There could be a brand new Kei Nishikori on the Horizon
With one pop, one sound from Kei Nishikori's wrist had sidelined the number nine ranked for nearly four months. It happened while hitting a practice serve at the Western and Southern in Cincinnati. The sound caused the Japanese to stop immediately and a few days hadn't passed before he'd withdraw from the Cincinnati tournament. Wrist specialists and MRI evaluations dictated him to call the season 'a miss'.
But that was last year. He'd had an extended period of time to rest with his arm in a cast and literally started his season this year at the Newport Beach Challenger event where he wasn't feeling like himself quite yet and lost to Dennis Novikov in three sets. But in time things happened and Nishikori though it safe to enter another Challenger, this time in Dallas where he made it through the finals and won the title over Mackenzie McDonald in straight sets. This was in February when he thought things were looking grim at him making a good comeback but it all slowly was coming together. "I played one of the est matches this week. Every match was improving...I think I raised my level and play pretty good today...", he happily said.
The New York Open, a premier match in New York's Long Island, Nishikori decided to enter but he made it through to the semifinals and fell to the tall South African Kevin Anderson in three sets. Nishikori wasn't at all his usual healthy self and it showed as he went down in the opening and second rounds of three tournaments. Recuperating and getting his groove back might have been one and the same for the Japanese proved he felt much better and at the Monte Carlo Masters he made it through to the finals with Rafael Nadal as he defeated Tomas Berdych, Marin Cilic and Alexander Zverev along the way.
The grand slams Nishikori still wasn't up to playing heavy duty tennis but did get to the quarterfinals of the French Open and Wimbledon but he was far from well healed and was suffering from an arm injury where he had a long medical timeout but the message made things well enough for him to play a feisty game with Ernest Gulbis and win in three sets with two tiebreaks of 4-6, 7-6, 7-6. Nishikori had raised up a bit of history being the first Japanese to reach a Wimbledon quarterfinal since 1995 with Shuzo Matsuoka and was glad to get through the match and honoured for creating history.
Nishikori was unsure what direction his playing status was going at this point and he'd had many a see-saw tournament with some going to the quarterfinals as the Citi Open, losing to Alexander Zverev, then the US Open getting into the semifinals with a healing and rejuvenated Novak Djokovic where the Serbian's game was 'on point' and he'd win over the Japanese in three straight sets. But Nishikori didn't fret because he was just satisfied to even get in the semis and says that "It was very good. Maybe not today, but the last couple of matches I played great tennis, beat a couple of good guys...happy to be in the semis...Could have been better playing the final again, but maybe my next chance", Nishikori matter-of-factly explained.
The Japan Open he was looking to do well in his home country. He went through to the finals but couldn't capture the title losing to a NextGen guy Daniil Medvedev, leaving the rest of the season where he did go deep even though suffering losses in them all. Shanghai and the Paris Masters he went through to the quarters with the Vienna Open he made the finals with Kevin Anderson. The year-end ATP World Tour in London, a prestigious event which didn't miss Nishikori for he was serving as a replacement for the injured Juan Martin del Potro. Nishikori won only one of the three matches but the sign came in his victory over Roger Federer in the first round on Center Court winning 7-6, 6-3. Federer wasn't his expertise self and Nishikori although still recuperating did well to dismantle Federer's game tremendously causing more pain to his ego than his game plan. The Japanese felt satisfied that he could come back and play that well. He is looking forward to playing well also in the Hawaii Open for three days, December 21 through the 23rd. Nishikori says about the island that "I'm looking forward to going to Hawaii. I played one challenger before and I'm very excited to play". He will be joining many of his tennis comrades such as Milos Raonic, Ryan Harrison, Eugenie Bouchard and Garbine Muguruza to name a few. It should be a relaxing time for the players to tighten up their game in a calming atmosphere in preparation for the 2019 tennis season that will soon be ahead.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2QLGQRB
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