Kei Nishikori played a match on Thursday afternoon for the first time since last July at the Atlanta Open, where he reached the quarterfinals. Nishikori did not win his first-round match at the Miami Open, but the performance was encouraging enough. One break in each set was the difference, as the Japanese veteran was unable to convert any of his three break-point opportunities during a 6-3, 6-4 loss to Sebastian Ofner.
When it was over, Nishikori had mostly good things to say about his effort.
“I just want to play a lot of matches,” the 34-year-old commented. “Today I was almost enjoying the match, but it wasn’t good enough to beat those top-50 players. I think I’m happy enough with how I played today; maybe not the best.”
Nishikori has struggled injuries throughout his illustrious career, most recently dealing with knee and hip problems. Atlanta was his only ATP-level event last year, when he also played three Challenger tournaments–one of which he won. The 2014 U.S. Open runner-up wasn’t able to play any more than that, but he hopes to sustain more of a workload in 2024.
“Hopefully I can stay healthy,” said Nishikori. “I think that’s the only goal this year: try to play as many matches as I can. Physically, that’s the toughest thing. I almost came back last summer. I played six, seven matches and then my body got hurt again.
“I’m hoping to play Houston, Barcelona, Madrid–the clay-court season. I like clay; I have a good record playing on clay. So I hope I can play good couple matches there. I know it’s going to be a tough field. If I keep losing in the first round, maybe I will play some Challengers.
“I never lose that motivation. It’s always there. Some reason I cannot explain, but some reason motivation is always there. I’m looking forward to getting my tennis back. Maybe it’s not going to be soon, but I will keep fighting.”
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.