PARIS (AP) — Former U.S. Open finalist Kei Nishikori will conclude his career at home when he plays in the Japan Open later this year.
The 36-year-old Nishikori has been given a wild card invitation by tournament organizers, the ATP Tour confirmed Tuesday.
The tournament in Tokyo will be held from Sept. 30 to Oct. 6.
By reaching No. 4, Nishikori was the highest-ranked Japanese man in the history of the ATP rankings.
Nishikori, having made his professional debut in 2007, also became the first Japanese man to advance to the final of a Grand Slam singles tournament at the 2014 U.S. Open. He lost the title match in straight sets to Croatia’s Marin Cilic.
Nishikori also won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics by beating Rafael Nadal.
Michael Chang, the 1989 French Open winner who used to coach Nishikori, pointed out that his accomplishments should be magnified since he played in the era of the Big Three and Big Four alongside Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
“For him to to get to No. 4 in the world on two different occasions is not easy,” Chang told The Associated Press at the French Open. “I tell him he’s got nothing but to feel great about what he’s accomplished in tennis.
“He’s approaching a different stage in his life and maybe he doesn’t agree with me but I think he’s going to have more important and more exciting things with his young family," Chang added. "He’s had a great career and hopefully he finishes out well and Tokyo gives him a good send-off because I think he deserves it.”
After struggling with injuries, Nishikori has played exclusively on the lower-tier Challenger tour this year. He’s now No. 703.
“Being Japanese, being able to look up to him, seeing everything he’s achieved, in a world where Japanese tennis hasn’t been able to go as far as he did in that moment in time, it was just so inspiring,” four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, a former No. 1, said in Paris. "I wanted to stand next to him as the female representative.
“So I’m really glad that I was able to do that,” Osaka added. “I’m grateful for everything that he’s done and I want to see him play tennis one more time.”
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
FILE - Kei Nishikori, of Japan, returns a ball to Learner Tien, of the United States, during a round of 32 match at the Geneva Open tennis tournament in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, May 19, 2025. (Cyril Zingaro/Keystone via AP, File)
FILE - Kei Nishikori, of Japan, reacts after winning a game against Learner Tien, of the United States, during a round of 32 match at the Geneva Open tennis tournament in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, May 19, 2025. (Cyril Zingaro/Keystone via AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration proposed 25% tariffs on imports from Brazil, charging that the world’s 10th-biggest economy engages in trade practices that are “unreasonable’’ and that “burden or restrict U.S. commerce.’’
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he received the decision “with indignation.” He also blamed the decision by the U.S. administration on his rival in October's elections, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, who visited Washington last week. The senator is the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, once nicknamed “the Trump of the Tropics” by his allies.
The announcement late Monday came after an investigation by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, charging Brazil with lax anti-corruption enforcement and unfair tariffs of its own, among other things.
The U.S. has had a goods trade surplus with Brazil for years.
U.S Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that he and President Donald Trump had “constructive’’ meetings with Lula and other Brazilian officials. But he said that “we continue to have substantial differences in resolving the issues identified in this investigation.’’
Lula on Tuesday cited other reasons for the punishing tariff proposal. For the first time he named an American official as a hurdle to his relations with Trump and once again he threatened to retaliate.
“I spoke to President Trump for three hours, and that Marco Rubio guy, the head of the State Department, he is anti-Latin American,” Lula said. “He is a deadly enemy of Cuba, a deadly enemy of many Latin American countries. I already told Trump that he does not like Brazil.”
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond a request for comment from The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Brazil’s government said in a statement that its dialogue with American counterparts, which includes “personal involvement of Presidents Lula and Trump,” is being ”sabotaged by merely electoral and family matters” of the Bolsonaros.
It added that it hopes “the recommendations do not become effective tariffs.”
“But we stress we will adopt every measure that is capable of reducing the damage that might be caused to the national economy, to the jobs and the income of Brazilians,” the country's government said.
Last year, Trump had slapped Brazil with a 50% tariff, mainly to protest its prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro for trying to overturn his electoral defeat in 2022. His relationship with Lula seemed to have improved early May, when the Brazilian visited the White House.
But last week, the Trump administration designated two Brazilian gangs as terrorist organizations, after Sen. Bolsonaro's visit. Lula opposes the designation, which analysts say could bolster his political rival.
Greer’s office has scheduled a public hearing July 6 on the proposed tariffs.
Trade lawyer Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding, noted said that the administration’s plan excludes more than half of U.S. imports from Brazil, including aircraft and key minerals.
The Trump administration invoked Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to launch the investigation into Brazil’s trade practices.
Sen. Bolsonaro travelled to meet officials in Washington last week in the wake of a scandal at home in which he admitted receiving funds from a disgraced banker. Another son, former lawmaker Eduardo Bolsonaro was also present.
“These sons of Bolsonaro can be worse than him. They are actually sell outs of our country, they went there to ask a foreign nation to meddle in Brazilian affairs,” Lula said in a speech to residents of the city of Catalao, south of capital Brasilia. “They are traitors.”
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in February that Trump overstepped his authority by using a different law – the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 – to impose sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners, including Brazil.
However, Section 301 tariffs have survived legal challenges, and the administration is likely to use that authority to impose other tariffs and to recoup some of the tax revenue lost when the Supreme Court rejected the IEEPA tariffs.
Brazil’s president said that during a visit to Washington early May, he handed Trump documents showing that the U.S. has a trade surplus with Brazil.
Documents published by the U.S. Trade Representative show that last year, U.S. exports to Brazil rose nearly 11% to $54.4 billion. Brazilian exports to the U.S. fell 5.7% to $39.9 billion, meaning the U.S. had a trade surplus of more than $14 billion.
The trade imbalance for services is more lopsided in favor of the U.S., with services exports in 2024 reaching $29.6 billion, quadruple the Brazilian services exports to the U.S.
“I am not going to cry about it,” Lula said. “If they (the U.S.) don’t want to buy from us, we will sell to someone else.”
China has been Brazil’s biggest trading partner for about a decade.
Mauricio Savarese reported from Sao Paulo.
FILE - Goods imported from Brazil are displayed at Amazonia Brasil, a Brazilian goods store, in Newark, N.J., Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
FILE - A farm employee processes coffee berries at Boa Esperanca farm in Braganca Paulista, Brazil, Aug. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)
