Nishikori close to walking with the giants

He has a looooong way to go and needs to beat a few really good players below the top four just to even sniff at a championship. Beating Milos Raonic is hardly something to fawn over. Hype him after he's made a real and sustained impact.

You may forget has has beaten Novak previously. He is still young, he has time.

@Mocheake. In addition to beating Djokovic (#2 at the time), he had wins over No. 6 Tsonga (Aust. Open), No. 5 Ferrer (Olympics) and No. 6 Berdych (Tokyo) in 2012 so I would say that would qualify as a few "really good players". He also defeated a number of other players in the top 20 like Raonic and Dolgopolov. He is close and if he can make the QFs of a couple Slams this year as well as defend his points, he should be able to crack the top 10.

Ganbarre Kei-san !

I like the man, but he'd want to get a wriggle on. At 23 years old, winners of Majors in the modern era had already snared a title or more - with the exception of Murray. If Mr.Nishikori does not steal a Major this year, history suggests he will be at long-odds to grab one in his career. Hope he proves the exception though, it would put Japanese tennis in the spotlight.