Rinky Hijikata had just landed in New York Thursday when the messages started lighting up his phone.

“The first one was from my manager, Kelly [Wolf], and she said something along the lines of ‘Welcome to the Big House!’” Hijikata told ATPTour.com. “There was no real context, so I really didn’t know what she was talking about. I thought maybe she was saying ‘Welcome to New York’.

“I got a few others like ‘I can’t believe your draw!’ so that’s when I went and had a look. Pretty exciting.”

When he called up the US Open draw he found his name on Line 127, one above second seed and 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal. The context was no longer lacking.

Hijikata could not have asked for a more illustrious opponent for his Grand Slam main draw debut, and the 21-year-old wild card eagerly awaits the moment when he steps on court alongside Nadal in New York on Tuesday.

“It’s not often you get to play a player of that calibre and I’m definitely pumped,” said Hijikata. “I can’t wait to go out there and give it my best shot.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to go out there on the biggest stages of tennis and try to have a big crack at players like that. I’m excited for the contest, I’m excited for the challenge. I want to go out there and represent everyone and try and give it my best shot.”

It is not the first time this season Hijikata has been thrown in at the deep end. In Los Cabos earlier this month, his reward for notching his maiden ATP Tour win was a second-round clash against World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev. The Australian was not overawed by the occasion despite falling to a 6-4, 6-3 defeat in Mexico, and he believes that experience will help him as he plots an upset against the four-time champion Nadal in New York.

“That was probably one of the biggest matches I’ve ever played,” said Hijikata. “That was a great experience for me, I think I learned a lot from that. The atmosphere and everything was a bit different than anything I’ve ever played in. Hopefully that will help me in good stead for what’s coming on Tuesday.

“I guess all the good players have a bit of an aura around them maybe and once you step out on-court, you don’t really know what to expect the first time. So, I went in a little clueless, but this time around hopefully I can settle the nerves a bit quicker.”

Born in Sydney after his parents emigrated from Japan, Hijikata grew up watching arguably the greatest generation of players the ATP Tour has ever seen. Yet while the likes of Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic were obvious inspirations for the 21-year-old, it was a legendary home favourite who had him most captivated as a youngster.

“I think ‘Rusty’ (Lleyton Hewitt) was the guy I loved watching the most,” said Hijikata. “He’s an Aussie and the way he competed on the court, I thought was pretty cool.

“Then as I got a little bit older, I think Rafa and Roger when they had their big rivalry going that was pretty special. That was hard to beat, playing each other pretty much every Slam and the quality of their tennis was out of this world. Those two of mine have been idols of mine growing up and then obviously Novak as well, a bit more recently has been on a tear.”

Hijikata has so far trodden a slightly different path to those ATP Tour greats. He played two seasons in college tennis for the University of North Carolina before turning pro in 2021, but the Australian only ever had one final destination in mind.

“I definitely went over with the intentions of playing tennis after,” said Hijikata. “That was always my goal. That was one of my main reasons I chose North Carolina, I thought it would give me the best platform to get better and grow as a player and a person and hopefully hold me in good stead for the Tour and I think that’s exactly what it did. Those two years definitely helped me a lot.”

After qualifying for his first ATP Tour appearance at the ATP 250 event in Melbourne in January, Hijikata has worked his way up to his current career-high of No. 198 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings thanks to some strong performances at ATP Challenger Tour and Futures level. His next mission is to add greater consistency to his game.

“I think it’s been a little bit of an up-and-down season,” said Hijikata. “It’s my first full year on Tour so there’s a lot of learning that I’ve got to do, I think that’s been the story of the year.

“There’s been some really good patches and then there’s been some patches where I’ve been struggling a bit, but I guess that’s kind of life on Tour, you’re not going to be able to win and play well every week so it’s kind of just dealing with the losses and dealing with the weeks where you aren’t doing so well.

“I think that’s been one of the main things I’ve learned this year; not every week is going to be pretty, if you string a few good weeks together then it ends up being a pretty good year.”

