Thanasi Kokkinakis vowed at Roland Garros he was done with playing a starring role as the marathon man in tennis but the promise lasted less than a month.

The South Australian is proving the leopard of the tennis circuit because, although dressed in the plain ‘all white’ demanded at Wimbledon, he has “definitely” not changed his spots after pulling off another massive comeback to defeat Felix Auger-Aliassime.

That said, he is also playing with the heart of a lion. After three consecutive five set matches at the French Open, Kokkinakis overcame a two set deficit and four match points to defeat the 17th seed on Wednesday in a match that carried over two days.

The match would have been over on Tuesday had Auger-Aliassime clinched the tie-breaker but having survived the scare, Kokkinakis’s part-time coach Brandon Walkin told him to finish the job on Wednesday and the right-hander delivered with a poised performance.

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Asked about his vow in Paris to avoid continuing to put himself in positions where he had to launch massive comeback, Kokkinakis smiled and shook his head on Wednesday evening after producing his fourth comeback from two sets down.

“Clearly (I was thinking) ‘Not again’, but I just do whatever it takes,” he said.

“Obviously I would have rather done it easier, but I had a couple of lapses of concentration in the first two sets. I knew I was not too far away but I just lost my focus.

“I thought I was the better player in the third (set) and then it got ugly and I got a bit lucky towards the end there, and then (in the) fourth and fifth I came out playing some good tennis and found the right way.”

There was less luck for Aleks Vukic, who served for the first set against defending champion Carlos Alcaraz when beaten 7-6 (5) 6-2 6-2, while Jordan Thompson was outclassed by Brandon Nakashima 6-3 6-2 6-2 in second round matches.

On another wet day in London, Daria Saville’s second round match against Marta Kostyuk was postponed until Thursday.

Kokkinakis is blessed with a massive serve – he averaged 193kmh on his first serve – and a powerful forehand, which is the modern equivalent of the old-school serve-and-volley in that he possesses a significant one-two punch.

But he has never fully flourished on grass, in part because of the intricacies involved with moving well on the surface and the big man’s lack of trust in his ability to retain his footing.

This was evident in a chat he had with the Canadian while trailing 0-1 in the fifth set as the crowd started to become impatient after constant rain delays that saw the match stretch two days.

Drizzle had again hit, forcing the two players to their chairs, and before the match resumed, both he and the Canadian tested their grip and were alarmed the court was still slippery.

Kokkinakis, when hearing the murmurings from those seated on Court 2, said to Auger-Aliassime it was “evident” that not many in the crowd had played tennis before or understood the apprehension both men felt.

The unease is well-founded, for Kokkinakis injured himself two years ago when slipping on grass and had another scare in qualifying at the Queen’s Club recently, which saw him decide to withdraw from the tournament rather than put his Wimbledon campaign in doubt.

“It just makes it pretty evident how little some crown members know about tennis,” he said.

“(They were saying), ‘It’s not raining, you go out there. You can move.’ I was like, “Alright. Have a go. Try to move on a slippery grass court.’ It is one of the hardest things, especially with me injuring myself at Queen’s and doing it a couple years back.

“I’m not going to let some muppet in the crowd dictate when I go back on the court. Whether it’s waiting two extra minutes so I feel more comfortable, it still is very slippery at times and it happened throughout the match where … you go out wide to a ball and it’s very green and you slip. Like ‘Hang on, there’s no not much point playing’.

“But definitely when it’s dry, my movement picked up and I started to feel more confident. I was walking on eggshells a little bit at the start but I started to get comfortable.”

The resilience with which Kokkinakis, who plays Lucas Pouille next, is playing demonstrates his growing maturity and belief after a career riddled with injury and moments of self-doubt.

The No. 93 ranked Australian is clearly a far better player than that rating suggests, as American No. 1 Taylor Fritz said in Paris after edging him in five sets in the third round.

But the 2022 Australian Open doubles champion has struggled to put together the prolonged stints on the tour that assist players rise in the rankings and compete deep into grand slams.

“There are a lot of lot of difficult parts about tennis, but if I open up and talk about it, everyone calls me a spoiled brat for getting paid to just play a match,” he said.

“It’s been well documented that there’s been a lot of tough moments but … my goal is to get the most out of whatever I’ve left in my career.

“There’s some things I could have done better. “I’ve been a bit unlucky the last few years, back into my career, but I’m trying with whatever I have left to make the most of it and not take playing here for granted.”