Kei Nishikori eyeing a consecutive medal at the Olympics, says the 2020 fiasco led to “a lucky postponement” for him


Japan’s Kei Nishikori is one of the most successful tennis players to hail from Asia. The former U.S Open runner-up is the only male player from Asia to have broken into the World’s Top-5. Further, after staying at bay for a long time due to recurrent wrist and shoulder injuries, the current World No.41 is looking to get his stride back, especially with another edition of the Olympics looming.
At the Rio Olympics which were held in 2016, Kei became the first man from Japan to win an Olympic medal in tennis after a drought of 96 years. He did so when he downed the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal to claim the bronze medal in Rio. Citing the past success he’s had, Nishikori is quite ecstatic to not have missed the Tokyo Olympics which was originally scheduled to be held in 2020.
“We all want to aim for the Olympics”- Nishikori

The Japanese champ recently visited an orphanage and distributed his sponsor, Uniqlo’s ‘AIRsm’ masks. Moreover, Nishikori interacted with the children who asked him questions related to the upcoming season.
One question centred around what the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics meant to Nishikori. While the tennis ace transparently acknowledged the horrid pandemic that led to this, he added that it was fortunate for him.
“I was planning to attend. However, I was injured. So it was a lucky postponement for me. For next year, I think it’s still hard for everyone to feel that way. But when Corona calms down a little more, we all want to aim for the Olympics,” he added.
Due to the pandemic and his own injuries, Kei partook in only a handful of events in 2020. Heading into 2021, he is looking to climb up the charts and contend with full prowess at the Tokyo Olympics.
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Chhavi Jindal
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