is a former professional tennis player from Japan.
Biography Kuki, a right-hander, played collegiate tennis in the United States for UCLA. He had an unbeaten season in 1969, with a 13–0 record.
He was first picked for the Japan Davis Cup team in the 1971 tournament.
His best performance in a Grand Slam tournament came at the 1971 French Open when he had wins over Phil Dent and Petre Mărmureanu, before losing a five-set third round match to Bob Lutz.
At the 1972 US Open, in doubles, he and American Steve Turner were defeated in the first round by the Australian team of Number 5 seeds Roy Emerson and Rod Laver (former world # 1 in singles; Emerson and Laver won a combined 44 Grand Slam titles between them).
In April 1976 he had the most prolific period of his career when he finished runner-up in a further two Grand Prix tournaments, both in Spain. He lost to Paolo Bertolucci in the final at Barcelona, then to Buster Mottram in Palma, Majorca.
A regular Davis Cup competitor for Japan in the 1970s, Kuki played the last of his nine ties for the Japanese team in 1978. He played a total of 17 singles matches, of which he won 11.
In the 1980s he was coach of Etsuko Inoue, a player on the women's circuit.
Grand Prix career finals Singles: 2 (0–2) ResultW-LDateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss0–1Apr 1976Barcelona, SpainClay Paolo Bertolucci1–6, 6–3, 1–6, 6–7Loss0–2Apr 1976Palma, Majorca, SpainClay Buster Mottram5–7, 3–6, 3–6
See also List of Japan Davis Cup team representatives
References
External links