Japanese tennis star Kei Nishikori is in doubt for January's Australian Open following his withdrawal from the Melbourne ATP 250.
He is the latest player to express uncertainty of their participation in the first grand slam tournament of 2022.
The world No. 47 is currently nursing a back injury that forced him to miss a number of tournaments at the end of 2021 and has opted to withdraw from the Australian Open lead-in event in Melbourne.
Kazakh player Alexander Bublik has also pulled out of the ATP event.
Nishikori has only played two matches since September and will be racing against the clock to be ready to play at Melbourne Park.
This signals a growing trend ahead of the Australian Open, with injuries and COVID-19 impacting the preparation of a large contingent of players.
There is still confusion surrounding Novak Djokovic’s plans for the Australian summer, whilst Rafael Nadal and Denis Shapovalov are amongst players from the men's draw currently recovering from COVID-19.
Major players such as Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, and Kyle Edmund are all confirmed as out of the Australian Open in 2022.
The women’s draw will also be without some big names, with three of the four semi-finalists from 2021 unavailable.
Jennifer Brady, Karolina Muchova and Serena Williams will miss the Open along with world No.4 Karolina Pliskova and 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu
Ons Jabeur, Belinda Bencic, and Emma Raducanu are currently recovering from COVID-19, but still intend to play.
