After losing in the second round of the Indian Wells Masters, Kei Nishikori made too many unforced errors.
Nishikori, who is now rated No. 52 in the world, won the first set, but Dan Evans, the top-ranked British tennis player, came back to win 4-6 6-3 6-4.
Before his first Indian Wells encounter, Nishikori could barely train, but he’s back felt great against Evans.
Kei says his back was fine and will play three more tournaments this season.
— 井蛙堂 (@seiadoumogera) October 10, 2021
“At some moments I played well, but overall I made more UEs than usual. Wish I could have moved him around, but I kinda played too carefully, made lots of mistakes, wheels came off. pic.twitter.com/ijK6ADN636
“At some moments I played well, but overall I made more unforced errors than usual.
“Wish I could have moved him around, but I kinda played too carefully, made lots of mistakes, wheels came off,” Nishikori said.
“I was able to move him around in the first set, but from the seconds set the momentum shifted in rallies, I started making more errors especially in my service games,
“I played passively with pressure. The slow surface didn’t allow me to play at first tempo, that was difficult. My back was fine.”
Nishikori talks about the European indoor season
Nishikori will compete in three more tournaments until the end of his 2021 season.
“I will play Vienna next. It’s for the first time in a while to play an indoor, I don’t have specific goals for remaining three tournaments, just want to play as many matches as possible,” Nishikori told.
During his runs at the Tokyo Olympics and the US Open, Nishikori admitted he felt a lot on the court.
“I was not able to have as great feeling as that in the US Open or the Olympics this week, I’m a bit worried, but I could hardly practice, so…
“I played quite well from the Olympics to the US Open. I will try to get back that great feeling as soon as possible to be ready for the European indoor season,” Nishikori admitted.
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