Player DNA: Nishikori’s potent on-court recipe

A Grand Slam finalist and former world No.4, Kei Nishikori is widely hailed as one of the most gifted players in the game.

The Japanese star is through to face Portugal’s Joao Sousa in the third round on Saturday as he looks to carry his Brisbane title-winning form through to a long run in Melbourne.

Game Insight Group in partnership with Infosys take a closer look at the world No.9’s Player DNA to determine the key attributes that allow Nishikori to keep succeeding on the biggest stage time and time again.

MORE: the complete guide to GIG Player DNA

GIG’s Player DNA is combination of four key areas: technical, tactical, physical and mental. GIG breaks down the major findings within each metric to illustrate the strength of a player’s attributes relative to their competitors. 

Ratings are allocated up to a maximum score of 100 and refer to Grand Slam players, meaning a score of above 50 is impressive in any category.

Technical: 90

The Nishikori backhand is one of the most lethal strokes in the game, scoring 89 in the Technical DNA breakdown thanks to high across speed (78), accuracy (71) and potency (83). On his backhand, he wins four per cent more points than average player. In contrast, his serve is down at 52, driven by low speed scores. His first-serve average speed is 8km/h slower than the average player.

Tactical: 94

Only Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic stand ahead of Nishikori in GIG’s Tactical DNA. The Japanese player scores above 80 in all five measures, with Rally Craft (91) and Time Control (94) especially impressive. He wins six per cent more points when he has the time advantage than the average player in the same situations, and five per cent more rally exchanges than the average player against the same opponent.

Physical: 80

Nishikori takes the 23rd spot in overall Physical DNA, with his greatest strengths his Power (#29), his Repeat Sprint efforts (#8) and his Agility (#13). He has won eight per cent more points when performing repeated sprints and seven per cent more points when performing quick changes compared to the average Grand Slam player. Nishikori has hit accelerations as high as 10 metres per second and a top speed of 19km/h at recent Australian Opens.

Mental: 87

Kei Nishikori ranks No.17 on overall Mental DNA. He is ranked in the top 15 on Clutch and Winning Edge, showing his ability to perform well under pressure compared to the average Grand Slam player; Nishikori has won 64 per cent of the highest pressure situations he has faced on serve at recent Grand Slams.

With the Australian summer of tennis now underway, stay across Australian Open platforms for the latest updates and player profiles from the Game Insight Group.

AO2019 Physical

Although both of Nishikori’s matches have gone to five sets, they haven’t been that physically demanding compared with other five-set matches at AO 2019.

In the first round, his opponent Majchrzak retired in the fifth set. In the second round, big-serving Karlovic took Nishikori to a Super Tiebreak in their fifth set, but many of the points and games were shorter than average due to Karlovic’s serve. This is reflected in the Physical stats: