Peak Nishikori is right up there. Very unlucky not to win both a Masters 1000 and a Grand Slam. Injuries really ruined his career. And definitely here you could see he was not moving and striking the ball the same way after leading 4-2 in the 2nd set and that was all the opening Nadal needed.
Yeah Toni even accepts that Federer was better than Nadal but there wasn't strategy by Federer to counter Nadal attacking feds backhand with high bouncing balls on clay
Nishikori will always be considered one of the unluckiest players with injury, right up there with Delpo. You put Nishikori in any other era with a body that half-works and he's probably winning a few Slams and a handful of Masters.
To this day, I'm still bummed out Kei never got a Masters 1000 or a major. I'll never forget that US Open semi against Novak and the what if feeling two days later when his game was no match against Cilic. Similar to Del Potro, the tennis was there but the body was unwilling to hold together.
@@hello-mv6yg yeah that was a weird ass tournament. imagine getting all hyped up for a federer djokovic final and then u paid 10k for front row seats for cilic/nishiokori
Nishikori is the strongest player ever to fail to win a Masters 1000 title. There is no doubt that he is superior to Zverev, Tsitsipas and Hurkacz. If he had been born five years later, He would have won multiple Grand Slam titles.
Nishikori has experienced 4 finals in Masters 1000. But he was defeated twice by Nole on a hard court , the rest on a clay court by Rafa. He’s very unlucky.
@@yannickcolot2319 and the sad part is at this point there won't be any legitimate changing of the guard where the younger guys take the reins fair and square; when the Big 3 finally fall, it will be literally only due to age.
Uncle Toni is a great sportsman. He showed recognition and respect for Nishikori and how great he was playing, and by describing him and Nadal he used the terms like "us" and "we", I know any coach would do similarly I'm sure but the guy is a good leader and a respectable sportsman
@@Joe-ff6tk its true they were so big comparing to how djokovic has now turned them into . Seen djokovic missing masters just to train for grandslams nd still staying no.1 nd then when he plays he wins it most of times its not fun. Hopefully nadal gives more importance to clay masters nd gives godly matches with djokovic there.
@@starlife8652 I think this is take is a bit naive. Djokovic has won all of the masters tournaments at least twice with 37 total titles. Federer and Nadal aren't far behind in terms of masters accomplishments too. All three of them are old and have to limit the amount of tournaments they can play. This in no way should impact the prestige of these tournaments or the accomplishments of players that have been winning in recent years.
@@ryan-sp3kb i think it does to tennis fans in some way.For e.g. Djokovic and nadal are playing a masters tournament and together they will have more supporters behind them than rest of players combined so when fans see them not giving their all in masters and lose to players they would never lose to in grandslams ,it loses the importance of masters in their eyes. This is what i experienced personally.
wrong. maybe in 2013, maybe. but befoe this no. federer routinely skipped these to prepare for slams. there were no BYEs and the finals were best of 5 so they actually had to adjust the masters because fedal skipped a masters after their brutal rome final and the final was 2 random dudes
Nishikori will retire as probably the best player ever not to win a Masters 1000 title. If he was born only 5 years later he could have won a bunch of them from 2017 onwards, given the significantly weaker players who have profited in the Big 3's more frequent absences from the tour.
Nishikori was playing out of his mind for a set and a half. Nadal was hitting shots close to the lines and still not getting anywhere in the point. And Nishikori was winning every point where he was on the front foot, aggressively attacking the return. Shame he got hurt.
What gives Nadal problem is when somebody has great backhand that he can hit angel with speed and take it early to go down the line and be cosistant to that for 2 or more hours.On top of that Nishikori at his peak had great return,solid defense and was taking the forehand early to hurt his opponents.
You look at players like Nishikori , great fantastic shots from back to mid court ....equal with the best on his day - but no coach it seems - ever taught him how to do an easy finish off at the net !!! He and a whole multitute of other men & womans players have very little know how of how to finish with a simple volley after setting up with fantastic groundies .... Its baffleing
EXACTLY!!!!! Every player coming up seems to be allergic to playing up at net. They're all wanting to slug it out from the baseline and have 20-30 shot rallies to see who can outlast the other. That's why Carlos Alcaraz is a breath of fresh air. He loves coming to net. He recognizes when he's hit a good shot, and he's going to come to net to put the floating reply away instead of just rallying.
he’s got very unlucky with so many injuries and being the same generation with the big 4. however, i’m sure he takes some solace in the mega endorsement money he makes from being such a superstar in japan. he’s always consistently in the top paid athletes in the world whether or not he has a good year or not just from his sponsorships. so at least he’s very rich!
