Australian Open: Thanasi Kokkinakis overlooked for wild card
Thanasi Kokkinakis has been overlooked for an Australian Open wildcard after selectors opted to reward Alexei Popyrin, Marc Polmans and Alex Bolt.
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Thanasi Kokkinakis has been overlooked for an Australian Open wildcard after selectors opted to reward Alexei Popyrin, Marc Polmans and Alex Bolt.
Once regarded as one of the promising players on the Australian scene, Kokkinakis must now either qualify or sweat on the fitness of injured wildcard recipient Jason Kubler.
Kokkinakis’s snubbing is believed to have prompted Nick Kyrgios’s now deleted tweet claiming the pair had been abandoned by Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt.
The tweet was in response to a question why Hewitt was allegedly not watching Kyrgios and Kokkinakis at the Brisbane International.
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis contested the 2013 Australian Open boy’s final, starting what many expected would be the start of a golden era for the duo.
Ravaged by injury, Kokkinakis is ranked No 146 – higher than French Open boy’s champion Popyrin (150), Bolt (159) and Polmans (170).
Popyrin and Polmans have emerged as two of the country’s most promising young prospects while Bolt completed a magnificent season in 2018 to set a career-high ranking after winning his first title in four years.
Popyrin, 19, was ranked No.621 in January last year but has now cracked the world’s 150, aided by his first ATP Challenger title in Jinan, China in August.
Polmans, 21, also enjoyed a career-best season, jumping from No.318 in the rankings at the end of 2017 to finish last sesaon at No.144.
Bolt qualified for Wimbledon, one of several highlights in a season during which he improved his ranking from No.246 in February to a career-high mark of No.139 in October.
The South Australian also won the Zhuhai Challenger title and reached the Challenger final in Fairfield, California, while on the ATP Tour he qualified for the main draw at events in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Newport, Atlanta and Washington DC.
Popyrin, Polmans and Bolt will boost Australia’s representation in the Australian Open men’s singles main draw to 11.
Alex De Minaur, Nick Kyrgios, John Millman, Matt Ebden, Jordan Thompson and Bernard Tomic received direct entry into the field, while wildcards were earlier awarded to Kubler and James Duckworth.
Qualifying wildcards have been awarded to: Akira Santillan, Blake Ellis, Rinky Hijikata, Maverick Banes, Max Purcell, Aleksandar Vukic, Luke Saville, Alexander Crnokrak and Sebastian Korda, the 2018 Australian Open 2018 boys champion.
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Originally published as Australian Open: Thanasi Kokkinakis overlooked for wild card
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