Kei Nishikori withdraws from Canadian Open 2023 as injury fears worsen

Japanese tennis player Kei Nishikori has officially withdrawn from the 2023 Canadian Open.

Nishikori returned to the ATP Tour in June after being away from competition for almost two years due to injuries.

The 33-year-old immediately won the Palmas Del Mar Challenger in Puerto Rico. He then lost to Denis Kudla, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, in the second round of the Bloomfield Hills Challenger, and to the up-and-coming Alex Michelsen, 6-7(13), 6-3, 1-6, in the quarterfinals of the Chicago Challenger.

Nishikori made his return to the ATP level at Atlanta, beating Jordan Thompson, 7-6(5), 7-6(5), in the first round, and Juncheng Shang, 6-4, 7-6(3), in the second. However, he fell to top seed Taylor Fritz, 4-6, 2-6, in the quarterfinals.

Nishikori was supposed to turn up at the Citi Open in Washington next, but he had to withdraw prior to the start of the tournament because of problems with his knee.

Fans had hoped that the decision to miss the Citi Open was mostly precautionary, as the Canadian Open was fast approaching, but that wasn't the case as Nishikori has officially withdrawn from that tournament as well.

The 2023 Canadian Open was supposed to be Nishikori's first Masters 1000 tournament since the comeback, and his first tournament of the 1000 series since losing to Dan Evans in the first round of the 2021 Indian Wells Open.

Nishikori is set to be replaced by Mackenzie McDonald in the main draw, with Brandon Nakashima up next in the entry list waiting for another withdrawal.

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Kei Nishikori takes aim at US Open 2023

Kei Nishikori at the Atlanta Open

Kei Nishikori has had quite a successful comeback after missing almost 20 months due to injury, and now has his sights set on the upcoming US Open, the last Major of the season.

The 33-year-old from Japan played four tournaments since coming back to the tour in June, winning a Challenger title in Puerto Rico and reaching the quarterfinals of the Atlanta Open.

In a recent press conference, Nishikori admitted that the ultimate goal of his comeback, which has been slightly halted due to a knee injury, is to compete at the US Open.

"I want to ramp up from here and aim for the big tournaments like the US Open. I want to climb back in the top 100 so I need to keep leveling up," Nishikori told reporters.

Nishikori was also very surprised he managed to win a title immediately after coming back to the tour.

"This is huge to me. I thought it'd take weeks, several tournaments to even win one match", the former World No. 4 said following the Palmas Del Mar final.