Kei Nishikori: "I'm sure Roger Federer will play for a few more years"
In the run-up to the ATP Masters 1000 event in Miami, Kei Nishikori spoke to the ATP about his experiences at tournaments in this category.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Mar 24, 2021, 01:06 am
Kei Nishikori is on the right track. The Japanese, who took the rocky road back to the top of the world last year, but was repeatedly thrown back by bad results, can now look back on the past few weeks. Although it wasn't enough for the 31-year-old for the big hit, Nishikori recently played in a row in Rotterdam and Dubai in the ATP 500 quarter-finals.
The fact that the big hit could now come one level higher, namely at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Miami, would not be inconvenient for the Japanese, as he explained to the ATP : He would prefer to win a title in this category here, mainly due to the fact that he has his residence very close to the tournament site. And also: "I played junior tournaments there a long time ago and have some fond memories of it."
Kei Nishikori also has fond memories of Monte Carlo, where the Japanese played through to the final in 2018. His most beautiful triumph at Masters 1000 level for him, like the world number 39. explained: "I beat pretty good players there. I struggled with my injury and in my first match against Tomas Berdych I came back from a set deficit. After that I had a lot of confidence and I kept winning. I lost in the final but this tournament gave me a lot of confidence. After coming back from the injury I struggled a lot. After that tournament a lot of things changed. "
"Federer is my idol"
If the Japanese could now choose with whom he would play his dream match, Nishikori would not have to think long: " I would play against Roger (Federer) because he is my idol. If we can play a few more times , that would be great because it's just fun to play against him. You get a lot of experience from the game against him, "said the former world number four.
In Miami, however, the Swiss will be absent, as is well known, the 20-time Grand Slam winner is instead preparing for his season highlights in London (Wimbledon) and Tokyo (Olympia) in the form of another building block. Kei Nishikori is convinced that there will be many more highlights for the 39-year-old: "I'm sure he will play for a few more years. Before he retires, I want to play him a few more times . "