Kei Nishikori wins his first match in four months after missing the Australian Open through injury

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Kei Nishikori has made a winning return to tennis after playing just his second match of the 2026 season.

Nishikori retired from his first match of the year in Canberra, and subsequently dropped outside the top 200 of the ATP rankings.

Following the injury he sustained in Canberra, Nishikori withdrew from the Australian Open and had not played since.

That was until the former US Open finalist returned to competition at the ATP Challenger tournament in Thionville, France, where he was forced to play in the qualifying draw.

Kei Nishikori wins his first match since November

Following his injury absence, Nishikori has dropped down to world number 282, which is his lowest ranking since August 2024.

This means that Nishikori is not ranked highly enough to play at the sunshine double of Indian Wells and the Miami Open, and is instead playing in qualifying at a lower-level Challenger tournament.

In his first match since January, Nishikori beat world number 1812 Daniel Jade, who is just 16 years old, 6-2, 6-3.

This is the first win for Nishikori since November, when he won a match at the Yokohama Challenger.

Nishikori has not yet advanced to the main draw, and will have to win one more match to qualify.

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Kei Nishikori will likely still fall down the rankings after his return

Despite making a winning return to competition, Nishikori is still likely to drop down the rankings in the coming weeks.

This same time last year, Nishikori played at Indian Wells, where he reached the second round of the main draw and received 30 ranking points.

Nishikori then played at the ATP Challenger tournament in Phoenix, where he reached the semifinals and earned an extra 50 ranking points.

After playing at the Challenger in Thionville, Nishikori is scheduled to play qualifying at another tournament in France.

For Nishikori to match the 80 ranking points he earned in Indian Wells and Phoenix last year, he would need to reach the latter stages of one or both his Challenger tournaments.

Before he can even think about this, Nishikori will need to qualify for the Thionville Challenger, with his next match against either world number 338 Jelle Sels or world number 1391 Timeo Trufelli.