Japan's Kei Nishikori has expressed his happiness at having a number of his compatriots with him at the US Open this year.
The 22-year-old has been joined in New York by Tatsuma Ito, Hiroki Moriya and Go Soeda - taking the tally of Japanese men competing at the tournament to four, which is a record in the Open era.
Nishikori is hoping that the quartet can inspire Japanese children to take up the sport.
"It's good to see all the Japanese players on tour, especially [at the] Grand Slams," said Nishikori. "Ito and Soeda are doing well, getting to top 100 and almost getting to [the] top 50.
"Hopefully one day tennis can be big. Soccer and baseball [are] still [the] two biggest sports. I hope I can be one of the [inspirations] to children wanting to start."
Nishikori was speaking after he had knocked Guido Andreozzi out of the competition yesterday evening.
