Kei Nishikori has been forced to pull out of his final tournament of 2021 due to an ongoing injury which he has been dealing with in recent weeks.
The former world No.4 has been troubled by a back issue which he developed in the build up to the San Diego Open back in September. Since then he has only played in one tournament which was at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. At the Masters 1000 event he beat Portugal’s Joao Sousa before losing to Dan Evans in the second round.
“Unfortunately I have to pull out of Stockholm next week,” Nishikori said in a statement. “I hurt my back some weeks ago before San Diego and it has continued to bother me.’
“It’s been a long year, coming back from injury and I look forward to the off-season. (I) also look forward to having a strong pre-season training to make sure 2022 is a great year.”
Nishikori, who reached the final of the US Open back in 2014, hasn’t won a Tour title since January 2019. It is the second time in three years he has been forced to end his season earlier than planned due to injury. Two years ago, he underwent surgery on his elbow which resulted in him missing 12 months of the Tour.
This season the 31-year-old has produced some solid results on the Tour with his best run being to the semi-finals of the Washington Open. Nishikori has also reached the quarter-finals at three other Tour events this year. In the Grand Slams, he reached the fourth round of the French Open and the third round at the US Open.
Nishikori has won 12 ATP titles so far in his career and has earned more than $25M in prize money. He is currently ranked 49th in the world.
