After overcoming Novak Djokovic in the final of Wimbledon, Carlos Alcaraz has become the talk of the tennis town and is winning plenty of plaudits. The Spaniard overcame the fan and expert-favorite Novak to clinch second Grand Slam of his career. Like the man who faced the 20-year old in final, former ATP #4 Kei Nishikori admits the rarity of Alcaraz’s skill saying he doesn’t think if he has seen anyone like Spaniard before on the tour. The Japanese hopes to play against the Wimbledon winner as he returns to the game after a hiatus of 21 months.
Nishikori is all praise for the young Spaniard and has compared him to his compatriot and 22-time Grand Slam Champion Rafael Nadal but with “more speed”.
A blazing Alcaraz has taken the tennis world by storm over the last two years and has possibly left nobody unimpressed by his lightning speed, finesse, sublime touch and unreal ball hitting at such a young age.
Earlier this month Alcaraz dethroned the 23-time Slam winner and once again announce himself on the bigger stages after prevailing in a 5-set classic at SW19.
The Japanese who made a winning return in Atlanta Open after taking a break of 21 months. The 33-year old stated that the possibility of facing Alcaraz and challenging the likes of Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune gave him the extra fuel to complete his comeback.
“One thing I hope to get the chance to do is to play against these great young players like Alcaraz, Rune and Sinner at some point,” he told the ATP.
“That’s part of my motivation to try to play for a few more years.
“I don’t think we have seen anyone like Alcaraz before. He looks like Rafa but he has more speed.
“Good defence, unbelievable forehand and he has a good backhand too.”
Before picking the hip injury, Nishikori’s last top level appearance came in Indian Wells in Oct 2021. He went on the surgery table in the following January and made some attempts to return to the professional tennis circuit but couldn’t do that because of injury woes and an ankle problem that kept him out of 2022.
Nishikori admitted that the decision to undergo a procedure on hip worked for him as it helped him avoid the same fate as Andy Murray, who now drives and slides with a metal hip for a last couple of years.
“My hip was not too bad, not like Andy,” Nishikori said.
“We shaved some bone away and also I had a little bit of a tear in the labrum. Had I kept playing without the surgery then I may have had to do something like Andy did. But fortunately, I found out before it got really bad.
“I talked to James Duckworth, who had the same surgery and I was really surprised how quickly he came back to playing. But he told me that he had some issues, so perhaps he came back too early. I decided to take a little more time.
“One of my biggest doubts was whether I would be able to move like I used to. And also that you lose the feeling for the ball on the racquet and you have zero confidence. You’ve got to build again from zero, so it’s a tough mental challenge.”
Nishikori will next face the Chinese qualifier Shang Juncheng on Thursday.
“I’m just so happy to be back here playing,” he added.
“I have zero pressure and can play free. I’m just having fun on the court. And I’m excited to be playing against the top guys again.
“I have had a good team around me and I’m very thankful that [coaches] Max [Mirnyi,] and Michael [Chang] kept encouraging me. They still believe in me and I believe it too.”
After Atlanta, former world no. 4 vows to appear at Citi Open in Washington DC as he aims for difficult to build momentum ahead of New York major where he completed a runner up run against Marin Cilic in 2014. If the ATP ranked #439 makes it to the New York, it will be his maiden Grand Slam appearance in two years.