Last Updated on October 31, 2021
Former world number 4, Kei Nishikori is known as one of the best Asian tennis players in history, an athlete who participated in the Atp Finals and won 12 titles in the Atp circuit during his career.
The strong tennis player has not achieved the success he deserves also because he was part of the era of the Big Three where Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic objectively left little to the competition. In recent years Kei has been struggling with several physical problems that have forced him to play little (and alas, badly) and that have always seen him far from the top positions.
The 31 year old tennis player has never given up and has always declared his desire to return to the top positions of the circuit. Last year we saw his return and now, in the Atp tournament in Rotterdam, we have seen some of the flashes of class of the talented Japanese: Nishikori has beaten in the first two rounds Felix Auger Aliassime and Alex De Minaur, two of the most interesting young men in the entire tennis landscape.
Level UP ⏫@keinishikori wins back-to-back ATP matches for the first time since US Open 2019, defeating De Minaur 6-3 2-6 7-5 to make the last 8 in Rotterdam!#abnamrowtt pic.twitter.com/mEp5N81t4q
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 3, 2021
Nishikori is now in the Quarter Finals of the Dutch tournament where he will face the winner between Borna Coric and Dusan Lajovic.
Kei Nishikori’s words after the victory
Speaking at the microphones of the official website of the Atp Nishikori tried to clarify what has changed compared to recent times and how he really feels.
Here are his words: “I modified the movement on serve, it’s something I did already after my elbow surgery (October 2019) and we came back to talk about it last December. I am working hard with Max Mirnyi, Michael Chang and another Japanese coach.
I realized that my serve needed more power and to use my shoulder less. Unfortunately when I play I often feel pain in my shoulder and I want to remedy that. I’m still not 100% but I feel we are getting there.
In these last two matches I have been serving very well and I am happy with that. Because of my constant injuries I feel like I still have time to change my story and I believe there is that possibility.
I’m really open and I want to try anything. Obviously it’s not easy, but I’m still hungry, I want to try to help my body and I’ll do anything to make it better. My opponents? I usually don’t see the draw, I knew the strongest were Medvedev, Tsitsipas and Rublev but we are showing that anyone in the Top 100 can beat a Top 10, there is distance between Top 50 and Top 10 but not that much.”