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There may be plenty of lessons left to learn, but Hijikata has no shortage of role models to learn from as he finds his way on Tour. Fellow Australian John Millman in particular has been a source of sage advice for the youngster.

“He’s always been a big one,” said Hijikata of World No. 104 Millman. “He came and chatted when we were on the Junior Davis Cup team and he just said that you’re never going to be able to play at a level if you don’t believe that you belong there.

“That’s something that I’ve taken to heart, and I guess every level that I step up, I try to back the work you’ve put in and all the hard work you’ve done in your training. Hope that puts you in good stead and have the belief that you deserve your spot here and you do deserve to be there. I think it’s easy to get swept away with guys’ rankings, their achievements. Stepping up levels, it can be tough.”

Relatively straightforward yet effective advice from Millman, and Hijikata is taking the same approach as he prepares for the biggest match of his career against Nadal. “Try not to drop anything too short and in the middle of the court,” said the Australian of his gameplan for taking on the second seed. “That’s a good start.”

When the US Open draw was released, one of the matches that stood out was a clash between Nick Kyrgios and close friend Thanasi Kokkinakis. Kyrgios made sure the blockbuster matchup did not turn into an epic battle.

The 23rd seed defeated Kokkinakis 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4) to reach the second round at Flushing Meadows. He will play Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi for a place in the third round.

Kyrgios has shown the best form of his career in recent months, reaching the Wimbledon final, winning the Washington title and defeating World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in Montreal. He maintained that form inside Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday evening following Serena Williams’ match, triumphing after two hours and one minute.

The seven-time ATP Tour titlist raced through the first two sets in just more than an hour, using his serve to dominate play. There were few long rallies in the match, with both men looking to dictate the action with their forehand.

Kokkinakis did not earn a break point, but he made things interesting by holding from 0/40 in the third set and pushing the set to a tie-break. At 4/4, Kokkinakis just missed a forehand down the line wide, which proved a fatal mistake. Kyrgios won the next two points on his serve to clinch his victory just two minutes short of midnight.

Kyrgios’ next opponent, Bonzi, outlasted fellow Frenchman Ugo Humbert 7-6(1), 6-1, 5-7, 3-6, 6-2. It was the World No. 50’s first main draw match at the US Open.

Did You Know?
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis have enjoyed success as a doubles tandem this year, becoming known as the “Special Ks”. The friends won the Australian Open title together.

As if a shock first-round exit at the US Open wasn’t painful enough, Stefanos Tsitsipas was also left ruing his lost shot at World No. 1 in the wake of his four-set defeat to Colombian qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan on Monday night.

The Greek was one of five players who had the opportunity at Flushing Meadows to hold the No. 1 Pepperstone ATP Ranking at the end of the tournament, but that dream is now gone.

“I was very motivated and pumped before the US Open started because I knew I could use this tournament to get closer to the No. 1 spot,” Tsitsipas said. “It would be very weird and very unusual if it didn’t cross my mind, because this is something I wanted since I was a kid and I know this is my chance now to step it up.

“It just didn’t go as planned. Sometimes you just need to let it go, you don’t need to overthink it, you don’t need to push yourself too hard but at the same time it’s difficult because there’s this open opportunity right in front of you, you don’t want to mess it up, you don’t want to waste it.

“My chances, I guess, are a bit smaller. The margin is not as thin as it used to be now after the US Open but I’m still going to try and add points to my ranking, as much as I can until the end of the year, I really want to perhaps finish in the Top 3… more opportunities ahead.”

Tsitsipas’ loss leaves defending champion Daniil Medvedev, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud as the four players who now have a chance to be ranked No. 1 after the Open.

Tsitsipas received treatment during the match on his upper right arm but said that Galan’s ultra-aggressive play – especially on the return – was the bigger factor in the 6-0, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 defeat, during which he lost the first 11 games of the match.

“My arm was pretty tight, nothing was coming off my strokes. I felt like my serve was very slow today, but it was close to the 120s, so I wouldn’t necessarily say that it was. But he returned great, extremely well. I’m pretty sure it has to do with the altitude where he grew up for sure helps a lot with this kind of stuff.

