Rising Japanese star Yoshihito Nishioka announced on Friday that the knee injury he sustained in round two of the Miami Open is a torn ACL in his left knee. Nishioka was injured early in his match against Jack Sock while leading by a break and played a few more games before rain halted play. Knowing he would be unable to return following the delay, Nishioka retired up 4-2 in the first set.
The 21-year-old posted the following on social media:
“Dear Fans, I am sorry to report that the injury I sustained in Miami has been confirmed as a tear of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in my left knee. I am obviously disappointed with this news but will do everything I can to come back even stronger. I have surgery scheduled for April 4th in Tokyo and will start my rehab as soon as possible. Thanks for your continued support!!!”
Nishioka made a memorable run at this month’s Indian Wells Masters, where he lost in qualifying but got a lucky-loser spot in the main draw. He beat Elias Ymer–24 hours after losing to Ymer in the final round of qualifying–and was off to the races, also knocking out Ivo Karlovic and Tomas Berdych before losing in a third-set tiebreaker to eventual runner-up Stan Wawrinka.
The world No. 58 picked up his ninth ATP-level match win of the season by beating Jordan Thompson 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the Miami first round.
“I was doing well, so I’m disappointed,” Nishioka added. “But I’ll focus on recovering and think only about that for now.”
the moment Nishioka tore his ACL. Also, let's mention how he held serve from 0-30 down against Jack Sock on a TORN ACL. pic.twitter.com/baebERMpEK
— Ricky Dimon (@Dimonator) March 31, 2017
disaster
Yeah, I read that this morning.
ACL tears are extremely bad. Probably keep him out for 6-12 months.
Hard to recover from that one. Rare injury in tennis. You see that injury in many sports and most recover to varying degrees for the most part.
Mary Pierce tore her ACL at 31 and it ended her career. She was not ready to retire and planned to come back but she never fully recovered and never played again.
Sad.
he will be out more than a year, for sure
Yeah most likely.
Adrian Peterson returned in nine months like new but he’s the exception.
Jerry Rice returned to play 15 weeks after tearing his acl but promptly cracked his kneecap in his first game back after a tacle which was very likely related.
So yeah, six months is very unlikely but a year is definitely doable for an athlete depending on physiology.
man, how uncommon is this in our sport? plenty of guys redlining it, so bad luck for him. Hopefully not a trend and he comes back like so of those football players better than ever. Though tennis is a different beast…
Nishikori has always been a player that was susceptable to injuries, this to me comes as no surprise, shame as i do like the guy and his game, maybe its the small stature that has something to do with it ? ….
who???
Sorry Ricky, didnt read properly 🙂 ….
no worries!
Poor guy 🙁
sad news . All it takes in one damned bad movement and career threatening injures happen. This is why I keep telling people how much role luck plays. ONE BAD MOVEMENT. Can happen to anyone!
get well soon Nishioka.
Tore mine. Not nice.
Anyway not very nice for any player, wish him all the best ….
Shit
So sorry for Nishioka – and for all tennis fans. That kid’s a gamer! He’ll be back if it is at all possible.
Very sorry to hear that, I just started watching his matches and figured he would go far. Hope he gets better soon!