Kei Nishikori has admitted that he nearly retired from Tennis ahead of his comeback to the ATP tour.
Nishikori is back on the ATP tour after two and a half years away with his last tournament being back in 2021 at Indian Wells.
The Japanese star came back to Tennis a few weeks ago in Puerto Rico where he won a Challenger event and is now back on the ATP tour.
The former US Open is now ranked at 439 after a nightmare couple of years worth of injuries and admitted he nearly retired during his time away from the game, “After eight or nine months of rehab after the hip surgery I was almost ready to come back when I sprained my ankle,” Nishikori told the ATP website in an exclusive interview.
“It turned out to be complicated and much worse than what I first saw. That set me back another four or five months. Once or twice I almost thought [about retiring]. It was mentally shocking to be so close and then to have a second injury. I wasn’t sure if I could come back from that. So that was the toughest time.”
However the tough mental setbacks haven’t stopped Nishikori from playing his best tennis as he not only won a Challenger title but also returned to the ATP tour in Atlanta with victory against Jordan Thompson.
After his two set tiebreak win over the Australian, Nishikori admitted that the plan was to take one match at a time, “I was just expecting to play one match, maybe two, but with each match I played better and started feeling the confidence,” Nishikori explained.
“I started getting the feeling of being back playing matches, feeling the nerves. I was very happy to win a title in my first tournament back and then I lost to a couple of good players after that. I wasn’t too sad about it. I was just excited to be playing.
“It was very emotional after everything that it took to get back. I’m just so happy to be back here playing. I have zero pressure and can play free. I’m just having fun on the court. And I’m excited to be playing against the top guys again.
“I have had a good team around me and I’m very thankful that Max and Michael kept encouraging me. They still believe in me and I believe it too.”
Now after winning his first match back Nishikori is looking forward to facing the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in what the Japanese star says was part of his motivation for coming back on the tour, “One thing I hope to get the chance to do is to play against these great young players like Alcaraz, Rune and Sinner at some point,” Nishikori said.
“That’s part of my motivation to try to play for a few more years. I don’t think we have seen anyone like Alcaraz before. He looks like Rafa but he has more speed. Good defence, unbelievable forehand and he has a good backhand too.”
Before Nishikori can think about the future, the former US Open finalist will focus on the present as he takes on Juncheng Shang in the second round in Atlanta on Thursday.
