Thanasi Kokkinakis: 'I've never actually played a full season in my career'

Like all the other players, Thanasi Kokkinakis has spent the last couple of weeks at home, with no tennis action between March and the second part of July, to say at least. Due to a coronavirus, all the sporting events have been canceled, leaving players to stay at their homes and work on their physical shape, giving their best to stay entertained and pass these challenging times. The 24-year-old Adelaide native is quite familiar with absence from the Tour, experiencing numerous injuries in the last couple of years and never showing his full potential. Back in December, Thanasi felt better than ever during the pre-season, eager to chase the position in the top-100 as soon as possible in 2020. Nonetheless, he started to feel tired and downed on the court during the final days of the pre-season, finding out he was suffering from a glandular fever that forced him to skip Canberra Challenger and the upcoming events at the beginning of the year.

Thanasi had to undergo a right shoulder surgery at the end of 2015, staying away from the court until May 2017 and struggling with an abdominal strain that made his comeback even more demanding. Following a slow return that spring, Kokkinakis made a step in the right direction after reaching the first ATP final in Los Cabos in August, unable to stay healthy after that and dropping out from the top-200 ahead of the new season. Motivated to leave injuries and a dark period behind him, Thanasi defeated Roger Federer in Miami 2018 to become the lowest-ranked player who toppled world no. 1 in 15 years, hoping for more of the same in the months to come. There was no time to enjoy the massive triumph, though, suffering a knee injury in the opening set of Monte Carlo Masters against Karen Khachanov when he caught an advertising padding, missing all the events until Roland Garros and dealing with a right pectoral injury that sidelined him from the court ever since September.

"I've never actually played a full schedule in my career. The closest I got was when I was 18, playing three-quarters of a schedule," Kokkinakis said. "I think I'm a better player now than I was then, but haven't been able to show it. I felt good coming into the start of 2020, did a full pre-season before starting to feel knackered during the last couple of days of the pre-season. I had a light hit and just felt like lying down… I got a blood test and my tonsils were messed up, finding out I had glandular fever. It was frustrating because I was hitting all good markers fitness-test wise in the off-season but couldn't make a decent start of the year. I've learned to come back from injuries before; I think I know what it takes to go back, but this is something entirely different for me. I need to make it step by step and not rush myself. The worst thing is, there are no tests that would show I'm 100% ready to play again."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2XSAlPf