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MONTREAL – Kei Nishikori said it didn’t feel like three long years.

But the 34-year-old’s gritty 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory over 19-year-old American Alex Michelsen in the first round of the Omnium Banque Nationale Tuesday was his first victory at the Masters 1000 level since Oct. 2021.

Nishikori, then ranked No. 53, defeated No. 182 Joao Sousa in the round of 128 at the unusual fall edition of Indian Wells that year.

He didn’t even PLAY another Masters 1000 match until Miami this year. So the win, against a player 15 years younger who is just at the dawn of his career, felt pretty good.

To say the least.

Here’s some of what he had to say afterwards.

A long road back

You just have to take a look at the gaps in Nishikori’s resumé in recent years, and remember that in 2015 he was No. 4 in the world. And in 2014, he made the US Open final.

His last somewhat full season came in … 2021.

Nishikori didn’t play a Tour-level event from:

Montreal in Aug. 17 through the New York Open in Feb. 2018.
Cincinnati in Aug. 2019 through the pandemic to Kitzbuhel in Sept. 2020.
Indian Wells in Oct. 2021 to Atlanta in July, 2023
Atlanta to Miami in March, 2024

Nishikori had elbow surgery all the way back in 2009 – and then again in Oct. 2019. He had hip surgery in Jan. 2022.

Since that return in Miami – a first-round loss to Sebastian Ofner, Kishikori has played sparingly.

He didn’t return until Roland Garros, where he needed nearly 4 1/2 hours to defeat Canadian qualifier Gabriel Diallo.

It was brutal. Nishikori had issues with his shoulder. He had treatment for his back on the court. But somehow, he got through.

But when his second-round match against Ben Shelton was suspended by rain with Shelton up two sets, Nishikori couldn’t answer the bell for the resumption.

He hoped to make it back for Eastbourne, to at least get a match or two in on grass before Wimbledon. The 2018 and 2019 quarterfinalist hadn’t played there since 2021.

It didn’t happen. And in the end, after being up two sets to one, he lost in five to Arthur Rinderknech of France.

Then it was back to clay for the Olympics, where he got a tough draw and was beaten 6-1, 6-4 by Brit Jack Draper.

And now, back to hard court again, which has always been the scene of his best successes.

At 34, with nearly $25 million in on-court prize money and exponentially more earned off the court at a superstar in Japan, why does he keep fighting his body to come back, keep playing and battling?

The answer is in the video above: because he still loves to play.