Over the first 10 days of 2017, we're examining the Top 10 players on the ATP and WTA tours—how will they fare during the new season? All of the previews can be found here.
Twelve months ago, we wondered in this same space whether 2016 was a make-or-break season for Kei Nishikori. It turned out to be neither; instead, the 26-year-old native of Japan and resident of Bradenton, Fla., held his ground and made some hard-earned, if unspectacular, progress.
In the past, Nishikori struggled to replicate his success at mid-level tournaments on the game’s bigger stages. From that perspective, 2016 was a modest triumph. While he won just one tournament (down from three titles in 2015 and four in 2014), Nishikori was better at the Slams and Masters events. He reached at least the fourth round at all four majors for the first time, made the finals in Miami and Toronto and the semis in Madrid, Rome and London, and won a bronze medal at the Olympics. Who knows what he might have accomplished if it hadn’t been for Novak Djokovic? Nishikori was 0-6 against the Serb.