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By Giri Nathan
[vc_empty_space height="15px"]Barring something depressing or something miraculous, the most successful active Japanese tennis player won’t ever again be Kei Nishikori. That honor goes to the player with four Slams in as many seasons. And maybe Kei’s okay with this new arrangement, because solo tennis fame sounded like agony. “I have to wear sunglasses, a hat, a mask, everything,” he told The Telegraph in 2016. His practice sessions at the Tokyo Open had to be kept secret because the crowds would swell into safety hazards. His agent said in 2019 that fans sleep outside his hotels. There is no such thing as a casual walk around the block. Life is simpler for him in Florida, where he trains in anonymity, than back at home. And now it has to be a little easier to have an ally in Naomi Osaka, who may choose to walk on the far side of the sidewalk and help split the mobs into two slightly less hellbent mobs. In truth, that kind of mass-psychosis-inducing fame probably lasts well after Nishikori falls out of the top 10, top 20, top 50, and off the tour.