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Former world No. 4 Kei Nishikori has accepted a wild card into the San Diego Open. The city of San Diego is set to host an ATP 250 event since it has been granted a single-year license in 2021. In addition to Nishikori, some other well-known names will perform on the hard courts of San Diego from September 27 - October 3.
Andrey Rublev, Grigor Dimitrov, Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Casper Ruud are also expected to play in San Diego. Nishikori is excited about having a chance to compete at the San Diego Open. “I’ve always enjoyed coming to Southern California and I’m looking forward to playing in San Diego,” said Nishikori.
“The San Diego Open has a tremendous field with so many of the top players already entered. I want to thank the tournament for the wild card and the opportunity to play this event”.
Nishikori drew positives from his US Open campaign
Nishikori last played at the US Open, where he made the third round before losing to world No.
1 Novak Djokovic. Nishikori made a good start to the match but Djokovic recovered to win 6-7 (4) 6-3 6-3 6-2. "I wanted to play differently (from the usual) even at the Olympics, and today I was also trying that. That might work well, I took a set from him for the first time in a while, but I couldn't keep that," Nishikori said after losing to Djokovic.
"In the first set I was trying to force him to make errors, but when he started raising his level and playing more aggressively I couldn't catch up with him. It was a bit uncomfortable to play differently, but also had a good feeling, like, I can play like this.
"Overall it was not bad, but difference in serve between us was the key. His stroke was also good, few unforced errors, he hit backhand down the line into the narrow space, but I think the difference in serve mattered the most today."