Just 13 months ago, Yoshihito Nishioka was lying in a hospital bed, beginning his slow and arduous journey back from leg surgery. The 22-year-old Japanese had torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), an injury that kept him on the sidelines for the remainder of the 2017 season. What a difference a year makes. Nishioka returned to the winners' circle on Sunday in Gimcheon, Korea, securing a bittersweet first ATP Challenger Tour crown in his comeback. He would claim seven wins in eight days as a qualifier, capped by a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Vasek Pospisil in the final. After battling through a pair of three-set encounters in qualifying, Nishioka would breeze through the main draw without dropping a set, scoring...
Watch as Yoshihito Nishioka and Vasek Pospisil earn Point of the Week honours on the ATP Challenger Tour with this stunning exchange in the Gimcheon final.
Yoshihito Nishioka has made coming back from a major knee injury look simple this week at the Miami Open presented by Itau. He scouted his #NextGenATP opponent by watching YouTube videos. He adapted his gamestyle and played aggressively against Aussie Alex de Minaur. Then, during only his fifth match of the past 12 months, he routed the Sydney International finalist to set a second-round contest with 10th seed Tomas Berdych. But don't let the soft-spoken left-hander's easy success deceive you: Nishioka's rehab from a torn ACL in his left knee was as arduous as you'd expect. After surgery in early April 2017, Nishioka couldn't run for three months. He couldn't play tennis for nine months. Every day, he trudged to...
Yoshihito Nishioka had never started a season better. The 21-year-old Japanese had reached the quarter-finals in Acapulco and the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, the first time he had made the round of 16 at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament. In the desert, the left-hander had beaten then-No. 21 Ivo Karlovic and then-No. 14 Tomas Berdych for his biggest career win. But in Miami, Nishioka had to retire from his second-round match against Jack Sock, and the news would get only worse: Nishioka had torn his ACL in his left knee and would require season-ending surgery. “I had never injured my legs so I didn't know what was going on with my knee....
Yoshihito Nishioka withstands a barrage from Stan Wawrinka and somehow turns this point around during their fourth-round match at the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.