Kei Nishikori Withdraws From Canadian Open With Fresh Injury Concern

Japanese tennis star Kei Nishikori has pulled out from next week's Canadian Open in Toronto due to a knee injury.

Nishikori, who only returned to action from career-threatening hip and elbow surgeries a couple of months ago, picked up his latest injury in Atlanta this past week, where he played on the ATP Tour for the first time since 2021.

Nishikori picked up his first wins on the ATP Tour this year, beating Jordan Thompson and Shang Juncheng to advance to the quarterfinals, where he lost to eventual champion Taylor Fritz. The 2014 US Open finalist struggled with a knee injury in matches against Shang and Fritz, where he was spotted wearing a tape on his left knee.

He couldn't recover in time to play at the Citi Open this week where he was granted a wild card at an event he won back in 2015. Nishikori was scheduled to play at the Toronto Masters next week but has since informed the tournament organizers he won't be taking part.

This fresh injury concern is a massive setback for Nishikori who lost a full calendar year in 2022 nursing a harrowing hip injury . Nishikori had created a bit of history when he played his first tournament at the Palmas del Mar Challenger in mid-June, where he became the first unranked player to win a Challenger title .

He appeared to have put together some momentum ahead of the busy summer on the US hard courts. While he is still committed to playing in Cincinnati and the US Open, it will be interesting to hear Nishikori's statement regarding the nature and extent of his absence.

Nishikori joins a growing list of withdrawals of the first Masters 1000 tournament of the US Open summer series that already includes world number two Novak Djokovic , Karen Khachanov, home favorite Denis Shapovalov, Australia's Nick Kyrgios and defending champion Pablo Carreno Busta .