The injury concerns are racking up ahead of the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2026 season at the Australian Open.
World number 10 Jack Draper has already withdrawn from the Australian Open due to his ongoing arm injury.
There are also concerns for Joao Fonseca, who has been struggling with a back injury and has been forced to withdraw from the Brisbane International.
Former world number one Karolina Pliskova is also an Australian Open doubt, and now a former US Open finalist has joined this growing list.
Kei Nishikori suffers big ranking drop after retiring from first match of 2026
Kei Nishikori is a former world number four and beat Novak Djokovic en route to reaching the US Open final in 2014.
However, the Japanese star has been dealing with many physical struggles since then, with Nishikori undergoing hip surgery in 2022, and has also dealt with ankle and knee issues.
These physical problems caused Nishikori to fall to as low as world number 581 in 2024, but Nishikori has since been building his way back up the rankings.
Nishikori, who has one of the best backhands in tennis, reached the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open and won an ATP Challenger title in 2024, enabling him to break back into the world’s top 60 in May last year.
However, after another injury-plagued season in 2025, Nishikori ended the year ranked outside the world’s top 150.
Despite reaching the final of the Hong Kong Open last year, Nishikori elected not to return to the event and instead started his season at the Challenger tournament in Canberra.
In his first match of the 2026 season, Nishikori was forced to retire early in the second set of his match against Vit Kopriva, having trailed 6-1 2-2.
It is unclear as to what the actual reason for Nishikori’s retirement from this match was, but it also coincides with him losing 165 ranking points from reaching the Hong Kong final.
Nishikori has subsequently slipped a further 82 ranking spots and is now ranked as the world number 238.
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What is next for Kei Nishikori?
While there is no clarification on the severity of Nishikori’s injury, it is not a good sign ahead of the Australian Open.
This feels especially prevalent as Nishikori does not have an extra week to recover, as his ranking does not enable him to receive direct entry into the main draw.
Instead, Nishikori will have to play qualifying at the Australian Open, where he has reached the quarterfinals on four occasions.
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Australian Open qualifying will get underway on Monday, January 12, with the main draw starting on Sunday, January 18.
If he is unable to be fit in time for the tournament, it will be the fourth consecutive major that he has withdrawn from, with Nishikori also pulling out of the US Open, Wimbledon and Roland Garros last year.
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