Kei Nishikori Analyzes His Tokyo Victory

Written by: Staff on 15th October 2012

Kei Nishikori Analyzes His Tokyo Victory

epa03424199 Kei Nishikori of Japan in action against Milos Raonic of Canada during the final of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships tournament in Tokyo Japan, 07 October 2012. Nishikori won the final 7-6. 3-6, 6-0. EPA/TOMOYUKI KAYA |

Kei Nishikori admitted relief at finally overcoming his phobia of playing in his home country by winning the Rakuten Japan Open title after suffering has suffered three first round defeats in four previous appearances in Tokyo.

The 22 year-old, a product of the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida, became the first Japanese to win the event in its’ 40 year history, and he said: “For a while I honestly wasn’t sure whether I could play my best in this country. Maybe I thought I wasn’t mentally strong enough but something happened as I beat (Tomas) Berdych in the quarterfinals and my feelings changed. It gave me so much self belief that I became confident enough to take anything on.

“Up to now I’ve not been able to play my best tennis here and I always felt so much pressure in Japan. So what I am feeling now is something I’ve never experienced before and the crowd helped me so much in the final.”

Nishikori overcame Milos Raonic, a semi-final winner over defending champion Andy Murray, 7-6, 3-6, 6-0. As a result he is $30,130 richer and will move up to a career high 15^th place in the world rankings.

“I’ve grown as a player and I would like to say my performance today was 100%,” he said. “To win this title here in Japan is as important to me as winning a Grand Slam tournament.”

Nishikori reserved his best tennis for the final set where his play was nothing short of exemplary. “I watched Milos playing against Murray and worked out what I had to do against him,” continued the Japanese who a week earlier reached the Kuala Lumpur semi-finals and now moves on to Asia’s biggest tournament, the Shanghai Rolex Masters where last year he was also a semi-finalist.

“Obviously I knew he would try to serve big but also be aggressive with his return game and I think I combated that well today. Maybe Milos was a little bit tight and got tired but the difference today was how much confidence I had out on the court.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

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