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Away from tennis courts for more than a year, Kei Nishikori could be back for Australian Open 2023. After facing a depression and considering ending his impressive career, the Japanese announced that he could return. For Nishikori, who recently played with the Maestro Roger Federer for an exhibition in Tokyo, there is a 50% chance that he would play the Australian Open.
“I still don’t know when I’ll be back on tour. My goal is to play the Australian Open, my chances of doing so are 50% now,” said Michael Chang’s protégé, who would have liked to return to competition last October but has not played since his elimination in the second round in Indian Wells in October… 2021.
By dint of taking his pain in patience and not seeing the path to the courts again, Nishikori had first suffered from depression, then thought of stopping everything. To hear him tell it, it was the same Federer whose path he crossed this weekend on his home court and who pushed his career to the age of 41 that made him unwillingly not want to hang up. “I’ve been very depressed in recent months, I even thought about retiring (…) Seeing Roger, I finally thought I could continue playing tennis beyond 30.” If the Japanese is indeed among the registrants in Melbourne in January, he will inevitably have a strong thought for the Swiss.i
