ATP: Kei Nishikori travels with self-confidence to the premiere

Kei Nishikori remains faithful to the USA – after the Japanese player’s participation in Challenger tournaments over the past two weeks, Nishikori will also start at the premiere of an ATP World Tour 250 tournament on Long Island.

Kei Nishikori’s defeat of his Japanese team-mates in the Davis Cup against Italy was a long way off: while Yuichi Sugita had to admit Fabio Fognini in a five-set-thriller in Morioka, Nishikori had to admit Fognini’s 6-1,6-4 victory in the final of the Challengers of Dallas against Mackenzie McDonald.

Victory on the second level did not help the best Japanese player in the ATP charts – Nishikori is ranked 27th – but for the 28-year-old’s self-confidence, the success in the US state of Texas comes just in time. Especially since Nishikori had decided not to participate in the Australian Open, with the argument that he did not feel fit enough for one or more best-of-five matches. Which, of course, meant that there was no question of using the Davis Cup.

After the match, Nishikori said:”I’m happy to have won the tournament and am happy that I finished it,”said Nishikori after the match,”There were moments when I was a bit stiff but I came back into the match well,” Nishikori had lost to Dennis Novikov in Newport the week before.

“This week gives me a lot of confidence in my tennis. And my wrist was fine too,”Nishikori explained,”I played four days in a row and it was good that I had these matches.”

The next challenge is already set: Kei Nishikori will be competing in the first edition of the New York Open, a tournament being held on Long Island. In the Nassau Colisseum, players such as John Isner, Sam Querrey and Kevin Anderson will serve alongside Nishikori. Hyeon Chung, on the other hand, had to cancel his start: The South Korean, sensational semi-finalist at the Australian Open, is still curing his injuries at the foot, which forced him to give up his match against Roger Federer in the preliminary round of the first major in 2018.

And also a prominent name gets its first chance on the ATP tour: Sebastian Korda, newly crowned Australian Open Champion of the juniors and son of Petr Korda, was awarded a wildcard by the organizers.