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Kei Nishikori - positive coronavirus test
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‘I can get back into top ten,’ says Kei Nishikori after declaring himself healthy


Kei Nishikori is eying up his top ten place again after admitting there are no more excuses now he is feeling healthy again.

Nishikori climbed to number four in the world in 2015, and was a fixture in the upper echelons of the ATP rankings for quite some time.

However, the couple of years has seen him battling embow injuries with his ranking slipping to 45 as a result.

He is back playing well again in Rotterdam though, and can earn a semi-final spot if he beats Karen Khachanov on Friday.

“I don’t feel certain weakness in specific part of my play, so if I can get top 10 player-like mentality to sink into my mind, I think I can be back into top 10,” Nishikori said.

“I’m kind of convinced that I’m getting back my good feelings, at least I don’t feel like I’m short of good feelings when [hitting] balls, so I can’t use that as an excuse anymore.

“I’m happy to reach the quarterfinal and play decent matches against good players. I’m kind of relieved and motivated by that.

“As long as I have frustration that I can’t play as usual, it’s difficult to lift me up and that exhausts me mentally too.

“I’m happy that I’ve got out of that. I had trouble holding my serve in last couple of matches and let my opponents play comfortably, and sometimes I can’t get into a match well.

“So I still have things to work on, but I’m almost there.”


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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.