'Winning is addictive, losing makes you want to quit'

Thanasi Kokkinakis has been through the injury ringer, and it nearly ended his career before it truly got started.

“I hit an age where I thought about quitting pretty early on,” the charismatic Adelaide native said this week in Paris, where he is into the third round at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2015. “I think I was 21 or 22.”

This spring Kokkinakis is trying to make up for lost time, and hoping to continue his winning ways at Roland-Garros after taking down 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka in a four hour and 38-minute second-round thriller, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3.

“There have been a lot of dark days, but winning those matches in those atmospheres is what makes it worth it,” he said. “I've missed out on a lot of opportunities in the past due to injury and other stuff. But I've still got a bit of my career left, so I'm going to try to make the most of it while I can.”

Kokkinakis, who called his difficult draw “nails”, hopes he nails his next challenge, a third-round match-up with 11th-seeded Karen Khachanov. 

But he's the first to admit that there is nothing harder than traversing a Grand Slam draw, especially while playing in a legendary era that has been dominated by the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. 

“The names you have to kind of beat to progress, it's just crazy how guys like Djokovic and Nadal have won 20 of these,” he says. “This stuff is so hard, to be honest. To try and win five sets is brutal. It's a pain, especially on clay. It's a massive relief [to win a match], and then you're, like, s***, hang on, I have to go again in two days.”

Tragic loss to Murray didn’t break him 

Kokkinakis got a real sense of the pain of Grand Slam tennis in January when he lost a heartbreaker to Andy Murray, squandering a two sets to love lead to fall in a dramatic contest that marked the second-longest match and second-latest finish in Australian Open history. 

“Tennis, the margins are so fine and so small, so you can play an incredible match and just come up short, and you feel like it's a disappointment and a failure,” The Aussie said.

“I think that match, although it was super hard to take, kind of made me know what to expect on a day like today.”

With a fresh triumph filling his memory banks, Kokkinakis is ready to press for new milestones in Paris. 

“Whenever I’m out there I’m going to try my [butt] off and compete as hard as I can,” he says. “The way I think about it is I can’t do this forever, so whatever I do choose I’m trying not to take it for granted as long as my body is able to let me play.'

New approach to tennis 'nomadland'

Some tennis players love the endless travel and living out of a suitcase week after week. Not so for Kokkinakis, who admits that spending most of the year away from his home in Australia is particularly difficult for him. 

He’s trying to remedy those feelings this year. For the first time the Aussie is traveling with his girlfriend, and he says he likes to keep his team big to make him feel more at home when on the road. 

“I’m traveling with my girlfriend,” he said with a laugh. “First girlfriend, probably ever, so that’s an adjustment.

"I travel with a big team to every tournament that I play, and maybe invest a little bit more than other guys from Europe, but I feel like for me to give myself the best chance on court and keep myself somewhat mentally stable, I need to do that.”

'You never know what's around the corner'

Achieving success on tour has always been a delicate balance for Kokkinakis. Besieged by injuries – a series of shoulder, pectoral, groin, knee and elbow injuries as well as a prolonged battle with glandular fever that put him in the hospital – early in his career, and dogged by the travel later, he’s not quite sure what the future holds. 

Though he insists that he won’t be one of those players that hangs around until his late thirties, Kokkinakis is willing to admit that things can change.

“We’ll see, there was a period where I didn’t feel I’d play much longer and I was 22 years old. I’m 27 now – who knows? You never really know what’s around the corner, but I’m going to take it week by week and match by match," said the Adelaide native.

“Winning is addictive and losing makes you want to quit tennis.”