Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas pushed to the brink by Aussie comeback kid

Thanasi Kokkinakis has been dealt a dud hand when it comes to injury and illness, but demonstrated again just how talented he is.

Stefanos Tsitsipas erupts with emotion after edging Thanasi Kokkinakis in five sets

It is now six years since Novak Djokovic offered an insight into the character and talent of Thanasi Kokkinakis that emphasised the respect the world No 1 had for the emerging Australian.

The Serbian had just defeated the then 18-year-old in a third-round match on centre court at Roland Garros and was impressed.

“Tennis needs players like Thanasi,” Djokovic said. “He is a teenager, but was still able to come out on centre court and play with courage, play with power and believe in himself. It’s quite refreshing for tennis.”

Kokkinakis was back on centre court on Thursday against Greek sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas and, although he was beaten, did exactly what Djokovic predicted he would do.

The 24-year-old performed with courage and power and significant belief.

Ultimately, it was not enough to topple the world No 6, who progressed 6-7 (5) 6-4 6-1 6-7 (5) 6-4 in a high-quality match lasting 4hr 32m.

But he gave it an almighty shake in another demonstration of what the Australian is capable of when fighting fit.

The emotion Tsitsipas showed after edging Kokkinakis indicated just how sapping and intense the clash had been.

As the Greek said afterwards: “It was a hell of a day.”

The tragedy for Kokkinakis and also for tennis is how infrequently it has happened.

The South Australian is clearly a world-class talent, but has been dealt a terrible hand when it comes to injury and illness.

After beating Ugo Humbert on Wednesday night, Kokkinakis’s boyhood friend Nick Kyrgios said that thinking of the struggles his mate had gone through inspired him to fight harder.

In the infancy of their careers, they were dubbed the Special Ks. Kyrgios was in the Rod Laver Arena stands watching his doubles partner — they had a match to play on Thursday night — do all he could to succeed.

After his opening-round win over Soonwoo Kwon on Tuesday, Kokkinakis sat in his chair and sobbed.

It had been six years since he had won a match in Melbourne. Roger Federer was among those to congratulate him, so too NBA basketballer Joe Ingles.

His Davis Cup teammate Sam Groth wrote a column saying he had doubted Kokkinakis could make it back from the depression that had engulfed him and the injuries and illness he had endured.

“Thanasi has had it all ripped away from him on multiple occasions,” he wrote.

“The fact he is still here is a testament to his character. Imagine how much determination you need to push on for so many years living in constant fear your body might break down.”

Fingers crossed Kokkinakis’s troubles are behind him. Tennis, for many reasons, is far better with him around, as Tsitsipas noted.

“Thanasi wasn’t able to play all those years (and) I am very happy to see him back competing at a very high level,” he said.

“Thanasi is a great competitor and a great fighter. He is a talent. He has huge potential. I am pretty sure he knows it himself. He just needs to take advantage of it and make the most of it.”

Credit must go to Tsitsipas. He served superbly throughout and was able to create multiple chances to break the world No 267, only to be denied time and again. Yet he never wavered in his conviction.

Kokkinakis performed superbly in both tiebreakers. Barring mental let-downs at the start of the second and third sets, he also served with aplomb, particularly on big moments.

This was perfectly illustrated when Tsitsipas held match points on the Australian’s serve deep in the fourth set, yet found that Kokkinakis was always up for the challenge.

Similarly at the start of the fifth set, the Adelaide native was able to hold firm under significant pressure on his opening two service games of the deciding set.

To demonstrate how hard the right-hander had to fight, the opening three games of the fifth set lasted 29 minutes. But ultimately the dam wall broke at 3-2 when Kokkinakis made two errors from the baseline.

Earlier Alexei Popyrin showed tremendous fight again but was unable to match his heroics from Tuesday when beaten by Lloyd Harris 6-2 1-6 6-3 7-6 (5) 6-3 in three hours.

Chris O’Connell’s Australian Open is also over after he was beaten 6-2 7-5 7-6 (8) by Radu Albot.