NEW YORK (AP) — Rei Sakamoto played his way into the U.S. Open — but only by taking the spot that Kei Nishikori, Japan's greatest men's tennis star, hoped to earn for one last Grand Slam appearance.
In a changing of the guard match, Sakamoto beat Nishikori 6-4, 7-6 (3) on Friday in the final round of qualifying to earn a place in the main draw.
“Not happy to lose today, but I’m happy for Rei,” Nishikori said. “He’s the next Japanese top player.”
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20-year-old Sakamoto, like many other players from Japan, considers Nishikori his hero. He was 8 years old and remembers when Nishikori reached the 2014 U.S. Open final, becoming the first Asian man to get that far in a Grand Slam tournament.
“I honestly grew up watching him play and he was my idol for my whole life,” Sakamoto said, “and it’s also a pity to see his last season.”
Sakamoto is typical of many tennis players and doesn't like to look at his draw ahead of time to see who he might play. This time, though, he couldn't help but find out.
“Like, after the second that draw came out, my mom texted me, ‘Hey, I hope you can make it to the final and play Kei,’” Sakamoto said. “So this time I got spoiled by my mom.”
Nishikori, 36, has battled injuries in recent years and has said this will be his final season. No longer ranked high enough for a guaranteed spot in the main draw, he was given a wild card by the U.S. Tennis Association into the qualifying tournament.
He won two matches, but needed one more to lock up his spot. With fans chanting his name late in the second set, Nishikori was outplayed by Sakamoto, who pounded 19 aces, the last to end it after Nishikori had saved two match points.
Afterward, Nishikori was presented with a framed portrait of himself in action by U.S. Open officials. Sakamoto helped hold it up for a picture together.
It was a big moment for Sakamoto, but also a bittersweet one.
“I think a lot of people, like most of the people still follow tennis because of him,” Sakamoto said. “So he’s a superstar and he did a lot to Japanese tennis I think.”
The final round of qualifying was pushed back to Friday because of rain a day earlier. Zheng Qinwen, the 2024 Olympic women's gold medalist in singles, pulled out a three-set victory to reach the main draw, while Bianca Andreescu, who beat Serena Williams in the 2019 U.S. Open final but has struggled to stay healthy since, blew a lead and lost in three sets.
Grigor Dimitrov, who reached the 2019 U.S. Open semifinals after beating Roger Federer in what turned out to be Federer's final match in Flushing Meadows, advanced Thursday when his opponent withdrew.
None of those matches had quite the same stakes as Nishikori's. Once ranked No. 4 in the world, he returned to the U.S. Open semifinals in 2016 and ′18 but had various injuries that kept him off the court for long stretches and determined he will stop playing after this year’s Japan Open.
“I think his career would have been one of the best, maybe on a similar level to maybe a (Andy) Murray or Stan Wawrinka if he didn’t have so many injuries, because he was injured a lot, especially in his prime,” No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev said. “Once he got up to No. 4 in the world, No. 5 in the world, every single time he got injured. So I’d say in that aspect he was a little bit unlucky, but from a tennis point of view, he was amazing.”
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