Kei Nishikori returned to the tennis courts at the 2024 Miami open, but it was a losing effort to Sebastian Ofner.
The past few seasons could be also named as seasons of comebacks, as there are multiple players on both the ATP and the WTA Tours attempting to restart their career.
Milos Raonic has been playing solid tennis, but he just doesn't seem to be able to stay healthy, and the same applies to Paula Badosa on the women's side.
One of the players that has been attempting a comeback is also Nishikori, who actually started it already last year, before getting injured again and missing the remainder of the 2023 season.
His last tournament was the Atlanta Open, and he started the 2024 season by withdrawing from the Australian Open. He missed all of the action after that but returned to the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami.
In the first round, he drew Sebastian Ofner, who is a solid Top 40 player, but also a player that the Japanese player would likely easily beat in his best days a few years ago.
However, this time around, the situation was much different, and the Austrian was able to capitalize on his opponent's lack of match practice, which showed in the opening three games of the match.
Nishikori had three break points in the first three games, but he couldn't use any of his chances. On the other hand, Ofner had only one chance, and he used it. That was enough to win the first set 6-3.
In the second set, Nishikori didn't have a single chance to break, while Ofner kept playing well on his opponent's serve. He created a few break points, and after converting one of his chances, he comfortably won the match 6-3, 6-4 to reach the second round of the tournament.
0 Comments