Coach Nick Bollettieri tells CNN that Japan’s Kei Nishikori has Top 10 potential, but isn’t quite there yet. Nishikori, currently No. 16, is primarily coached by Dante Bottini, who works out of the Bollettieri academy.
“Kei is a shot maker,” Bollettieri said. “And when he’s on, he can beat anybody in the world. Now remember, Kei is not a big guy. So he has to be very careful to take advantage of the opportunities when he gets them. If you’re small, it’s more difficult, no matter what anybody says. … So you take that as fact and you don’t throw in the white towel and say ‘I can’t do it.’ What Kei has, he has mobility, he creates and he has unbelievable hands and feet that you can’t purchase. So he has to keep adding, keep working on any defensive balls, come to the net a little bit more, and this is what Dante is working on. If he stays status quo, he’ll win a lot of matches. But to be among the big boys and to break that Top 10, which we all feel he will do, he probably will have to add a little bit more transition to his game.”