Kei Nishikori had a brief comeback last year, but the Japanese player isn't giving up and is gearing up for another comeback.
Rafael Nadal picked the Japanese player as one of the best players in the world when he was fully healthy. But that's the catch, being fully healthy, which he rarely was. The former Top 10 player on the ATP Tour is currently away from the sport due to injuries.
He was away for well over a year the last time he attempted a comeback, which was only a few months ago. The comeback was a long-awaited one, also one that he pushed back many times.
It finally came over the summer, and he looked good, even winning the ATP Challenger tournament that he returned at. He then played on the ATP Tour as well, but problems quickly arose again.
He pulled out of a series of events late last year and withdrew from Australian summer events as well. Still, he remained motivated to come back and play again.
Towards that goal, the Japanese player announced that former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson had joined the team.
"We already had some good weeks together in Florida and I am happy he is joining the team."
He's teased his comeback for a while now with several posts on social media. We'll see where it happens and whether one of the events he plays belongs to the Sunshine Double duo.
It might, or he might opt to take it slower on the challenger Tour, which is what he did last time. There are no confirmations as of now, but hopefully, everything goes well, and he doesn't abandon the comeback midway as it happened the last time he attempted it. It's certainly a disappointing end of the career for Nishikori.