“It crossed my mind when I started playing him that might be due to that. He did a great job, he dominated the game completely. I just couldn’t get into the match at all, it was as if I was half-dead.”

Tsitsipas, who has never reached the second week at the US Open, is No. 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, while Galan surges 14 places to No. 80.

“He played like a world-class player and I played like close to an amateur, not very nice to say that, but that’s what happened,” the two-time Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters champion said.

“I was very well prepared, I was playing very well in practice, had some really good matches against different kinds of players. I felt like the momentum was in my favour, I just might’ve felt a little tense going into the match. US Open, I never really had a good history here but I do like the tournament a lot. Just need to work on the negative thoughts a bit more and not let them affect me and not get in my head, because I’m better than that, I’m a much better player and athlete, but definitely not today.”

Marin Cilic arrives at the US Open holding fond memories, having soared to his maiden Grand Slam title in New York in 2014.

The Croatian, who defeated Roger Federer en route to the trophy eight years ago, will be aiming to build on recent third-round results in Montreal and Cincinnati as he aims to replicate his dream 2014 run this year at the hard-court major.

Ahead of his opening match against Maximilian Marterer, ATPTour.com caught up with Cilic’s coach Ivan Cinkus to learn more about their relationship, the 33-year-old’s season, his upcoming aims and much more.

Marin is having another great season, how happy have you been with his performances?
Marin is doing great. Reached the fourth round in Australia and semi-finals in his first two tournaments. He is improving his game. He played really well on the clay. Ok, he lost to Sascha Zverev in Madrid, but he played well and it built up his confidence and it helped him at Roland Garros. He played really well in Paris and reached the semis. It is really good.

Roland Garros he was on top form. Everything we had done before meant he was rising in form and then in Paris, he put everything together. We as a team and myself as a coach are happy about it, with his improvement and mentality.

Marin has won titles consistently each year since 2008, How has Marin been able to stay at the top so consistently for so long?
He is always focused. Whether it is practise or matches. He is a really great worker on the court. A hard worker. He wants to improve his game. Marin is always wanting to improve his game. The top players have been doing this. You need to be focused all the time and that is the difference between players who have played on the Tour for 15 years and those who are in their first year or two.

_{^{Ivan Cinkus [above]. Photo Credit: Sam Jacot/ATP Tour}}
What is the biggest thing you have learned since you first started working with Marin seven years ago?
The thing I have learned is you need to be prepared. For example, in Australia in the 2018 Australian Open final, we were only told 20 minutes before the final that the roof was going to be closed. We asked every hour waiting to be told. Then we went to warm up on an indoor court. This is what you need to learn, to be prepared.

I also like seeing what other coaches and players are doing to be prepared to better myself. If you are a coach, you work with different players. So you need to adapt. For Marin one style works, for another it is something else, so you need to find a way to help them. That is the difference between the good coaches and the best.

How has your journey been so far and what is your relationship like off-court?
We were together for four and a half years and then we split for two years so he could have something fresh. Then in December 2021, we joined again, doing preseason together. We like to walk and visit sites. If we are in big cities, we like to go to the theatre and shows. We like to drink coffee and watch TV shows. We like to relax. Every time we go to a city, we want to see something new.

How would you describe Marin as a person?
Marin is a great person. A really warm person. He wants to help. Now he has two kids and he is enjoying time with them. He is more relaxed now with the kids. It has improved his life, his family and his kids. He really wants to talk and explain what he is doing. It is a good quality of his.

In 2019/2020 he a slight dip in level, not winning a title. Did he ever think about stopping?
No. With Covid, the atmosphere was a little bit down, but he never thought about stopping. He was ok and has proved it last season and this year so far.

What are your aims for the rest of the grass-court season and then the year overall?
We want to improve his net play, coming to the net. Improving his power on his groundstrokes and coming into the net. Also, to keep going on the serve. Reaching the Top 15 [in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings] is an aim. He is already close. We said at the beginning of the season it was Top 15. He was Top 30 last two seasons. You can’t say Top 10 as everyone wants to be Top 10. But I said Top 15 would be perfect and anything else would be amazing.