Kei Nishikori's bad luck continues, forced to miss another tournament

09/18/2023 04:05 PM

Kei Nishikori won't be returning to action at this week's Chengdu Open as the Japanese has been forced to withdraw from the tournament due to an ongoing left knee injury. Nishikori, 33, returned to action in June after being sidelined for 20 months. Unfortunately, in just his fourth tournament back, Nishikori sustained an injury to his left knee. After being forced to miss the US Open, Nishikori accepted a wildcard into Chengdu. But Nishikori didn't recover in time for Chengdu and he is forced to miss another tournament.

After competing in three Challenger tournaments, Nishikori made his ATP return at the Atlanta Open. In Atlanta, Nishikori made the quarterfinal before losing to Taylor Fritz. After concluding his Atlanta run, Nishikori withdrew from an ATP 500 tournament in Washington that was taking place the following week. ”I was having knee pain left from last week and it got a little bit worse after [my] first match last week. I was trying to play a couple more matches. It was okay, but hurting more, more and more. So I tried to play today, but I was not good enough to play. So unfortunately, I have to withdraw. I’m very disappointed because I always play good here. Good memories and good crowd. I always enjoy playing this week. But this is what it is, and I've got to keep climbing because I just started playing again and I know my body is not 100 per cent strong enough to play many matches. I think these things happen [the] first couple months [back], but big tournaments are coming up. So I [will try to] to be ready for that," Nishikori said in a statement when announcing his withdrawal from Washington. It remains to be seen when will Nishikori be ready to play again.