1. Rinky Hijikata is an Australian professional tennis player and Grand Slam champion, winning the 2023 Australian Open in men's doubles alongside Jason Kubler.
29 Facts About Rinky Hijikata
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Rinky Hijikata achieved a career high ATP rankings in singles of world No 62 on 26 August 2024 and in doubles of No 23 on 30 October 2023.
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Rinky Hijikata began playing tennis at age three or four.
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Rinky Hijikata attended The King's School in Sydney from 2013 to 2016.
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Rinky Hijikata had a successful career at the University of North Carolina where he played college tennis for the North Carolina Tar Heels men's tennis from 2019 to 2021.
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In March 2018, Rinky Hijikata made his ITF debut at the Australia F3 in Mornington, Australia.
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Rinky Hijikata won his first match the following week at the Australia F4.
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Rinky Hijikata lost in the first round to Hiroki Moriya.
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Rinky Hijikata received wildcards into qualifying for the Australian Open in both 2020 and 2021, losing in the second round both times.
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Rinky Hijikata won his second and third ITF titles in July 2021 and claimed a total of four ITF World Tennis Tour singles titles during 2021.
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Rinky Hijikata finished 2021 with a singles ranking of 369 as of 22 November 2021.
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In January 2022, Rinky Hijikata made his ATP tour debut at the 2022 Melbourne Summer Set 1 after qualifying for the main draw.
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Rinky Hijikata lost in the first round to eventual finalist, Maxime Cressy.
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Rinky Hijikata lost to top seed and World No 1 Daniil Medvedev who recorded his 250th match win.
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Rinky Hijikata made his Grand Slam debut at the US Open as a wildcard.
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Rinky Hijikata won his maiden Challenger title in Playford, Australia and moved 33 positions up into the top 160 at world No 159 on 31 October 2022.
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Rinky Hijikata became the youngest Australian to win a Challenger title since 2018, when the-then 19-year-old Alexei Popyrin won in Jinan, China.
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Rinky Hijikata was given a wildcard into the Australian Open, where he recorded his first Grand Slam win by defeating Yannick Hanfmann in a come-from-behind victory.
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Rinky Hijikata lost in the second round to third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
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Rinky Hijikata reached the final defeating Mexican duo Hans Hach Verdugo and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela.
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Rinky Hijikata made his Masters 1000 debut in Indian Wells as a qualifier, and defeated Mikael Ymer in the first round in straight sets.
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Rinky Hijikata lost in the second round to 30th seed Sebastian Baez.
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Rinky Hijikata then defeated Marc-Andrea Husler from a set down to reach his first ATP tour level quarterfinal.
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Rinky Hijikata reached the fourth round of the 2023 US Open having received a wildcard, defeating Pavel Kotov, Marton Fucsovics and Zhang Zhizhen.
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Rinky Hijikata started the year off with a quarterfinal appearance at the 2024 Brisbane International, defeating fellow Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis and Tomas Machac before being defeated by eventual champion Grigor Dimitrov.
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At the 2024 Dallas Open, Rinky Hijikata made it to his fourth doubles final alongside William Blumberg, losing to Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson.
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Rinky Hijikata reached his third ATP quarterfinal at the 2024 Delray Beach Open a defeat over Liam Broady and an upset over sixth seed Matteo Arnaldi.
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In doubles at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, Rinky Hijikata partnered fellow Australian John Peers.
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In 2018 and 2019, Rinky Hijikata won the Newcombe Medal for Male Junior Athlete of the Year.