Kei Nishikori reveals what led to him retiring against Novak Djokovic
Japanese tennis star Kei Nishikori thought he would be able to finish his Australian Open quarter-final clash against world No. 1 Novak Djokovic but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
Six-time Australian Open champion Djokovic progressed to the semi-final after a Nishikori retirement.
The Japanese received a treatment and strapping on his right thigh after the opening set but retired the match while 6-1 4-1 down.
"Before the match, I was okay. Of course, I wasn't, like, fresh, fresh. I thought I was going to be okay. After third game or fourth game when I was serving, I felt pretty heavy to my right leg. After that I couldn't really bend my knees and couldn't jump up. Yeah, I decided to stop," Nishikori said post-match.
Three of Nishikori's first four matches went into four sets.
The Japanese needed a super tie-break to beat Ivo Karlovic in the second round and Pablo Carreno Busta in the round-of-16 respectively.
"Well, yeah, I'm sure it comes from my past matches, especially last match. I was moving a lot, waste too much energy. Could be from that and also, yeah, something happen today during the match," Nishikori said, when asked if the previous matches took a toll on him.
"So disappointed. Yeah, had a good couple matches this week, so... It's tough to lose like this, but I try to head up."
Also read: Stefanos Tsitsipas: It was tough to fall asleep after beating Roger Federer
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2B20ejo
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