humble, disciplined and has much more to look forward to in the next season.

During his teen days, he was referred to as “Project 45”.  One might ask why.  Retired Shuzo Matsuoka had been the last Japanese man to win a title, at Seoul, South Korea, in April 1992. Matsuoka attained the highest ranking for a man from their country on the ATP computer: No. 46. Hence, Project 45. 

It could have been unlikely that Nishikori -- a happy-go-lucky man who already has a trademark shot, a forehand "jumper" that he hits from at least a foot off the ground and never missed all week -- would be where he is if there wasn’t a school called Bollettieri, a sponsor labeled Sony and a new coach named Brad Gilbert.  Kei went to Bollettierri Academy at the age of 14 through Sony’s Masaaki Morita, a member of the founding family and the retired CEO of Sony, which sponsors four promising Japanese players each year for a free ride to train at the academy.  Sony did have an eye for a champion and must have envisioned Nishikori as equally great as their tagline “It’s a Sony”. 

While his defeat in the semi finals to eventual champion Murray would have put a red light to his excellent run, Nishikori was not even at a slightest disappointment.  In fact, he is now more up and about his future knowing that there is a growing confidence on him being able to beat some of the world’s best. 

In one interview he was asked about his disadvantage of height against big players. He simply said “I have speed.” And indeed he has.  It was speed that allowed him to recover from a set down in his most important matches during the tournament and it was his 6-3 6-4 speedy dismantling of 12th seeded Alexandr Dologopolov that put him in the semi-finals and at 30th in the world.   

He might be a man of few words, but Nishikori's game is brimming with noise.

周一清晨6:30，我正开始思考关于这期主题应该写些什么。安迪·穆雷的成功防守位于这名单的开头。可由于阳光正透过玻璃照耀我，我想我应该写写“旭日初升”。
在“上海劳力士大师赛”锦织圭一役后的这些日子里，旭日之国——日本和日本的网球迷们可谓喜笑颜开。锦织圭直到半决赛始终出色的表现，直接将日本的世界排名一举推进前30强，一跃成为了第17位。在半决赛中，他击败了世界排名前十位的特松加。这是锦织圭在ATP 世界巡回赛中的最佳表现，也是第二次他在11局中打败世界排名前十位的对手。他本人对此持有谦逊、自律的态度，对即将到来的下一赛季有更多期待。
在他青少年时代，他被称为“45项目”。有人可能会问为什么。退休的松冈修造1992年4月在韩国首尔获得冠军，曾是最近一位获得冠军头衔的日本男子选手。 松冈修造达到的日本男子选手的ATP最高世界排名是46位。所以这个项目就叫“45项目”。

 如果没有一所名为波利泰利的学校，一个叫索尼的赞助商和一个名叫布拉德·吉尔伯特的教练，锦织圭——这个随遇而安的人已经有了标志性的一击，在离地至少一英尺处的一个正打，并且整整一周都没有失误，这一切似乎是不可能的。通过基金会的一员、索尼公司前总裁 Masaaki Morita的资助，锦织圭自14岁开始，就一直受训于美国佛罗里达州的波利泰利网球学院，Masaaki Morita先生每年资助四名颇有前途的日本球员在这所学校参加免费的学习。索尼公司确实有伯乐之眼，料想锦织圭就如公司的口号一样“It’s a Sony”。
然而他在半决赛中对战本届冠军穆雷时遭遇失败，则使他之前杰出的表现亮起了红灯，锦织圭一点都不失望。实际上，他已经振作起来，并且，对于自己的未来，不断增长的信心将使他能够战胜世界上最优秀的网球选手。
在一次专访中他被问及身高这一不利条件，他笑着说“我更加灵活”，的确是这样。是速度让他在重要的锦标赛中反败为胜，在半决赛中以6-3和6-4的成绩赢了种子选手Alexandr Dologopolov。    也许他是一个不善言辞的人，但是他所参与的赛事却是掌声雷动。