Rinky Hijikata

Rinky Hijikata is no stranger to Paris, having played there in 2013 at the Future Tennis Aces tournament. Now 11 years later the 23-year-old is set to make his Olympic debut in the same city.

Rinky's start on the International Tennis Federation circuit came when he was a 17-year-old in March 2018.

Swiftly he showed he was up to the standard, rising to the top 15 of the ITF world junior rankings eight months later and clinched a silver medal at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in boys' doubles.

2019 marked Rinky winning his first professional singles title at the M15 Fayetteville tournament, a testament to his relentless work ethic and dedication. After the pandemic came his first ATP Challenger tour trophy, at Playford in Adelaide during October 2022. He first beat a top 100 ATP ranked player in 2022 and the Sydney-sider finished the year ranked 159 in the world.

The 2023 Australian Open will be unforgettable for Rinky for multiple reasons, winning his first Grand Slam singles match and becoming a Grand Slam champion in the men's doubles.

Rinky delivered for a raucous home crowd when he held off Yannick Hanfmann (GER) in a thrilling five sets. Then he embarked on a run at the men's doubles title with Jason Kubler, where they defeated Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski 6-4, 7-6(4) on Rod Laver Arena to capture their first Grand Slam title.

What made the run more impressive was the fact they were a wildcard pairing that hadn't played a tournament together before.

Throughout 2023 Rinky continued his upward trajectory in singles, making the fourth round at the US Open and finishing the season ranked inside the top 70 in both singles and doubles (70th in singles and 23rd in doubles respectively).

Entering the Olympic year, Rinky started with a quater-finals appearance at the Brisbane International, defeating fellow Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis and Tomas Machac (CZE) on his way there before being defeated by eventual champion Grigor Dimitrov (BUL). Rinky also made his third career ATP singles quarter-final appearance at the Delray Beach Open in the USA.