Nishikori sees a silver lining

Japanese star vows to bounce back from frustrating year

Japan's Kei Nishikori admits his primary goal in 2016 is to stay healthy enough to make a sustained push for Grand Slam glory.

Nishikori has endured a frustrating campaign over the past 11 months, with a series of nagging injuries ruining his hopes of challenging for the four majors.

After making his Grand Slam breakthrough with a run to the final of the 2014 US Open, the 25-year-old came into this year tipped as the most likely challenger to the sport's big four of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal.

Instead, he was beaten in the quarterfinals of the Australian and French Opens and then pulled out of Wimbledon in the second round due to a calf injury before going down to an embarrassing first-round defeat at the US Open.

Nishikori remains convinced he has the talent and stamina to take home silverware from the Grand Slams and the Masters 1000 tournaments, but to do that he knows he must steer clear of those troublesome calf and hip complaints.

"I'm excited for next year. I think physically I have to be a little more strong," Nishikori said after his season came to an end with a loss to Federer at the ATP Tour Finals in London on Thursday.

"I try to work on little things to improve a little more. Try to be healthy, I think that's most important."

It wasn't all doom and gloom for Nishikori in 2015 as he did win three titles - in Memphis, Barcelona and Washington - as well as maintaining his place in the world's top eight.

For the second straight year he qualified for the prestigious Tour Finals at O2 Arena and he took heart from the way he recovered from an opening-match thrashing at the hands of world No 1 Djokovic.

Will to win

A less competitive player might have thrown in the towel after winning just two games against the Serb superstar, but Nishikori's ferocious will to win is one of his main assets and he recovered to defeat Tomas Berdych in his second group match.

Chasing a third career win over boyhood idol Federer, Nishikori broke the Swiss great five times and pushed him to the limits before succumbing 7-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Those strong performances have given Nishikori renewed hope of a strong 2016.

"I think for me it's important to win a title, especially big ones, Masters, going further in a Grand Slam especially, because I didn't do quite so well this year," he said.

"Plus, I missed three Masters this year, but still I'm in the top 10. If I can do a little better than this year, I think I can go little higher (in the rankings).

"I think I just have to adjust little things to beat those top players."

One of Nishikori's main aims during his three-week training camp ahead of January's Australian Open is to improve his play at the net.

"I'm trying to work on coming into the net more. I'm improving a lot, and I want to keep doing that," he said.

"I have to make a lot of first serves. I'm not the guy acing a lot, so I have to raise the percentage a little more."

(China Daily 11/21/2015 page11)