After Disappointing Olympics, Nishikori upsets an upset Tsitsipas

After getting “killed” at the Olympics in Paris, Kei Nishikori is putting together perhaps the finest week of his comeback.

The 2016 finalist at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers pulled off his biggest ranking win in three years when he upset no. 11 Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4 at Court Rogers on Thursday.

“Upset” might also be the word to describe Tsitsipas’ state of mind, since he wasn’t pleased with dad Apostolos late in the first set. But back to Nishikori, who was one of Roger Federer’s favourite players to watch given his propensity to produce flashy drives from the baseline. Hip and elbow surgery in recent years curtailed the 2014 US Open finalist’s activity and when he returned, other injuries — though less serious — developed.

Canadian tennis fans in particular might recall that he overcame Montrealer Gabriel Diallo in five sets at the French Open in May before retiring against Ben Shelton in the second round due to a shoulder complaint.

It was at the same venue where the Japanese star suffered his quickfire loss to Jack Draper at the Olympics.

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Nishikori subsequently came to Montréal and began his tournament by downing US up-and-comer Alex Michelsen in two-and-a-half hours to earn a clash with Tsitsipas.

“These two matches that I won for sure will give me some confidence, especially because I played really bad at the Olympics,” Nishikori said in his press conference. “Draper killed me very easy, and I wasn't sure how long it will take to come back. I was really (doubting) myself last week. So, this win and how I played today and, yes, the first match really helped for the next couple of months.”

Not since bettering Andrey Rublev at his home Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 had the 34-year-old defeated a player ranked as high as Tsitsipas.

“Very happy to (beat) someone like him that I was not expected really now to beat,” he said. “So, I'm really looking forward to play the next couple of rounds.”

He next meets Portugal’s Nuno Borges, whose eventful last few weeks continued. Borges won his maiden ATP title in Sweden in July by beating Rafael Nadal, competed in a first Olympics and saved a match point Thursday to down France’s Ugo Humbert in his first trip to the National Bank Open.

As for Tsitsipas, his next stop is Cincinnati. The Greek wasn’t happy with his strings — and his dad. After he exchanged words with his father at 2-5 in the first set, Apostolos left his player box. It wasn’t the first time the two have disagreed, but it left Tsitsipas — who lost his opening match in Canada for the third straight time — perplexed.

“For me an ATP Masters 1000 match is an important match,” said Tsitsipas to a group of reporters. “I believe the least I deserve is a coach that listens to me and hears my feedback as a player — it’s an important one — and tries and adjusts to those sorts of things. I feel like my father in those sort of ways hasn’t been that smart or very good in handling those sorts of situations or trying to read what’s happening inside the court. That’s really a poor performance and it’s not the first time he has done that. So, I’m really disappointed in him.”

Tsitsipas went from 2-5 to 4-5 in the second set and had two break point chances to get back on serve before Nishikori prevailed.

“He can do whatever he wants, but the only bad thing is he started playing better,” said Nishikori. “I was really lucky that somehow I managed to hold the game.”

Featured Photo: Patrice Lapointe