Nishikori Kei is on comeback trail with eyes on U.S. Open
Set to return to the ATP Tour in Atlanta for the first time since 2021, Japan's former world No. 4 is trying to put his game back together in time for the U.S. Open. How far can he go?
Tennis
According to tennis’ latest world rankings, Nishikori Kei is No. 438. Quite the fall from someone who used to be a regular in the top 10.
But at least the Japanese star is now ranked - and he doesn’t plan to be in the triple digits for much longer.
“I surprised myself with the result,” Nishikori told reporters on 18 June, when he, unranked, won the Palmas Del Mar Challenger in Puerto Rico - his first tournament in 20 months.
“I want to ramp up from here and aim for the big tournaments like the U.S. Open. I want to climb back in the top 100 so I need to keep leveling up.”
The former world No. 4 was last seen on a competitive tennis court in October 2021 at the BNP Paribas Open beofre he had to take an extended break.
Dealing with continued pain in his left groin, Nishikori had arthroscopic hip surgery the following January.
Then came the ankle injuries that led to him missing the entire season. He lost all his ranking points in October, officially falling off the grid.
Nishikori, now 33, even considered retirement at one point. But inspired the greats like Roger Federer and Andy Murray who have played into their late 30s, he decided to keep going.
The perseverance and hard work paid off. The final in Puerto Rico was against 19-year-old American Michael Zheng, who was ranked 1,118th.
Nishikori went on to win 6-2, 7-5 - a result the Rio 2016 bronze medallist himself was not expecting. He dropped just one set en route to the title, his first since the 2019 Brisbane International.
“This was beyond my imagination. I thought I played extremely well, which made my day more than anything,” Nishikori said.
“I remembered what my game was all about and stayed aggressive from 5-5 to close out the match. I had a scare but I’m glad I won in the end.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better result. I want to take a quick break and build on this victory. I’ll be competing in Challenger events for a little longer but I want to get back on the (ATP) Tour as soon as possible.”
Nishikori lined himself up with stops in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and Chicago on the Challenger circuit, and will now make his Tour return at the Atlanta Open as a wild card, followed by the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington.
His immediate goal, it appears, is to pull of a reappearing act at the 28 August-10 September U.S. Open - the only Grand Slam tournament in which Nishikori has reached the final, back in 2014 (he lost to Marin Cilic in straight sets).
“This is huge to me. I thought it’d take weeks, several tournaments to even win one match”, Nishikori said following the Palmas Del Mar final.
“I couldn’t believe I played as well as I played today. I didn’t feel too shabby from the first round here but today I felt incredible.
“The way I played today, I felt like I could compete on the Tour again. Yeah, I could’ve done better here and there, and I labored at the end but as far as comebacks go, I don’t think I could have asked for more.”