Express. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. HOME News Royal Showbiz & TV Sport Comment Finance Travel Entertainment Life & Style Football Tennis Transfer news F1 Boxing UFC Cricket Rugby Other Golf NFL Racing NBA One tennis star is determined to fight his way back to the top and has sent a warning to Carlos Alcaraz as a consequence. 13: 10, Wed, Jul 26, 2023 | UPDATED: 13: 15, Wed, Jul 26, 2023
Tennis fans react to Carlos Alcaraz’s Wimbledon winKei Nishikori marked his first ATP Tour match in 21 months with a straight-sets win over Jordan Thompson and the Japanese star can’t wait to face Carlos Alcaraz in his quest to return to the top in tennis. The 33-year-old reached the US Open final in 2014 and has made 12 Grand Slam quarter-finals across his career, spending 212 weeks in the top 10 of the ATP rankings.
But hip surgery in January 2022 means he hasn’t hit a ball in anger since Indian Wells in October 2021 – until now.
In the 18 months since, Nishikori has seen several comeback attempts scuppered by setbacks including an ankle injury that wiped out his 2022 season and saw him tumble down the world rankings.
But having drawn inspiration from the likes of Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, he has no intention of retiring and is motivated to take on the younger rising stars of the game, including Holger Rune and Wimbledon champion Alcaraz.
But despite being highly motivated now, Nishikori admits that has not always been the case and while he was out injured he became “really depressed” and “thought about retiring”.
Kei Nishikori delivers a forearm return at the Atlanta Open. (Image: Getty)
He told ATPTour.com: “It was tough to maintain the motivation, but I just wanted to play tennis again and compete again.
“And especially watching [Novak] Djokovic, Rafa [Nadal] still playing, fighting. And I haven’t played against Alcaraz, Rune. That’s something I also can’t wait to play against them.”
Having completely dropped out of the world rankings, Nishikori has had to build his comeback trail on the Challenger tour.
He started off by winning the Palmas del Mar title before losing in the second round to world No 161 Denis Kudla in an event at Bloomfield Hills. He then reached the quarter-finals in Chicago before going down to world No 160 Alex Michelsen.
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Carlos Alcaraz became Wimbledon champion earlier this month. (Image: Getty)
However, his 7-6, 7-6 victory against 63rd-ranked Thompson in Atlanta is the best result of his comeback to date. He will now face China’s JC Shang in a last 16 match on Thursday.
Speaking on-court after the first-round match, Nishikori said: “Not [an] easy first round against Jordan. He’s very steady from the baseline. He doesn’t miss much and I have to be aggressive all the time.
“But I’m quite happy [with] the way I played today. There were some moments that I should have stepped up a little more. But with these tough conditions, I’m happy to win in two sets.
“I played good, actually. I played a couple of Challengers before here and I didn’t play [for] almost two years. It was a pretty good level, I think. And yeah, I just keep playing my best and hope I can stay later this week.”
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