VIDEO: Kei Nishikori Polishes His Forehead for a Strong ATP Comeback

Kei Nishikori fans around the have gotten the reason to rejoice. Nishikori, who has been out of the tour because of his hip, is back on the court. What’s more? His physio has asserted that “Kei has started putting his weight on his legs more & moving well.”

Nishikori last played at 2021 Indian Wells, suffering a second-round loss to Daniel Evans. The former World No. 4 reportedly had 4 more tournaments lined up in 2021 after Indian Wells. However, struggling with his hip, he had to retire from the remaining year.

Fans around the world anticipated his comeback in 2022. However, in early January 2022, Nishikori took to Twitter announcing his withdrawal from the Australian Open. The bad times weren’t over yet. On 25th January, Nishikori announced that even after trying a number of rehabs, he has finally decided to undergo arthroscopic hip surgery. He further announced that he will be out of the tour for another 6 months.

Nishikori is back on the court

6 months is undoubtedly a long time to wait for the fans. If all goes well, Nishikori shall be able to make a comeback on the tour in July 2022. However, seeing the latest progress of Kei, the tennis community is getting hopes of an early comeback by the 32-year-old.

In the video surfacing on the internet, Nishikori can be seen hitting some mid-intensity forehands on balls being fed to him.

This is not the first time that Kei has suffered such an injury. In a 1.5 decades-long career, Kei has been one of the most injury-prone players. 

Kei Nishikori on the tour

Nishikori started his professional circuit run in 2007. He played his first main draw match of an ATP tour event in Los Angeles, losing in the first round. In the very next tournament in Metropolis, he reached the quarterfinals. He came into everyone’s eye when he won his first ATP Tour title in 2008 at the ATP 250 Delray Beach.

Also read-Norwegian DJ Kygo Reacts After Taylor Fritz Beats Rafael Nadal to Clinch His Maiden Indian Wells Title

In 2011, he achieved a big personal feat by beating the then World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of Basel. Four years after his first title, it was in 2012 he won his second tour title at the ATP 500 Tokyo. Working hard on himself, in 2014 he reached the finals of the US Open, becoming the first Asian to do so. Winning 4 titles, 2014 became the most successful year of his career. In March 2015, winning 3 titles, he achieved his career-high rank of World No. 4.

Even though Nishikori has won just 2 since 2016, the player was giving up a decent performance in the tournaments. However, 2019 was the year in which Nishikori experienced a sudden dip in his performance. From 2019 up till 2021 Indian Wells, Nishikori has struggled to mark his presence in the tournaments.

Watch this story-War of words between Denis Shapovalov and Rafael Nadal at Australian Open 2022

However, coming back from the injury, the tennis community is hopeful of a strong comeback by the Japanese player in 2022.