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Kei Nishikori is all set to take the tennis court at the 2024 Miami Open after over seven months away from action. He has received a main draw wildcard at the second ATP 1000 tournament of the year.
Kei Nishikori was a regular on the ATP Tour until about two years ago, when an unfortunate string of injuries hampered his career. At the start of 2022, he underwent arthroscopic hip surgery that kept him out of action for more than 18 months. After his break, the Japanese played a few Challenger-level tournaments and returned to tour action at the Atlanta Open in July 2023.
Nishikori entered the Atlanta Open main draw via protected ranking and notched his first win since coming back to tour against Jordan Thompson. He would go on to defeat Shang Juncheng to reach the quarterfinals, where he would be bettered by eventual champion Taylor Fritz.
Unfortunately, injuries struck again as Nishikori remained out of action till now due to a niggle in the knee. He has now fully recovered from his physical troubles and will return to the ATP Tour again at the 2024 Miami Open. The 34-year-old was one of the main draw wildcard recipients alongside Shang Juncheng, Martin Landaluce, Martin Damm and Darwin Blanch. The tournament will run from March 17 to 31.
Kei Nishikori has reached Miami for the tournament and recently shared a few pictures from his time at Miami Gardens on X (formerly Twitter).
"So great to be back at the @MiamiOpen," he tweeted.
Kei Nishikori reached the final of Miami Open in 2016
Kei Nishikori is a former runner-up at the Miami Open. He reached the title contest in Florida in 2016 and ultimately came up short against top seed Novak Djokovic. The Serb was the two-time defending champion at the 2016 Miami Open and completed a three-peat by defeating Nishikori in the title contest 6-3, 6-3.
Nishikori was the No. 6 seed and defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Alexandr Doglopolov, Roberto Bautista-Agut, Gael Monfils and Nick Kyrgios on the way to his second ATP 1000 final.
The former World No. 4 last played at the Miami Open in 2021, where he was seeded No. 28. After a first-round bye, Nishikori won a hard-fought three-setter against Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia before losing to No. 2 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round in another three-set affair.
