Kei Nishikori is finally back on the courts as the Japanese player will play at the Palmas del Mar ATP Challenger event in Puerto Rico.
Nishikori has missed well over a year of tennis following his injury that saw him undergo surgery in order to repair it. The last time Nishikori played before this event was back in October of 2021 which makes his return only four months shy of a 2-year mark.
It's been a tough period for the former Top 5 players as he had to push back his comeback multiple times in order to better prepare. Being 33 years old doesn't make it any easier and as Nadal's case recently proved, hip injuries are very complicated.
Luckily all of those setbacks and pushbacks proved the right decision because Kei Nishikori will take to the courts in Puerto next week. The former grand slam finalist is a wild card entry so he doesn't really have a simple draw. The first round will see him take on a player whose tennis has looked really good in the past month.
Langmo is a player who plays best on hard courts and has a devastating baseline game which can create problems for a lot of players. Should he beat him, Nishikori will go against either Krueger or Gojowczyk and both are fair players. Both enjoy hard courts the most so it will be a tricky one again. If he passes that he'll most probably meet Polmans in the next round.
The Australian has played pretty good tennis this year and is the best player out of all that Nishikori could have faced up until that point in the draw. The semi-final would see him likely play against Moreno de Alboran who is the second seed.
The final? Number one seed Tung-lin Wu from Chinese Taipeh. Going deep won't be a goal for Nishikori as he wants to just get some matches under the belt but he would certainly take it.
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