Kei Nishikori: Juan del Potro has potential to be No. 1

Former world No. 4 Kei Nishikori wished he had played at least one top-10 player last season as playing those type of players and beating them is the key to success. 

Nishikori, who ended his 2019 season prematurely to undergo a surgery, appeared in only four events in 2020. 

"I feel sorry that I couldn't play any top 10 player this year," Nishikori said, per Seiadoumogera/Twitter.

"You can reach top 30 if you have momentum, but to reach top 10, you need to keep winning through the season. You also need patience & perseverance to beat top 10 players.

"If I can get some chance, I think I can regain a feeling to beat top 10 players, like in 2018 Monte Carlo. I was losing to Berdych at that time, but suddenly the momentum shifted to me, then things had started changing."

Nishikori often thinks about Juan Martin del Potro 

"As for injury, I always think about Del Potro, he has potential to be no.1, but he's been struggling with repeated injury. Compared to him, I can't complain," Nishikori added.

Nishikori is still hoping to win a maiden Masters, Grand Slam and break into the top-3. 

Davis Ferrer, the 2013 French Open runner-up, achieved his career-high ranking of No. 3 at the age of 31.

"Nice to hear that. I'm motivated. I feel he and I are similar in terms of physique and the way of playing. I'll keep trying hard," Nishikori said.

Nishikori is hoping to be fully ready for the next season and have a big bounce back campaign.

"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."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/38JeGx2