Kei Nishikori has publicly stated he has shaken off a calf knock ahead of his Wimbledon first round encounter with Italian opponent Simone Bolelli.
The world number five, who withdrew from the Gerry Weber Open semi-final in Halle last week; when he was previously scheduled to go head-to-head with Andreas Seppi, was believed to pull out as a precautionary measure to recover and preserve his energy for the Grand Slam - which starts tomorrow morning from 11.30am.
He had this to say on his injury concerns, as quoted by Sky Sports: "It's good, I should be fine [for Monday]. I had a good three matches in Halle. I think it's great preparation for here. I'm sure that I'll have a lot of confidence - I'm feeling good on grass."
A man on a mission
With the dominance of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal over the past decade and beyond, Nishikori has proven himself to be heralded in the world-class bracket. His tennis is superb when on-form, but against the big guns, he struggles to find victories frequently enough to win plenty of tournaments.
His best result thus far, was a runners-up finish in last year's US Open, where he was defeated in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 by Marin Cilic - who won his first ever Grand Slam in the process. He had this to say, in terms of being able to challenge the big four players in the Men's game: "I think I'm getting close, I'm not winning a lot of titles yet, but I beat Novak and Roger a couple of times. The next goal is to win a Masters or a Grand Slam. I hope I can have a good season and get closer to the top guys."
On his opponent Bolelli, who he is scheduled to face at around 3pm UK time tomorrow: "I'm playing Simone first. It's going to be tough for sure - we played five sets last year. He's good on grass, but I'm feeling good. I will focus on the first match. The first round is never easy, I'm going to have to fight through."