‘I thought about quitting’: Australian tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis’ bombshell confession
The Australian tennis star addresses his physical and mental struggles, his rise back up the rankings ahead of the Australian Open – and why romance will just have to wait.
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From the party-like atmosphere of the Australian Open to the chic all-white dress code of Wimbledon, tennis might look like a glamorous sport.
But the net effect of a game with no real off-season means that, in reality, it’s a gruelling pursuit. Elite players are expected to spend most months of the year far from home.
It’s one of the reasons why Australian tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis, who is ranked number 77 in the world (at the time of print), says tennis pros can find it hard to distinguish themselves off the court.’
“It’s tough in this sport to show much personality and be yourself, because you can get fined and told off by the umpires,” he tells Stellar.
So a bit of leniency on the court, and moments like this fashion shoot, can go a long way towards humanising the sport.
“Tennis players, maybe more than a lot of other sports, we get put in a little bit of a box,” the 28-year-old adds.
“We’re always seen on the court, competing all the time, so it’s good to show another side.”
However, the Melbourne-based player has been doing things off-script his whole career. Growing up in Adelaide, he was a sporty child who discovered tennis at the age of seven when his father enrolled his older brother in lessons; before he reached his teens, he’d been picked up internationally.
“I’d hit some balls while my brother was having a drinks break with his coach,” he recalls (20 years on, he’s still working with that same coach, Todd Langman).
“I was doing an insane amount of hours,” he says of the training back then, which included three hours before and after school, and weekends.
“Borderline crazy to be doing that much.”
Kokkinakis burst onto the international circuit with fellow prodigy Nick Kyrgios in 2013, first losing to him in the Australian Open boys’ singles final before they won the Wimbledon boys’ doubles title. Back then, both were earmarked as future champions.
But while Kyrgios was beating tennis titans and locking horns with umpires, Kokkinakis was sustaining injury after injury, including a back stress fracture and knee, shoulder, abdominal, pectoral, groin and elbow issues.
Most debilitating of all, however, was the pressure to live up to expectations.
“At that point, I thought it would be a smooth progression to the top 10 and competing for Grand Slam titles,” Kokkinakis recalls.
“When I was young, I would rattle off these achievements like it was just going to happen. But the reality is when you do it, it’s so hard, and there are so many hungry people out there competing.”
His health had a big impact on both his career and finances as falling out of the top 100 meant sponsors started falling off, too.
“I thought about quitting a few times,” he says.
“There were some tournaments where I was like, ‘I think this is me done’ because I just felt so far off the pace. I didn’t see how I could find my way through and make a living and I wasn’t enjoying it because I wasn’t competitive. It was as low as it gets.”
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It’s one of the reasons Kokkinakis says he’d be hesitant to have his future children play professional tennis.
“This is probably not going to be a popular response for the other kids coming out, but I would have a lot of hesitancy,” he admits.
“I know how many hours I did and how hard it is to make it in tennis. Unless you’ve got a special, special talent or you just love the sport … I would suggest there would be better ways to make a living, especially as an athlete.”
What stopped Kokkinakis putting down the racquet for good was his family’s support and his will to give it just one more crack.
At the start of 2022, he won his first tour-level title in his hometown. He took that form into the Australian Open, where he famously wore shorts he had bought at Cotton On – the brand later came on-board as a sponsor – and reunited with his mate Kyrgios to win the men’s doubles title, their showstopping performance earning them the nickname the Special Ks.
“That was a huge monkey off the back,” Kokkinakis recalls of those 2022 victories.
“From being this kid who came onto the scene with a lot of promise, to getting injured to people asking what happened, [those wins] were massive.
“And now, after playing a little bit more and having some big wins, there are still some more things I would like to take home. But if it all ends tomorrow, I’m more at peace with going from borderline quitting to coming back and proving to myself I can do it.”
Having reached a career-high ranking of number 65 in November 2023, Kokkinakis has regained his momentum, defeating the 11th-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas at the US Open in August. He was also an integral part of Australia’s push to win the 2024 Davis Cup last month, leading the team to victory over the US en route to the semi-finals, where he lost to Italy’s Matteo Berrettini.
Kokkinakis agrees with his critics that in order to climb higher, he needs to play more tournaments.
But to preserve his mental health, he’s factored more breaks into his travelling schedule than many other players. “I do like to live a normal life at times,” he explains.
“I feel like that’s going to extend my career because I won’t get burnt out.”
Earlier this year, he split from his influencer girlfriend Hannah Dal Sasso after nearly 18 months of long-distance dating.
“Trying to have a relationship on the road is one of the trickiest things I think I’ve tried to navigate through,” he admits.
“I struggle balancing the two for a long period of time. It’s something that maybe – to give the best version of myself fully – it’s something that needs to happen post my career.”
Now Kokkinakis is turning his attention towards the upcoming Australian Open, for which he’s partnering with the French Champagne house Piper-Heidsieck as its AO25 ambassador. Pointing out that all the top tennis players have prestigious brands supporting them, Kokkinakis says that this appointment with Piper-Heidsieck feels significant, especially as the brand’s motto for this season is about twisting the script: “For them to show faith in me and want me to be their face for the summer means the world to me, because it shows they believe in my personality, and my tennis.”
Kokkinakis says this year’s tournament, which kicks off on January 12 at Melbourne Park, might see him reunite with Kyrgios, who himself has been plagued by injury and is looking to make a return to the sport.
“He messaged me the other day to play doubles in the summer,” he says of Kyrgios.
“I think the Aussie Open is the plan. We’ll see how it goes and how I feel after the year is done. But hopefully we can try. He’s been a bit unlucky.
“What he’s doing now is making sure he’s really ready before he comes back. That’s the biggest thing for him.”
As for his own career, Kokkinakis says he’s found a sweet spot.
“There have been people that are, tennis-wise, higher ranked and have maybe more consistent results on the board, but without as many opportunities [as I’ve had],” he admits.
“So I think it shows that I’m doing something right. I’m not just about the number next to your name. And with my career trajectory, I’ve been up and down and on top again. But I do believe my best tennis is still ahead of me and I’ve got a little bit left in the game.”
Thanasi Kokkinakis is an ambassador for Piper-Heidsieck at the 2025 Australian Open.
Read the full interview and see the shoot with Thanasi in the new issue of Stellar.
For more from Stellar and the podcast, Something To Talk About, click here.
Originally published as ‘I thought about quitting’: Australian tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis’ bombshell confession
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