Injury curse continues to batter Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis

It was the most pain Thanasi Kokkinakis had ever played in, with the Australian conceding that the hard road to the Australian Open had been to his physical detriment.

Thanasi Kokkinakis was forced to retire hurt in his opening round clash. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

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It was the most pain Thanasi Kokkinakis had ever played in, with the Australian conceding that the hard road to the Australian Open had been to his physical detriment.

The 22-year-old was forced to retire midway through the second set of his first round clash with Japan’s Taro Daniel due to a pectoral injury.

He said the “stop-start” nature of his last few years had become frustrating, and that being forced to qualify for a wildcard last week had taken a toll.

Thanasi Kokkinakis was forced to retire hurt in his opening round clash. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)

“Yes and no. I was pretty proud that I qualified,” Kokkinakis said.

“I was happy with how I dug deep, had a bit of pressure on me, I felt. I did that. Probably was supposed to beat the players I did.

“But first time qualifying for a Grand Slam. I think it’s really hard to do. So I was really proud of that. But also, yeah, maybe if I had gotten straight in, I would have had a bit more time to rest and recover and be 100% for my first-round match.”

Kokkinakis has been plagued by injuries his entire career. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

The South Australian said he was determined to ensure he never had to rely on taking the long way to the main draw.

“I’ll have a good year hopefully this year and I won’t need any of that or go through quallies,” he said.

Kokkinakis said the muscle pain was “coming down my arm … wasn’t great” and heavily affected his serve, but said it simply needed rest.

“It’s just a bit unfortunate timing. The shoulder itself is fine, which is what I had surgery on,” he said.

“This thing just needs a lot of rest. When I rest, I need some rehab.

The young Australian admits his body needs rest. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

“Obviously playing three matches in quallies probably wasn’t ideal with it. Kind of managing it through Brisbane, as well.

“But, yeah, it got to a point where, yeah, it was unplayable to an extent.”

Kokkinakis refused to be drawn on the explosive comments made by Bernard Tomic on Monday night, but said being in the spotlight had sometimes worked to his favour.

“Sometimes yes (you don’t want headlines) sometimes no. Sometimes you can take it differently,” he said.

“Sometimes you can take it as fuel. It can fire you up.

“I think I play some of my best tennis like that when I feel I have a point to prove or something like that. Everyone takes it differently.

“For me, you could try to block everything out, all the outside noise. You got an opponent, he’s just worried about beating you. You got to try to think the same way.”

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Originally published as Injury curse continues to batter Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis