ATP Tour veteran craves clash with young guns Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
Kei Nishikori made his return to the full ATP Tour this week starting with a tight win over Jordan Thompson in Atlanta and he hopes his return run features a few matches against the new stars of men’s tennis.
Nishikori revealed his hopes for a meeting with Carlos Alcaraz, whom he described as like ‘Rafael Nadal only faster’.
The 20-year-old Spaniard has emerged as a real force in tennis over the past two years, winning two Grand Slam championships and rising to the top of the global rankings.
He defeated Novak Djokovic in a dramatic Wimbledon final earlier this month, solidifying his position as the game’s brightest emerging star.
Nishikori revealed that blockbuster clashes with the new stars of the game like Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner encouraged him to return to the sport.
“One thing I hope to get the chance to do is to play against these great young players like Alcaraz, Rune and Sinner at some point,” he told the ATP.
“That’s part of my motivation to try to play for a few more years.
“I don’t think we have seen anyone like Alcaraz before. He looks like Rafa but he has more speed.
“Good defence, unbelievable forehand and he has a good backhand too.”
Nishikori added that he has taken his comeback slowly to make sure he wasn’t rushing back after a serious injury which could have ended his career.
“My hip was not too bad, not like Andy,” Nishikori said.
“We shaved some bone away and also I had a little bit of a tear in the labrum. Had I kept playing without the surgery then I may have had to do something like Andy did. But fortunately, I found out before it got really bad.
“I talked to James Duckworth, who had the same surgery and I was really surprised how quickly he came back to playing. But he told me that he had some issues, so perhaps he came back too early. I decided to take a little more time.
“One of my biggest doubts was whether I would be able to move like I used to. And also that you lose the feeling for the ball on the racquet and you have zero confidence. You’ve got to build again from zero, so it’s a tough mental challenge.”
Nishikori is set to face China’s Shang Juncheng in the last 16 of the Atlanta Open, his first tournament back at full ATP Tour level.
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