Rinky Hijikata (土方 凛輝; born 23 February 2001) is an Australian professional tennis player. His most notable results are in doubles, where he has been ranked world No. 23 in October 2023 by the ATP. He also has a best singles ranking of No. 62, reached on 26 August 2024. He won the major doubles title at the 2023 Australian Open, with countryman Jason Kubler.
Hijikata was born in Sydney, Australia to Japanese immigrant parents.[3] He began playing tennis at age three or four. He attended The King's School in Sydney from 2013 to 2016.[4][5] His father is a tennis coach. His favourite player growing up was Lleyton Hewitt and later, Kei Nishikori.[6]
College career
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.[7]
Professional career
2018–2021: Pro beginnings
Hijikata in 2018
In March 2018, Hijikata made his ITF debut at the Australia F3 in Mornington, Australia. He won his first match the following week at the Australia F4.
In January 2019, Hijikata was given a wildcard into the 2019 Australian Open – Men's singles qualifying. He lost in the first round to Hiroki Moriya. In March, Hijikata reached the quarter-final and semi-finals in the ITF events in Mornington, Australia. Later that year, in September, Hijikata won his first professional singles title at the M15 Fayetteville, in Arkansas, United States.[9]
Hijikata received wildcards into qualifying for the Australian Open in both 2020 and 2021, losing in the second round both times.
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. He finished 2021 with a singles ranking of 369 as of 22 November 2021.
2022: ATP & Major debut, Maiden win & Challenger title, top 200
In January 2022, Hijikata made his ATP tour debut at the 2022 Melbourne Summer Set 1 after qualifying for the main draw. It was also Hijikata's first top 100 win, defeating world number 98 Henri Laaksonen in the final qualifying round.[10] He lost in the first round to eventual finalist, Maxime Cressy. He also played doubles with Christopher O'Connell.
In April, Hijikata broke into the ATP top 300 after winning consecutive ITF tournaments in California in March 2022.[13]
In August, he qualified for the 2022 Los Cabos Open and reached the round of 16 recording his first ATP win after the retirement of the Mexican wildcard debutant Rodrigo Pacheco Méndez. He lost to top seed and World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev who recorded his 250th match win.[14] As a result he moved one position shy of the top 200 on 8 August 2022. He made his Grand Slam debut at the US Open as a wildcard.
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. He became the youngest Australian to win a Challenger title since 2018, when the-then 19-year-old Alexei Popyrin won in Jinan, China.[15]
2023: Major singles win & doubles title, Masters & top 75 debuts, top 25 in doubles
He made his Masters 1000 debut in Indian Wells as a qualifier, and defeated Mikael Ymer in the first round in straight sets. He lost in the second round to 30th seed Sebastián Báez.[26]
On his debut at the 2024 National Bank Open in Montreal he qualified for the main draw and recorded his first win at the tournament and only his second at a Masters level over qualifier Taro Daniel. As a result he reached the top 65 in the rankings on 12 August 2024[46] and No. 62 two weeks later, after advancing to his fourth ATP quarterfinal of the season at the 2024 Winston-Salem Open.[47]
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
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Australia 
