In uncharted territory (錦織圭相關) - 網球 Tennis

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為US Open官網內新聞 這是在先前錦織圭近四強時出來的新聞
(不完整少部分翻)

By Sandra Harwitt
Saturday, September 6, 2014
In 2004, Kei Nishikori arrived on the doorstep of the Nick Bollettieri
Academy as a quiet 14-year-old from Japan with no English language skills in
his repetoire.

14歲他來到美國時是不會講英文的

From day one of his arrival in Florida it was clear that Kei was personally
shy. But his game immediately came across loud and clear. This was a kid with
talent, which is why Sony heir Masaki Morita sponsored Nishikori’s move to
the U.S. to further his game.

好像是到美國是有日本大企業SONY的贊助

At the academy he was quickly dubbed with the nickname “Project 45” by
everybody. The moniker was a reference to the prime objective: guiding
Nishikori to become the highest-ranked Japanese male player of all time,
beating out the career-high No. 46 ranking that Shuzo Matsuoka had attained
during his time on tour.

On two occasions in 2011, Nishikori equaled that Matsuoka mark of No. 46, but
it would take more than nine months that season to finally surpass Matsuoka’
s record — on Oct. 17, 2011, Nishikori entered the week’s ranking at No.
30. He had achieved the goal set to task seven years prior.

敘述成為日本男網史上排名最高球員過程

As fans already are aware, that was just a launching pad for Nishikori to
becoming a true star in the game. Although he hasn’t lived full time in
Japan for years, he is a recognizable face hawking many products in his home
country. His popularity is definitely starting to grow worldwide.

Nishikori briefly joined theTop 10 — at No. 9 followed by No. 10 — earlier
this year. And now, after becoming the first Japanese man since Jiro Satoh at
Wimbledon in 1933 to reach a semifinal at a major, and the first since Ichiya
Kumagae in 1918 to do so at the U.S. major, he is a lock to return —
perhaps ranked higher than ever.

It is the way in which he journeyed to the semifinal that is so impressive.
He played two consecutive five-set marathon matches against Top 10 players,
No. 5 seed Milos Raonic and No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, respectively. Both matches
took more than four hours.

On Wednesday, in an afternoon match that spanned 4 hours, 15 minutes to end
in the early evening, Nishikori pulled off a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 win over
Wawrinka, the reigning Australian Open champion.

Late on Monday night — or more accurately early on Tuesday morning —
Nishikori scored a dramatic 4-6, 7-6, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4 win that took 4 hours,
19 minutes to defeat Raonic, the 2014 Emirates Airline US Open Series. The
five-set match with Raonic will go down in history alongside a couple of
others that took place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
into the wee hours of the night. It tied the current record by ending at 2:26
a.m. Just in case fans are wondering, he didn’t get into bed until 6 a.m.

“I had a little bit of jet lag today,” said Nishikori, smiling on Wednesday
night.

Clearly, the lack of sleep didn’t prevent Nishikori from effectively
preparing for the match against Wawrinka.

“I was a little bit tired yesterday, but today was almost, not 100 percent,
but close to,” Nishikori said. “It’s great for my confidence, play two
five-sets straight and a lot of 7-6 (sets).”

One person who is bolstering Nishikori at this US Open, and throughout this
season, is his coach, Michael Chang. After the two five-set wins, Chang had a
simple message for his prized student: “He told me congrats in winning this
battle,” Nishikori said. “Two in a row. But he also say, it’s not done.
Stay focus and try to recover these two days and, hopefully, I have another
good one the next one.”

At the end of last year, Nishikori brought Chang, the 1989 French Open
champion, onto his team. Chang, who reached the US Open final in 1996, is a
smart choice for Nishikori, who like Chang is a smaller-in-stature player
compared to his peers, blessed with great speed and an aggressive defensive
style of play.

“We’ve made some adjustments on a little bit of everything,” Chang said. “
He’s a very hard worker and very focused on his tennis. It’s been good, it’
s going well. He has all the tools and all the talent.”

For Nishikori, the back-to-back five-set wins were more than just thrilling
matches that kept fans riveted to their seats. They also represented a vast
improvement in an area that irepresents his prime weakness: stamina and
health.

Just this season, he’s sat out chunks of time with a left groin injury, a
lower back problem and, most recently, with a right toe injury. Not playing
at either Toronto or Cincinnati as a lead-in to the Open means he arrived
here with no match play.

“This year, when he’s been healthy, he’s had some really, really great
results,” Chang said. “I think the next goal is to continue this path, but
at the same time to get him healthy.

“I think if he’s able to play healthy through the course of a year, he’s
almost Top 10 now with as little as he’s playing,” Chang added. “It’s
going to take time. The physical part, it’s part of working on his
conditiong. These things don’t happen overnight. But he’s improved and last
night’s match is evidence of that.”

Chang expects big things for the future: “He’s only going to keep getting
better,” he said, almost warning the rest of the field. Whether that
includes a semifinal upset against top seed and five-time finalist Novak
Djokovic is a wait-and-see situation that will be answered on Saturday.

先到這邊 我覺得是好文 板友如願意翻譯在此感謝
有空再補好了

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