BRISBANE—Roger Federer believes Kei Nishikori improved a great deal in 2014, during which he reached the U.S. Open final, won tournaments in Barcelona and Tokyo, and ended the year at No. 5 in the rankings.
“He had a fantastic season,” Federer said. “All of last year he was consistent, from [the 2014] Australian Open where he played Rafa [Nadal in the round of 16] in a very tough in the day session I remember in Melbourne until the World Tour Finals. So very solid, very consistent, very dangerous. He beat many of the top players on big occasions. Clearly his movement has always been very good. His backhand.
"I think this last year he has also shown his toughness. I think he won a lot of best-of-three set matches and also best-of-five set matches. When it came down to the crunch he was there and physically he was there.”
Federer and Nishikori have both advanced to the semifinals of this week's Brisbane International this week and could play each other in the final. In 2014, both men lost in Brisbane to Lleyton Hewitt, who won the tournament.
“The top guys got the message that [Kei's] not going to go away.” Federer said about the 25-year-old. “I think that's why—maybe that's the biggest jump for him in my opinion, is also in the mind of the top players, knowing that he is the player he is now Doesn't matter what the score is, doesn't matter how long the match goes, you're aware that Kei is not going to go away.”