Kei Nishikori have confirmed that he will participate in the ATP World Tour Finals after retiring in the BNP Paribas Masters earlier this week due to injury.
In the third round of the final Masters tournament of the year, Nishikori retired in the third round whilst trailing 6-7 (3), 1-4, to Richard Gasquet. The Japanese tennis star has endured minor injuries in recent time. In June he withdrew from his semifinal match against Andreas Seppi at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle due to a right calf injury and skipped last months Swiss Indoors due to a sore shoulder. Last year Nishikori also experienced problems with his back during the clay-court swing where he retired in the final of the Madrid Open before suffering a disappointing first round exit at the French Open.
Speaking after his most recent retirement at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, Nishikori said at the time he was suffering from abdominal pain.
“After the first set, I started feeling my abs, side abs. Couldn’t really hit serves. I couldn’t really hit 100 percent,”. The 25-year-old said.
Despite the latest injury woe for the world No.7, Nishikori’s management has confirmed that he will be fit for the ATP Finals, which will begin on November 15th. Releasing a statement to the media, Nishikori’s team said that he was ‘100 percent OK’.
“The diagnosis was light inflammation and (Nishikori) will be 100 percent okay,” his management said.
The 25-year-old has won three ATP titles this year in Memphis, Barcelona and Washington. The Japanese player will end his season in the $7,000,000 ATP Finals at the O2 Arena in London for the second consecutive year. At last year’s tournament he reached the semifinal before losing in three sets to Novak Djokovic.