.....he could easily have won this match - using half the effort it took to eventually loose it - with just some sound volley technique and knowing when to come in and use it ...... Its the modern game it seems - to over foucus on smashing the ball from back court until a winner comes , or the other player is forced into error ....boring and teadious to watch not to brutal on the players body ......
I disagree. With the way the ball bounces in the modern era and how quick and sound rafa is at the net, it would have been very difficult for Kei to pull those shots off. Not to mention, its very difficult to volley well against rafa's aggressive attacking top spin. His loss is a testament to how sound you have to be at the game tactically, technically, mentally, and physically to beat the big 3 at their best.
@@Infinityflow0 Hit the nail on the head. Nishikori technically, mentally, and tactically was better than Nadal here in the first set and half of the second set but it took everything out of Kei and once the pain started setting in his whole game unraveled.
Ahh, but you don't remember when He cheated in the Olympics 2016 in a toilet break of 12 minutes against Nadal for the bronze medal. Ring any bells?? That was pretty nasty, filthy, and unethical. Don’t be a schmack, please.
Nadal, the only players that doesnt follow the rule of the server for most of His career, bothers with His routines and antics tons of players, but suddenly he cant do no wrong, Nadal fans are the most obnoxious and hipócrites, they think Nadal its a Saint just cause he doenst break racquets
@@diegosotomiranda4107 I've never seen him get mad or rude behavior over a time violation call. He knows what he's doing. If the umpire doesn't call it, that's the ump So yes he is a saint. Doesn't rampage. Doesn't yell at umps.
@@diegosotomiranda4107 also, you should improve your lousy English or maybe you should stop using google translator as a dorky. But to each its own. And for this , turn a deaf ear 👂.
@@juanmanuelbustamanteveland6729 'stop using google translator as a dorky' is barely comprehensible. I'm not sure whether you're the one who should be criticizing anyone else's English mate... Not saying I agree with the other guy about Nadal btw.
Nishikori is a player i could never respect. Rio Olympics 2016, bronze medal match against Rafa Nadal, Kei left the court and was out for like 20 minutes, Nadal tried to keep active and telling the judge (Bernardes) what was happening. Kei returned with a new shirt and clean air, it clearly semmed that he took a shower, and the judge didn't say a single word. This is something completely illegal obviously. I cannot respect that, something that I cannot forget.
It's not true story. Kei was brought to the bathroom of another court, so took much more time. He didn't explain about that in English, so people doubt his humanity. It wasn't his fault. PLEASE don't spread the wrong story.
Peak Nishikori is right up there. Very unlucky not to win both a Masters 1000 and a Grand Slam. Injuries really ruined his career. And definitely here you could see he was not moving and striking the ball the same way after leading 4-2 in the 2nd set and that was all the opening Nadal needed.
Peak nishikori could beat nadal on Roland Garros
@@Bojanthekid 😅
@@Bojanthekid it depends on what version of nadal you talkin about🤡
him and del po were injury-ridden 😥
Nishikori serve is the issue, does not give him free points.
if only nishikori was born later. if his career starts around now he will probably be a multi masters/ slam winner
It was pretty nice of Toni to acknowledge what happened
thats just Toni being normal. hes always like this.
Yeah Toni even accepts that Federer was better than Nadal but there wasn't strategy by Federer to counter Nadal attacking feds backhand with high bouncing balls on clay
Definitely! Also funny how he says "we" when talking about Rafa winning lol
Nishikori will always be considered one of the unluckiest players with injury, right up there with Delpo. You put Nishikori in any other era with a body that half-works and he's probably winning a few Slams and a handful of Masters.
To this day, I'm still bummed out Kei never got a Masters 1000 or a major. I'll never forget that US Open semi against Novak and the what if feeling two days later when his game was no match against Cilic. Similar to Del Potro, the tennis was there but the body was unwilling to hold together.
Novak worst match
@@varunshahvo-tv9854 lol no it wasn't. I'm a Novak fan, but Nishikori completely deserved to win that match.
