Kei Nishikori

US Open

August 28, 2008



THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.


Q. I think this is your biggest success right now, first Grand Slam, third round.

KEI NISHIKORI: Yeah.


Q. How would you describe it? Is it fantastic for you?

KEI NISHIKORI: Yeah, I'm pretty happy, but it was ‑‑ I wasn't playing well today, but he retired, and I was just lucky, guess.


Q. Do you know why he has retired?

KEI NISHIKORI: No, no. I didn't know, no.


Q. Could you tell us a little bit yourself? You practiced at the Bollettieri Academy. Why did you choose that academy?

KEI NISHIKORI: Um, because there is more players, top players. Many pros are practicing there, and many coach.


Q. But you could choose, also, another one. Why did you choose Bollettieri?

KEI NISHIKORI: Oh, because the one, the guy helps me, his name is Mr. Morita. He send me there, yeah.


Q. How old have you been when you went...

KEI NISHIKORI: When I was 13, so almost five years now.


Q. Okay. And how is the contact with Mr. Bollettieri at the moment, for example?

KEI NISHIKORI: What do you mean, contract?


Q. Contact with him. I mean, do you speak with him after such a big victory, for example?

KEI NISHIKORI: Yeah.


Q. What does he say?

KEI NISHIKORI: Congrats. I haven't talked to him yet, so...

Yeah.


Q. Did you get any sort of sense of why he retired? Did he seem to have an injury, or do you know what was in his mind?

KEI NISHIKORI: I don't know why he retired, still. But he wasn't moving well. Seemed his legs, I guess.


Q. Can you just talk about your match today, how you played.

KEI NISHIKORI: I tried to go to the net more often, because he was using slice a lot. I tried to make more first serve. He get more pressure when I hit, when I make first serve. Yeah, tried to go aggressive.


Q. How much time do you spend in Japan in a year, for example? Are you just staying in the States, or are you sometimes in Japan?

KEI NISHIKORI: Twice a year.


Q. And just for a week or...

KEI NISHIKORI: One tournament, and two, three weeks of vacation in November or December.


Q. And your parents, they still live in Japan?

KEI NISHIKORI: Yeah, but they come to tournament sometimes. Like here, they're here now, too.

They came Wimbledon.


Q. How hard was it for you when, 13 years, left your parents, left Japan to go to the States. Was it a big step for you?

KEI NISHIKORI: Yeah, but many friends went with me, Japanese guy. So I wasn't ‑‑ I wasn't like homesick. But now sometimes I get homesick.


Q. Other players from Japan went with you to the States?

KEI NISHIKORI: Yeah. Two guys and one coach, as well.


Q. Where are they now? Are they still...

KEI NISHIKORI: They're in college in Japan.


Q. Japan?

KEI NISHIKORI: College.


Q. So you're the only one that stayed?

KEI NISHIKORI: Yeah.

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