Kei Nishikori

Kei Nishikori reaches the fourth round. He's from Japan, is 18, and is ranked in the 120s. He'll surely vault higher. He's the first Japanese person in 40 years to get this far at the US Open. Why? In the past Japanese players didn't quite cut it. It's small country, not a lot of courts, and tennis is an individual sport taking up a lot of space. There's also their own game of soft tennis. What's that? It uses a softer ball, and who knows why it exists, but it's been around for a while. He's in the fourth round and we'll see if he can win his next match. He's horrible in interviews so you won't be seeing him on TV soon.


Here's a clip of Nishikori winning earlier in the year, he beats James Blake!


Watch this video about soft tennis, it's funny to watch some of these folks hit, some are good, but look funny.