Nishikori in his prime (whatever year you think that is; for me its 2014 or 2016) is going to play a best of 3 setter on hard court against the top 10 right now. How many does he beat?
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Fritz
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Hurkacz
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Rune
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Zverev
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Tsitsipas
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Rublev
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Sinner
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Medvedev
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Alcaraz
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Djokovic
Prime Nishikori was a pretty good returner, so I think he likely bears Fritz and Hurkacz for sure. Rune he could beat as well, but I’m not sure what rune’s level is right now cause he’s been a good returner. Zverev at his best is a better player than nishikori, but Zverev hasn’t been playing at his best. Nishikori could win. Considering how awful tsitsipas has been, nishikori definitely wins here. I think prime nishikori is definitely a better player than rublev, but nishikori was unlucky to face Novak on hard or Rafa on clay for his masters finals. And rublev will mentally implode when nishikori breaks him. Top 4 (especially Novak) are beating him. Keep in mind though, nishikori did beat wawrinka and Djokovic in his amazing 2014 uso run before gassing out. If he plays at that level, he would make it a good match against these 4
Stops at Rublev due to compatibility, but I can see him taking out Sinner or Medvedev in peak mode.
Prime Nishikori would crush bums like Rublev and Tsetse
I think he gets to djokovic, depending on what form sinner, meddy, alcaraz he gets. prime nishikori could even beat current djokovic, he did so against prime Novak in 2014 and other times. but current djok is more similar to fed, who usually had no troubles against him cause he could get out of trouble with his serve, and has a bit more variation now
other
timestimeThe other time Nishikori beat Novak was in 2011 Basel, their h2h is 18-2.
Top 5. I wouldn’t favor him vs the top 4, but he should do better against them compared to Rublev.
His serve might be a weakness against guys like Zverev and Rune, but he should be more consistent than them.
He beats everyone up to the top 4. Then I’d say 50/50 against sinner, Medvedev, Alcaraz and 20/80 against Djokovic
Does this sub genuinely think Nishikori is as good as Alcaraz?
Holy shit LMFAO
Decided to simulate these using the UTS ‘Hypothetical Matchup’ feature that allows for these exact conditions as variables
Using ‘Peak ELO Rating’ for Prime Nishikori provides the date August 15th 2016 as the result
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Fritz - 71.2% chance of Nishikori win
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Hurkacz - 69.0% (nice) chance of Nishikori win
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Rune - 73.4% chance of Nishikori win
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Zverev - 62.8% chance of Nishikori win
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Tsitsipas - 68.6% chance of Nishikori win
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Rublev - 65.3% chance of Nishikori win
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Sinner - 47.4% chance of Nishikori win
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Medvedev - 49.9% chance of Nishikori win
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Alcaraz - 50.7% chance of Nishikori win
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Djokovic - 26.9% chance of Nishikori win
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