@@hello-mv6yg yeah that was a weird ass tournament. imagine getting all hyped up for a federer djokovic final and then u paid 10k for front row seats for cilic/nishiokori
@@bsrussian hahaha true, I remember when that happened, I was shocked
Nishikori is the strongest player ever to fail to win a Masters 1000 title.
There is no doubt that he is superior to Zverev, Tsitsipas and Hurkacz.
If he had been born five years later, He would have won multiple Grand Slam titles.
Nishikori has experienced 4 finals in Masters 1000. But he was defeated twice by Nole on a hard court , the rest on a clay court by Rafa. He’s very unlucky.
Story of his career. I forget what years but there was a stretch of like 6 consecutive Grand Slams where he lost at the QF or SF stage to solely Big 3
bro the big 3 destroyed a whole generation since 2005 and federer a bit before. they are still doing this nowadays they are immortal
@@yannickcolot2319 and the sad part is at this point there won't be any legitimate changing of the guard where the younger guys take the reins fair and square; when the Big 3 finally fall, it will be literally only due to age.
@@huntersnider9621 of course they are losing because of age but still winning slams
Uncle Toni is a great sportsman. He showed recognition and respect for Nishikori and how great he was playing, and by describing him and Nadal he used the terms like "us" and "we", I know any coach would do similarly I'm sure but the guy is a good leader and a respectable sportsman
This was so sad I was rooting for Kei. At this time Masters weren’t far behind slams in terms of prestige
wrong
@@Joe-ff6tk its true they were so big comparing to how djokovic has now turned them into . Seen djokovic missing masters just to train for grandslams nd still staying no.1 nd then when he plays he wins it most of times its not fun. Hopefully nadal gives more importance to clay masters nd gives godly matches with djokovic there.
@@starlife8652 I think this is take is a bit naive. Djokovic has won all of the masters tournaments at least twice with 37 total titles. Federer and Nadal aren't far behind in terms of masters accomplishments too. All three of them are old and have to limit the amount of tournaments they can play. This in no way should impact the prestige of these tournaments or the accomplishments of players that have been winning in recent years.
@@ryan-sp3kb i think it does to tennis fans in some way.For e.g. Djokovic and nadal are playing a masters tournament and together they will have more supporters behind them than rest of players combined so when fans see them not giving their all in masters and lose to players they would never lose to in grandslams ,it loses the importance of masters in their eyes. This is what i experienced personally.
wrong. maybe in 2013, maybe. but befoe this no. federer routinely skipped these to prepare for slams. there were no BYEs and the finals were best of 5 so they actually had to adjust the masters because fedal skipped a masters after their brutal rome final and the final was 2 random dudes
Nishikori deserved to win that match. He was right there, everything was landing in, he was playing near perfect tennis until he got injured.
Nishikori will retire as probably the best player ever not to win a Masters 1000 title. If he was born only 5 years later he could have won a bunch of them from 2017 onwards, given the significantly weaker players who have profited in the Big 3's more frequent absences from the tour.
Nishikori was playing out of his mind for a set and a half. Nadal was hitting shots close to the lines and still not getting anywhere in the point. And Nishikori was winning every point where he was on the front foot, aggressively attacking the return. Shame he got hurt.
Fair words from him
I do think that this match was his turning point as a tennis player. I think he would have won many big titles if he had won this match.
Too bad he never won a Masters 1000 title I was so sad when he retired in the Madrid final against Rafa felt bad for him
What gives Nadal problem is when somebody has great backhand that he can hit angel with speed and take it early to go down the line and be cosistant to that for 2 or more hours.On top of that Nishikori at his peak had great return,solid defense and was taking the forehand early to hurt his opponents.
I miss Kei.
Strength includes health, but this was cruel...😭
I'm practicing english with your videos :)
😂😂😂
Nadal was so lucky in that match..Nishikori surely would have won it
Nadal too good
You look at players like Nishikori , great fantastic shots from back to mid court ....equal with the best on his day - but no coach it seems - ever taught him how to do an easy finish off at the net !!!
He and a whole multitute of other men & womans players have very little know how of how to finish with a simple volley after setting up with fantastic groundies .... Its baffleing
Well SAID
it's like andy murray said once no one goes to net anymore, during this era only a few players including Federer has the guts to approach
EXACTLY!!!!! Every player coming up seems to be allergic to playing up at net. They're all wanting to slug it out from the baseline and have 20-30 shot rallies to see who can outlast the other.
