Thanasi Kokkinakis suffers another setback, withdrawing from Roland Garros
Thanasi Kokkinakis has been one of the most promising players of the new generation, entering the top-100 at the age of 19 and earning 13 ATP wins in 2015. Instead of staying on the winning road in 2016, the Adelaide native had to undergo right shoulder surgery at the end of the season, playing only one match that year and missing all the action until May 2017, struggling with an abdominal strain. After a slow return that spring, Thanasi advanced into the first ATP final in Los Cabos in August, losing in three sets to Sam Querrey and looking confident to seek more good results in the following months. Nonetheless, more troubles waited just around the corner, forcing Thanasi to skip all the action after the US Open and kick off 2018 from outside the top-200.
Motivated to leave injuries and a terrible period behind him, Kokkinakis made a promising start of the year, beating Roger Federer in Miami to become the lowest-ranked player who toppled the world no. 1 in 15 years. There was no time to enjoy the massive win, though, injuring a knee in the opening set of Monte Carlo Masters against Karen Khachanov just a few weeks later when he caught an advertising padding, missing all the events until Roland Garros. By the end of the season, Thanasi conquered Aptos and Las Vegas Challengers to gain some points and confidence, preparing for the start of 2019 in Melbourne before heading to Brisbane where he passed two qualifying round to reach the main draw.
There, he lost a close match to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, going back to Melbourne where he played well in the qualifying round of the Australian Open (he missed the wild card once again and wasn't happy at all with that decision) to reach the main draw, facing Taro Daniel in the opening clash. After winning the opening set, Thanasi was forced to quit the encounter with the shoulder injury that has been bothering him for years now, staying away from the court for three months. Making a return in Barletta Challenger, the Aussie celebrated the 22nd birthday and the first main draw triumph since October, ousting the 17-year-old Italian Giulio Zeppieri 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in an hour and 56 minutes for a much-needed win that got him back to the right course.
Nonetheless, that was the last time we saw Thanasi on the court, withdrawing before the third round clash against Gianluca Mager and skipping all tournaments since then. In the last couple of days, Thanasi had been in Serbia, working at Janko Tipsarevic Academy in Belgrade and preparing for a possible comeback at Roland Garros where he was supposed to play in the qualifying round. Kokkinakis has completed only six matches so far this year and we have to wait for his next moves and further updates about the injury and comeback plans.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2HBlT4y
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