Thanasi Kokkinakis was told by his doctor not to play. And at any other tournament, any other time, he would have listened. But this was the Australian Open and he was playing with Nick Kyrgios, the friend he won the title with here three years ago.
So he played. He knew it wouldn’t last but what the hell, Kyrgios had just come back from a gnarly two years out and Kokkinakis knew he himself could be out for any length of time, so seize the moment.
Even if it was with one sore arm.
“The doctor advised me not to play. I’m going to need to do a serious procedure now probably. I’ve got to speak to as many experts as I can,” Kokkinakis said.
“I can’t serve, can’t hit a high forehand. I’m in a lot of pain [but] I wanted to come out here. I know there was a lot of talk about us playing again. I wanted to see if I was somewhat competitive, even without a serve. Just wanted to get on court again with the big fella. Such great memories. We had a big crowd, we knew, waiting for us.
“Any other event, any other circumstance, I’m not stepping foot on court, for sure.”
Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis retire from their doubles match.Credit: Getty Images
Given that advice, it was never likely the match would run a normal course, let alone duration. It was never a serious question of the “Special Ks” winning, only how long they could last against fellow Australians Aleksandar Vukic and James Duckworth.
The answer was exactly 61 minutes.
Having lost the first set 7-5 in 46 minutes, