Kei Nishikori’s love for tennis isn’t getting any lower as the Japanese star continued his success in five set matches at the Australian Open.
The former US Open finalist saved two match points as he came back from two sets down to defeat Thiago Monteiro 4-6 6-7(4) 7-5 6-2 6-3 on John Cain Arena.
It’s a result that means Nishikori has now won 29 of his 37 five set matches at Grand Slams in an astonishing feat as he moved into the second round at the Australian Open.
Speaking in his press conference Nishikori revealed when he started to realize his imperious record in five set matches, “Yeah, because everybody is telling me,” Nishikori jokingly said in his press conference.
“Even after the match, everybody, couple players, was joking to me, Another five sets. I mean, it’s good to have that record because I always have good confidence, and player knows that I have good records.
“It’s good pressure for them if I have that. But maybe, like, six, seven years ago start realizing that.”
Over the last few years Nishikori has suffered a huge amount of injuries which saw him at one point outside the world’s top 300.
However Nishikori is now at 74 in the world after grinding it out on the Challenger tour and producing some good results at ATP level.
That almost wasn’t the case though as Nishikori admitted he almost quit the sport a year ago, “Yeah, almost. Almost last year because I had my knee and shoulder two years ago, and I almost came back,” Nishikori revealed.
“I got injured again. It was like up and downs. I was thinking, like, if I have maybe another surgery, then I think mentally I don’t able to fight anymore. It was, like, two in a row. I had a year I couldn’t play and another half year I couldn’t play because of injury I got, so… That was toughest time I think, end of 2023 maybe.”
But Nishikori did come back because he loves the sport so much and wants to be competing at the biggest stadiums in the world, “Well, I just still love to play tennis. I love to compete. I wanted to play with big stadium like today,” Nishikori explained to the press.
“That was my goal a year ago when I was doing rehab. I still think that I still have chance to play with these top players. I’m feeling that end of last year. I get more confidence. This last week also help me to believe myself. So I still really enjoying this moment, this practice, training.”
Nishikori will face either Christopher O’Connell or 12th seed Tommy Paul in the second round in Melbourne.
