Opinion | Kei Nishikori is the best of a mediocre bunch
Asian players' failure to muscle into top tennis rankings unlikely to end soon,even with Japanese ace's breakthrough
There are 4.3 billion people in Asia, so surely there must be a tennis champion among them. Well, there is but none of the male variety, unless you go back to Japan's Jiro Sato who was ranked number three in the world - in 1933. The highest-ranked Asian player of the modern era was Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan, who made it all the way to number nine in 2003.
And that, folks, is the extent of it, which is more than pathetic; it's flat-out embarrassing. The world's most populous continent featuring two of the top three economies and they are absolutely putrid at one of the most popular global games, one that also happens to be a multibillion-dollar industry as well.
It drives the people at the ATP crazy. They look at all the money in Asia right now and are salivating over the prospect of a tennis version of Yao Ming or a male replica of China's two-time grand slam champion Li Na.
Health is easily Nishikori's biggest obstacle. His body has repeatedly broken down
Currently Wu Di and Zhang Ze are the best of a thin mainland crop, but neither has come even remotely close to breaking into the top 100 and, according to world number two Novak Djokovic, there won't be a top-flight Asian star for a while. "In the next five years, I don't see it happening," he said a few months back in China, "but you know, maybe I'm wrong."
Or maybe with the rampant China lust gripping the West right now we're just looking in the wrong country.
Last week was actually one of the most eventful in men's Asian tennis. Not only did Japan's Kei Nishikori become the second continental player to crack the top 10, he also made it all the way to the final of the Madrid Open before losing a heartbreaking match to Rafael Nadal.
There is certainly no shame in losing to the greatest clay-court player yet in his home country. However, Nishikori hammered Nadal 6-2 in the first set and was in the process of closing him out in the second when he tweaked his often-injured back and was forced to retire in the third set down 3-0.
Still, it was a fearless display from the painfully shy 24-year old, who seems to have everything to succeed at the highest levels, in particular his mental toughness.