“His backhand is one of the best ever, really, that I’ve seen and played with” – Djokovic hopes Nishikori will be back soon

The Serb adds that he is a big fan of Nishikori’s skills and his footwork

Kei Nishikori and Novak Djokovic

January 13, 2024

The last time Kei Nishikori played a Grand Slam event was in 2021. The 34-year-old former US Open runner-up has been dogged by injuries over the past few years and not only are his fans missing him on the tour, but so are his peers.

World No 1 Novak Djokovic, who lost to Nishikori in the semi-finals when the Japanese player made his run to the 2014 US Open final, is among those missing Nishikori, whose last appearance on court was during the summer hardcourt stretch in July.

“I sincerely hope that he can be injury-free in the near future and that we can see more of Kei on the tour. He has been one of the most successful tennis players in the last decade. He’s been established top-5, top-10 player, playing regularly in the World Tour Finals,” Djokovic told the press in Melbourne on Saturday.

He’s a very important player for our sport, coming from Japan, coming from Asia.
Novak Djokovic on Kei Nishikori

“He’s had fantastic career, no doubt about it. I’m sure that he still wants to do more. But injuries have been really probably his biggest adversary in his career. I hope that he’ll come back. We had some thrilling matches, great matches. We played many times in the final stages of Grand Slams. Here a couple times. US Open as you mentioned. He did beat me in the semis of US Open the year that he played finals. I think it was 2014, so 10 years ago exactly. Time flies (smiling).”

Nishikori has been the most successful male player to emerge out of Asia and remains one of the highest earning male athletes thanks to his huge following in Japan – something that Djokovic also acknowledges.

“He’s a very important player for our sport, coming from Japan, coming from Asia. He’s the first I think Asian player that broke to top 10, top 5 in the world. I really hope he’s going to be back. We all admire his game. He’s a great player to watch. I admire his skills, his footwork. His backhand is one of the best ever, really, that I’ve seen, and I have played with. Hopefully he’s going to be back soon.”

Nishikori has said he plans to play in 2024 and is working to getting back to fitness to compete on the tour but has yet to set a schedule for his return.