Thanasi Kokkinakis made a shocking confession about his tennis career recently as he admitted he thought about giving it all up.
The Australian Open champ, 28, who has been plagued by several career-halting injuries over the years, revealed in Stellar’s Sunday edition he ‘thought about quitting a few times’.
Despite being earmarked for greatness at a young age and making a name for himself at several Opens, the pro sportsman struggled to stay out of hospital.
Kokkinakis almost collapsed beneath the weight of expectations in his early years as he struggled to keep up with emerging tennis champs like Nick Kyrgios.
‘At that point, I thought it would be a smooth progression to the top 10 and competing for Grand Slam titles,’ Kokkinakis recalled.
He went on to say the reality he faced growing up on the tennis court was far from what he dreamed, claiming it was ‘so hard’ to compete against ‘so many hungry people’.
Thanasi Kokkinakis, 28, (pictured) made a shocking confession about his tennis career recently as he admitted he thought about giving it all up
Add his struggle to be competitive to his numerous injuries over the years, and Kokkinakis said he found himself wondering if he could make it as a tennis champ.
‘There were some tournaments where I was like, “I think this is me done,” because I just felt so far off the pace,’ he admitted.
‘I didn’t see how I could find my way through and make a living and I wasn’t enjoying it because I wasn’t competitive. It was as low as it gets.’
Kokkinakis has experienced everything from abdominal and groin injuries to shoulder surgery and back stress fractures, with his most recent being another knee injury.
Earlier this year he underwent an MRI scan in London to determine the extent of the injury which wrecked his 2024 Wimbledon hopes.
The joy of his remarkable triumph over 17th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime from two-sets down in early July turned to misery less than 24 hours later in his second-round match against French qualifier Lucas Pouille.
Trailing 2-6 7-5 4-2, Kokkinakis—a big man who has often talked of how tentative he feels with his movement on grass courts—slipped and twisted his left knee while trying to retrieve a forehand.
The tennis player tumbled over, clearly in agony, while former French No.1 Pouille crossed the court to help attend to him.
The Australian Open champ, 28, who has been plagued by several career-halting injuries over the years, revealed in Stellar’s Sunday edition he ‘thought about quitting a few times’
Kokkinakis eventually soldiered on for one more game, but at 5-2 down limped across to tell Pouille there was no way he could continue.
The day before the clash, the Aussie re-tweeted a post showing a video of cooked meat falling off a bone accompanied by the caption, ‘Thanasi Kokkinakis’ legs when he woke up this morning after playing 15 sets in 4 days’, referring to his marathon five-set win over Auger-Aliassime, which took two days.
Kokkinakis added the word ‘accurate’ with a tears of joy emoji.
‘It was a tricky match. It started well but there was a weird kind of energy out there, it felt strange,’ Kokkinakis said after his tournament ended.
The Australian had been unhappy with a heckler in the crowd the previous day who had badgered him and Auger-Aliassime to play on after rain had made the surface treacherous.
A fortnight earlier, Kokkinakis suffered a similar tumble at the Queen’s Club Championship on a wet court, which caused a medial collateral ligament injury that kept him out of action for a week.
He also had sprained his troublesome left knee two years ago at a pre-Wimbledon Challenger tournament in nearby Surbiton, which cost him a month out of the sport.
‘[Pouille] was starting to play some good tennis and I was trying to rally and just slipped and hurt my knee,’ Kokkinakis said.
‘I’m going to see the severity after some scans—but I know I’ve done a similar injury to what I did at Queen’s Club. But it feels a bit worse, that’s my gut feeling.’
Kokkinakis had planned to play a hard-court tournament in Atlanta next.
‘But now I’ve got to have an MRI to see if that’s going to be possible or not,’ the world No.93 said.
Kokkinakis opened up in the most recent edition of Stellar magazine
