In a major upset, Kei Nishikori crashed out of the 2021 Australian Open in the opening round. Nishikori lost to No.15 seed Pablo Carreno Busta in straight sets at the 1573 Arena. Carreno Busta appeared in sublime form, having entered the Grand Slam after winning two singles matches in the ATP Cup.

For Nishikori, the situation turned grim as soon as he’d arrived in Melbourne in mid-January. The tennis star was among the 72 players who were placed under a hard quarantine since a few passengers on their flights had tested COVID-19 positive.

Due to the unfortunate incident, Nishikori could not train during the two-week quarantine period, which hampered his preparations for the Australian Open. After the isolation period, Nishikori competed at the ATP but lost in both his singles matches to Daniil Medvedev and Diego Schwartzman.

Kei Nishikori reflects on the first-round loss

During the post-match conference, a press reporter asked Nishikori whether being in a hard lockdown played any part in his first-round loss. Looking dejected, Nishikori admitted that being deprived of practice sessions for two weeks affected his performance.

However, the Japanese contended he didn’t want to make any excuses and vowed to perform at his best in the following tournaments. Nishikori revealed it took him a week post quarantine to just feel physically good again.

“I was trying not to think about it, but now I feel a little bit yes because I didn’t play my best last week. Took almost one week to play good tennis and feel good again. Physically, I was okay today. So took almost one week, I kind of lost two matches last week. I would yes, but I don’t want to use this as an excuse. It is what it is, I’ll try to do my best in next tournament,” said Nishikori.

This is the first time since 2009 that Nishikori has lost in the first round of the Australian Open. Last year, Nishikori had withdrawn from the Australian Open because of a right elbow injury.