That's why Carlos Alcaraz is a breath of fresh air. He loves coming to net. He recognizes when he's hit a good shot, and he's going to come to net to put the floating reply away instead of just rallying.
ホントにこの時期はいろんな選手、観客の心を折っていたね✨
覚醒状態の錦織圭は誰にも止められないッ…！
Undoubtedly, Kei broke so so so so so many people's heart!!
No one stop him to be on fire🔥🔥🔥
Very accurate estimation. There were stronger players without a slam. But Kei is arguably among the very best to never win at least one Masters.
Kei has ALWAYS BEEN a GREAT PLAYER!
He played perfect tennis and like some some great players he just need to retire. Sports definitely can ruin your skeletal system 😢
Kei definitely deserved to win. What a terrific talent🥶🥶🥶
Uncle Tony is such a nice guy
Ferrer nishikori rivalry = best
Kei should be a 21 Time Grand Slam Champion unfair
Keep uploading videos🙌
Toni is a good guy
very honest team...
he’s got very unlucky with so many injuries and being the same generation with the big 4. however, i’m sure he takes some solace in the mega endorsement money he makes from being such a superstar in japan. he’s always consistently in the top paid athletes in the world whether or not he has a good year or not just from his sponsorships. so at least he’s very rich!
Wow, Ferrer is loud!
For me it still hearts, like Wimbledon 2019 or more...
Had it been djokovik's father and the final words wd hve been spicier
nice video bro
Sos español, no? Por tu acento en la pronunciación del inglés
I know a guy who tries to play like nishikori and ended up busting his wrist.
.....he could easily have won this match - using half the effort it took to eventually loose it - with just some sound volley technique and knowing when to come in and use it ......
Its the modern game it seems - to over foucus on smashing the ball from back court until a winner comes , or the other player is forced into error ....boring and teadious to watch not to brutal on the players body ......
I disagree. With the way the ball bounces in the modern era and how quick and sound rafa is at the net, it would have been very difficult for Kei to pull those shots off. Not to mention, its very difficult to volley well against rafa's aggressive attacking top spin. His loss is a testament to how sound you have to be at the game tactically, technically, mentally, and physically to beat the big 3 at their best.
@@Infinityflow0 Hit the nail on the head. Nishikori technically, mentally, and tactically was better than Nadal here in the first set and half of the second set but it took everything out of Kei and once the pain started setting in his whole game unraveled.
A segunda A segunda!!!!!!
😓
I made a tribute video about Federer. Feel free to watch it if you’re interested!!
😑
Ahh, but you don't remember when He cheated in the Olympics 2016 in a toilet break of 12 minutes against Nadal for the bronze medal. Ring any bells?? That was pretty nasty, filthy, and unethical. Don’t be a schmack, please.
Nadal, the only players that doesnt follow the rule of the server for most of His career, bothers with His routines and antics tons of players, but suddenly he cant do no wrong, Nadal fans are the most obnoxious and hipócrites, they think Nadal its a Saint just cause he doenst break racquets
@@diegosotomiranda4107 I've never seen him get mad or rude behavior over a time violation call. He knows what he's doing. If the umpire doesn't call it, that's the ump
So yes he is a saint. Doesn't rampage. Doesn't yell at umps.
@@diegosotomiranda4107 clearly you never made an omelette
@@diegosotomiranda4107 also, you should improve your lousy English or maybe you should stop using google translator as a dorky. But to each its own. And for this , turn a deaf ear 👂.
@@juanmanuelbustamanteveland6729 'stop using google translator as a dorky' is barely comprehensible. I'm not sure whether you're the one who should be criticizing anyone else's English mate... Not saying I agree with the other guy about Nadal btw.
After his behaviour vs Nadal taking a shower I’ve zero sympathy for him
what happened??
Nishikori is a player i could never respect. Rio Olympics 2016, bronze medal match against Rafa Nadal, Kei left the court and was out for like 20 minutes, Nadal tried to keep active and telling the judge (Bernardes) what was happening. Kei returned with a new shirt and clean air, it clearly semmed that he took a shower, and the judge didn't say a single word. This is something completely illegal obviously. I cannot respect that, something that I cannot forget.
It's not true story. Kei was brought to the bathroom of another court, so took much more time. He didn't explain about that in English, so people doubt his humanity. It wasn't his fault. PLEASE don't spread the wrong story.
Weak bodies and mechanics aren't what make the best athletes. Duh