Kei Nishikori: Fun to play against strong players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal

2014 US Open runner-up Kei Nishikori has admitted that he is always extra motivated when he plays against the top players such as 20-time Grand Slam champions Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. 

Nishikori, a former world No. 4, hasn't had much success against the Big Three -- Federer, Nadal and Novak Djokovic but still he enjoys the challenge of playing against three greats.

"It's fun to play against strong players like Federer or Nadal, that motivates me, I always enjoy that challenge," Nishikori admitted, as revealed by Seiadoumogera/Twitter.

Nishikori appeared in only four events last season and though he is still not back to 100 prevent, he is hoping to be ready for the new season and achieve a good season at the Australian Open.

"My shoulder is getting better, hope I can get a good result at the Australian Open," Nishikori acknowledged.

Nishikori hopes for a big bounce back season

"Since my shoulder injury I could hardly practice serve. Had some other practice with Max for a couple of weeks in US. Since I came to Japan I have not had much practice, I'm gonna work hard after going back to the US," Nishikori said earlier this month.

"My shoulder is not 100% yet, but rehab is going well, I'm sure it will be perfect next year. I want to fix my serving form. My shoulder injury was caused by serving form, I think, maybe partly because of other body (movement) as well, so I want to change that. 

"I had only a few matches this year, I was not ready. I'll try to play as many matches as possible next year to get my feeling back. The more matches I played the more the feeling returned to me, I look forward to (playing matches) next year."

Nishikori, now ranked at No. 41 in the world, hasn't yet achieved his goal of winning a Masters or a Grand Slam title.

"I'm already 30 years old, but I still have much room for improvement, that makes me feel like I still get it, I enjoy that and try to have many goals to achieve," Nishikori noted. "Lots of different things happen every year, so it's like year by year, day by day. I have my goals or images of my future for sure, but I just try to work day in, day out, I don't think about far future so much."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2IX4Qi1