Kei Nishikori: “I don’t care about Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic”

Kei Nishikori claims he ‘doesn’t care about Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic withdrawing from the Canadian Open, because it’s hard enough to win without them. Federer and Djokovic have opted not to play this week, after their Wimbledon final. They will instead return at next week’s Cincinnati Masters, their only build-up ahead of the US Open. Rafael Nadal will the there, tough. “I do not hugely care but of course for fans, it’s not great,” Nishikori told reports. “But Rafa is there and many good guys are playing, Sascha [Zverev], Dominic [Thiem] who has just won a title. It’s not gonna be easy.” Nishikori is still waiting for his first Masters-level title after losing all four of the finals he has played, but he hopes that run can come to an end this week. “I hope I can win it sooner than later,” he admitted. “It’s my goal and I will keep trying to do it. The first two matches will be important. I had a lot of practice coming to Montreal, I rested for three weeks. I did not touch a racket for two weeks, it was raining a lot so I could not play too much. I wanted to play Washington, I have good memories there as I won a title but I did not want to risk too much. Montreal and Cincinnati are important tournaments.”

Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer ‘not worth worrying about’ says Rafael Nadal