Kei Nishikori is preparing for his debut in the 2019 season at the Brisbane International, where he played for six consecutive years from 2012 to 2017. He finished runner-up in the 2017 final losing to Grigor Dimitrov.
The Japanese player skipped the Brisbane tournament and the Australian Open, as he was on a come-back trail after a serious wrist injury, which forced him to miss the second half the 2017 season. He dropped to world number 22, his lowest ranking since January 2012 and the first time he was outside the top 20 since March 2014.
He made his come-back after a five-month lay-off in a low-key ATP Challenger tournament last January in the USA in Newport Beach, where he lost in the first round to US qualifier Dennis Novikov. Nishikori beat Novikov the following week in Dallas in another Challenger tournament and went on to win the next four matches en route to clinching his sixth Challenger title.
Nishikori enjoyed a solid second half of the season and achieved his goal to return to the top 10. The Florida-based Japanese player finished runner-up in the Monte-Carlo final losing to the “King of Clay” Rafael Nadal, who won his 11th title in the Principality. Nishikori started the Monte-Carlo Rolex Master sas unseeded player, but he beat Marin Cilic in the quarter final and Alexander Zverev in the semifinal en route to reaching his fourth career Masters 1000 final. He lost to Novak Djokovic in the quarter final at the Internazionali d’Italia in Rome. He lost to eventual finalist Dominic Thiem in the fourth round at Roland Garros. He came back from one set down to beat Ernests Gulbis reaching the quarter final at Wimbledon, but he lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in four sets. At the US Open he beat Marin Cilic in five sets in a re-match of the 2014 Flushing Meadows final to reach the semifinal before losing to Djokovic in the semifinal.
He lost two finals in Tokyo to Danil Medvedev and in Vienna in his third final of the season to Kevin Anderson. He qualified for the ATP Finals in London, where he beat Roger Federer in the first round robin match scoring his first match against the Swiss player since 2014. Nishikori ended the 2018 season ranked world number 9.
“It’s been one year since my wrist injury, now I have completely different feelings. I was scared. The wrist is needed in tennis. I just kept thinking I would always have play with the feeling of anxiety. I could hardly play tennis last December. I feel like I have come back over the past year. I went without surgery, but I was told that I had the possibility that it might happen again. I kept playing with my major goal being a return to the top of the rankings. I had the feeling throughout the season that I was climbing a staircase, one step at a time”,said Nishikori to Japanese agency Kyodo News.
The player coached by 1989 Roland Garros champion Michael Chang is aiming at winning his first career Masters 1000 title and his first Grand Slam trophy in 2019. In the first Major final of his career he finished runner-up to Marin Cilic at the 2014 US Open.
“I played without pressure this year. I was able to take a full swing at tennis, but now I need to need to aim higher next year. My primary goal for 2018 was to break the top 10. I will set usual goals for 2019, like to win big titles and go deeper at Grand Slams. I am happy that my body has recovered again to have good training and practice without injuries. I am excited to keep on challenging myself next year too”.
Nishikori said that the injury was a blessing in disguise, as it gave him the chance to improve some aspects of his game.
“I played at the net more often this year and was able to pull off more aggressive plays. Getting injured gave me the opportunity to re-examine some small things like my serve. I trained well during the lay-off, so I am in good physical shape”.
Nishikori has set his long-term goal to win his second medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in front of his home fans.
“It’s special that it will take place in Japan. It’s pretty rare to come across it. I want to get stronger and compete in good condition”.
