Coaches Corner: How do you play successfully against Kei Nishikori?
Professional tennis coaches see more - which is why we simply ask how to play against the big players in the industry. In part 8 of our series, Lars Uebel , head of TennisBase Zentral in Oberhaching, analyzes Kei Nishikori's game .
by tennisnet.com
last edit: May 02, 2020, 07:45 am
Against Nishikori, he could only chalk up half a victory - Matthias Bachinger defeated the Japanese in Metz, but Coach Uebel was not there. Otherwise there were almost always bad, bad defeats. So also with Philipp Kohlschreiber at the US Open 2018, after Kohli had previously beaten Alexander Zverev.
These are the special strengths of Kei Nishikori
Nishikori is an incredibly good player if he manages to get the balls high, that is, play at waist level. He is one of the best there. He has a very strong forehand when he stands. He moves his opponents excellently. He is rock solid and can play well on the net. Wherever his footwork plays a major role and where it is played flat, i.e. on hard court and lawn, he plays very well.
How do you play successfully against Kei Nishikori?
A weakness is certainly the second serve, you have to attack it. He also tends to make double mistakes. So you have to try to put pressure on the first hit on the return. You have to play "through him", preferably with a powerful serve or punch. If you don't have enough firepower, it's difficult. Roger Federer, for example, always manages to vary the pace very much with many different balls. This is very important against Nishikori. The less rhythmic it is, the worse for him. The easiest way to beat it is to ashes, because it is best to create different heights and speeds.
Here are a few facts and figures about Kei Nishikori (all statistics refer to the last 52 weeks)
| Date of birth | Overall tournament wins | Tournament wins 2019 | Return games won | Breakballs used | Tiebreaks won |
| 12/29/1989 | 12th | 1 (Brisbane) | 28.9% (ATP rank 4) | 40.5% (ATP rank 27) | 40.0% (ATP rank 67) |
Selected head-to-heads by Kei Nishikori
| opponent | Balance sheet |
| Novak Djokovic | 2:16 |
| Rafael Nadal | 2:11 |
| Dominic Thiem | 3: 2 |
| Roger Federer | 3: 8 |
| Stefanos Tsitsipas | 1: 0 |
| Daniil Medvedev | 2: 2 |
| Alexander Zverev | 1: 2 |
| Gael Monfils | 4: 1 |
| Fabio Fognini | 2: 1 |
| Roberto Bautista Agut | 4: 1 |
| Denis Shapovalov | 1: 1 |
| Stan Wawrinka | 4: 7 |
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