“I don’t care about Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic,” says Kei Nishikori

ATP Tour
Kei Nishikori at French Open PA

Kei Nishikori says he ‘doesn’t care’ about Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic withdrawing from the Canadian Open, because it’s hard enough to win without them.

Djokovic and Federer have not been seen on tour since their epic Wimbledon final a month ago, and opted to skip the Montreal event to further their recoveries.

Rafael Nadal will be there, though, as will other top stars from the ATP Tour, leaving Nishikori to conclude that there is plenty of quality on show.

“I do not hugely care but of course for fans, it’s not great,” Nishikori told reports.

“But Rafa is there and many good guys are playing, Sascha [Zverev], Dominic [Thiem] who has just won a title. It’s not gonna be easy.”

Nishikori is still waiting for his first Masters-level title after losing all four of the finals he has played, but he hopes that run can come to an end this week.

“I hope I can win it sooner than later,” he admitted. “It’s my goal and I will keep trying to do it.

“The first two matches will be important. I had a lot of practice coming to Montreal, I rested for three weeks.

“I did not touch a racket for two weeks, it was raining a lot so I could not play too much.

“I wanted to play Washington, I have good memories there as I won a title but I did not want to risk too much.

“Montreal and Cincinnati are important tournaments.”

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Kei Nishikori Novak Djokovic Roger Federer

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