Kei Nishikori recently made a comeback to tennis at the 2024 Miami Open, but his comeback has already been derailed, as he pulled out of the Houston Open.
It's been very rough going for Nishikori in the past two years, but unfortunately, he's used to it. The sort of career the Japanese player could have had if injuries weren't a common problem is hard to predict, but Rafael Nadal once called him one of the best players he's ever played, so that speaks volumes about how good he is.
Unfortunately, like many others, Nishikori never overcame the injury bug. It's been particularly bad in recent years, as he has only managed 14 matches in the last two years. In the last four years, he has only played 63 matches, which is less than he played in 2018 alone.
He attempted a comeback last year but had to give up after picking up new injuries. He did manage to play a few events before it happened. Things didn't go as well this year, as he first postponed his comeback, which is why he only recently returned at the Miami Open.
He played a solid match but ultimately lost. Still, there were a lot of positives that he could have taken forward as the comeback was now underway. But is it? Well, not quite. His next event was supposed to be the Houston Open, which would have been a nice transition to clay, which is coming up.
Unfortunately, he withdrew from the ATP 250 event despite previously mentioning it as one of the tournaments he would like to play. The worst possible outcome would be another injury, and unfortunately, it's the most likely outcome.
He might have changed his plans and opted for another event, but that doesn't seem likely. If he's fully healthy and he should have been considering how careful he was with his comeback, then skipping events makes no sense.
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