Thanasi Kokkinakis withdraws from Wimbledon for another setback
The 23-year-old Thanasi Kokkinakis is still unable to make a return following an injury, withdrawing from Wimbledon qualifying round to deal the singles comeback. The Adelaide had stood as one of the upcoming young stars, entering the top-100 at the age of 19 and winning 13 ATP matches in 2015. Instead of improving results and ranking position, Thanasi had to undergo right shoulder surgery at the end of the season, playing just one encounter that year and missing all the action until May 2017, struggling with an abdominal strain to make things even worse after shoulder troubles. Following a slow return that spring, Kokkinakis advanced into the first ATP final in Los Cabos in August, losing in three sets to Sam Querrey and looking confident to bring more good results by the end of the year.
Nonetheless, things went from bad to worse, with Thanasi skipping all the action after the US Open and kicking off 2018 from outside the top-200. Motivated to leave injuries and a dark period behind him, Kokkinakis defeated Roger Federer in Miami to become the lowest-ranked player who toppled the world no. 1 in 15 years and show his full potential once again, hoping for more of the same in the months to come. There was no time to enjoy the massive win, though, injuring a knee in the opening set of Monte Carlo Masters against Karen Khachanov 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, the Aussie lost a tight match to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, going back to Melbourne and competing on a solid level in the qualifying round of the Australian Open (not receiving the wild card once again) to reach the main draw, facing Taro Daniel in the opening clash. After taking the opening set, Thanasi was forced to quit 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 youngster celebrated the 23rd 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 an important victory. Nonetheless, that was the last time we had seen Thanasi on the court in singles, withdrawing before the third round clash against Gianluca Mager and skipping all tournaments since then.
In May, Thanasi went to Serbia where he worked at Janko Tipsarevic Academy in Belgrade and tried to make a potential comeback at Roland Garros where he was supposed to play in the qualifying round. Despite heading to Paris, Kokkinakis had to stay away from the action, hoping for the fresh start in Surbiton Challenger on grass this week that also hasn't gone well as he withdrew and delayed the comeback once again. He did play doubles there with Nick Kyrgios but we will have to wait for more to see him in singles matches, deciding to skip Wimbledon and continue preparations for the North American hard-court season if he feels ready to compete again.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2Fsm9T2
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