PLAYER PROFILE

Rinky Hijikata

8
AUSTRALIAN
RANKING
71
ATP
RANKING
  • Age22
  • Born23 February 2001
  • Birth PlaceSydney, New South Wales
  • LivesWilloughby, New South Wales
  • PlaysRight-handed
  • CoachJarrad Bunt
“Personally I think I'm a completely different player to a year ago.”

— Rinky Hijikata, 11 Jan 2021

» Perez, Hijikata, Kubler a step closer to AO main draw

On court

  • Selected to represent Australia at the Longines Future Tennis Aces tournament in Paris, 2013
  • Represented Australia at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, where he won a silver medal in doubles with Adrian Andreev
  • Competed at all four junior Grand Slam events in 2018, making the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and the doubles semifinals at Wimbledon
  • Cracked the ITF world junior top 15 in November 2018
  • Named Junior Male Athlete of the Year at the 2018 Newcombe Medal, Australian Tennis Awards
  • Favourite surface is Plexicushion
  • Trains at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre in Homebush, NSW
  • Hero is Japan’s Kei Nishikori
  • Goal is to hopefully win a Grand Slam title and represent Australia in Davis Cup
  • Named as orange boy for the 2021 Davis Cup Finals
  • Won first ATP Challenger title at Playford in October 2022
  • Won the Australian Open 2023 men’s doubles title with Jason Kubler as wildcards. Hijikata was ranked No.277 at the time and contesting only his third tour-level doubles tournament
  • Made the fourth round in singles at US Open 2023 as a wildcard
  • Broke into the world’s top 100 in singles for the first time in September 2023.

 Off court

  • Enjoys tennis because “you can travel the world and meet new friends”
  • Five words that sum up Hijikata: cheeky, smart, funny, tough and focused
  • Favourite city is New York because “there are heaps of fun things to do and fun places to visit”
  • Favourite food is fish and Japanese
  • If not a tennis player he would be a baseball player or a doctor

Year-end ranking history

2023 71
2022 166
2021 369
2020 677
2019 746
2018 1745

Titles/Finals

Titles

2019 Fayetteville ITF

Rinky Hijikata in the news

Nine Aussies receive direct acceptance into Australian Open 2024
Alex de Minaur and Ajla Tomljanovic.
7 December, 2023

Fan favourites Alex de Minaur and Ajla Tomljanovic will lead the Aussie charge at Australian Open 2024.
Read more
Rinky Hijikata earns first Newcombe Medal nomination
Rinky-Hijikata-Newks
5 December, 2023

After his stunning rise in season 2023, Rinky Hijikata is a first-time nominee for the coveted Newcome Medal.
Read more
Australian men achieve 25-year first in year-end singles rankings
Alex de Minaur. Picture: Getty Images
4 December, 2023

Alex de Minaur is among eight Australian men to finish the 2023 season inside the top 100 in singles, the most to achieve this feat since 1998.
Read more
De Minaur, Ebden, Hijikata, Hunter, Popyrin, Purcell nominated for 2023 Newcombe Medal
(L-R) Max Purcell, Storm Hunter, Alex de Minaur, Matt Ebden, Rinky Hijikata and Alexei Popyrin have been nominated for the Newcombe Medal in 2023. (Getty Images)
1 December, 2023

Alex de Minaur, Matt Ebden, Rinky Hijikata, Storm Hunter, Alexei Popyrin and Matt Purcell will all vie for the 2023 Newcombe Medal at the 13th edition of the Australian…
Read more
read more articles