Kei Nishikori has not beaten Novak Djokovic for seven years.
The pair have met 18 times, with Djokovic winning 16 of those matches including the past 15 in a row.
The Serbian is flying in 2021, ranked world No.1 and taking a 21-match winning streak into his quarterfinal match against Nishikori.
With this year’s Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles already in his grasp, Djokovic is just three wins away from adding Olympic singles gold to his collection as he continues on his seemingly relentless path to the calendar-year Golden Grand Slam.
Perhaps it is a significant understatement to say the odds are not in Nishikori's favour.
But there is a difference to this particular meeting – it will be the first time they have played in Nishikori's home country, and it’s also the first time it comes in the representative setting of Olympic or Davis Cup play.
This may bode well for the 31-year-old Japanese superstar, who finds himself playing inspired tennis in the Olympic arena in Tokyo.
“I really enjoy being on the court, because I'm playing good and this is something I was dreaming of from when I was little,” said Nishikori, who won singles bronze for Japan at Rio 2016.
“This is a great, great week I'm having. I'm really enjoying this week."
On Thursday morning Japan led the medal tally, and Nishikori is channelling this success as a source of motivation as he attempts to contribute further to that medal collection.
"I've been watching every day, I watched softball yesterday, ping pong and swimming too -- they were doing really good. That's for sure inspiring me,” he said.
"That's the good thing about playing an Olympics here, you can see many athletes playing well, and even if it's different sports you get many different emotions."
Happy! ??????@Olympics @Tokyo2020 https://t.co/Wv9PNgfSoY pic.twitter.com/jtTMbz7OhG
— Kei Nishikori (@keinishikori) July 27, 2021
Despite being ranked No.69, Nishikori has enjoyed a resurgence in recent months, winning 16 of his past 24 matches and upsetting fifth seed Andrey Rublev in the first round in Tokyo.
While he has not managed to defeat Djokovic since the 2014 US Open semifinals, he has stretched the Serb in more recent encounters, falling in a third-set tiebreak in Rome in 2016 and also forcing Djokovic to three sets at the same event two years later.
"I'm looking forward to playing tomorrow. I know it's going to a tough one. He's the number one player," Nishikori said.
"He's the toughest guy in the draw so I have to play my best."
Indeed, Djokovic has been playing brilliantly in Tokyo, cruising through his first three matches without dropping a set and surrendering a collective total of just 15 games in reaching the quarterfinals.
He has not lost a match in more than two months and improved his 2021 record to 37-3 with a commanding 6-3 6-1 over No.16 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Wednesday.
He is also a superstar presence in the athlete’s village, with several Olympians posting selfies to their social media accounts showing them posing with the legendary Serb.
Despite his overwhelming favouritism, his high profile at the Games and the history attached to every stage of his campaign, Djokovic is not getting over-awed.
Working on my splits with @teambelgium gymnastics ;) ?????? @ninaderwael @mae_gym #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/xOOIBYldph
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) July 24, 2021
"Pressure is a privilege. Without pressure there is no professional sport,” Djokovic said.
“If you are aiming to be at the top of the game you better start learning how to deal with pressure and how to cope with those moments—on the court but also off the court.
“All that buzz and all that noise is the thing that, I can't say I don't see it or I don't hear it, of course it's there, but I've learned, I've developed the mechanism how to deal with it.
"I feel I have enough experience to know myself how to step on the court and play my best tennis."
He will attempt to continue doing just that when he battles Nishikori in the second match of Thursday’s schedule at Ariake Tennis Park’s Centre Court.