SA tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis caught up in glandular fever scare
Thanasi Kokkinakis has had more than his fair share of setbacks, but his latest health scare was particularly frightening with the star South Australian finding himself in a hospital bed twice.
Tennis
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An extreme case of glandular fever twice hospitalised Thanasi Kokkinakis after the Aussie tennis ace stopped breathing in his sleep.
Now recovering, the former world No. 69 is steadily regaining fitness and form after the illness sabotaged the Adelaide baseliner’s Australian Open hopes.
Kokkinakis, 24, abandoned Melbourne Park in January, citing “health issues” without elaborating.
Constantly cursed by injury and illness problems, Kokkinakis found out in late December he was suffering glandular fever. Soon after he had surgery to remove tonsils and adenoids.
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The infections, which had troubled him since being forced out of a second-round clash with Rafael Nadal at the US Open, left him in a perilous situation.
“I was told I had stopped breathing when I was sleeping, my throat was so inflamed,” he said. “I lost 10 kilos because I couldn’t eat, now I’m trying to stay in shape, trying to stay sane.
“I’m not looking too far ahead, trying to maintain shape and not push it too much. When we get the all clear, I’ll ramp it up.”
Kokkinakis reached the final of a US Challenger event before building promisingly through a strong pre-season during the early part of the Australian summer.
“I tried to get back on court in late December before I knew anything was wrong, and I was running out of gas quickly, but I thought it might be the bushfire thing with all the smoke,” he said.
“I was going through four or five shirts a night with a fever, my bed was drenched, I went to Melbourne and I was hitting and I was running out of gas.
“My throat was killing me and it was lingering. I ended up in hospital again. But I’m better now, I’m feeling relatively healthy, but it’s been frustrating.”
Kokkinakis defeated Roger Federer in Miami in 2018, underscoring his rich talent with the most significant win of his abbreviated career.
But he has endured a wretched run while attempting to establish himself.
“Whenever it is that we can play again, hopefully I can have a clear run at it,” he said.
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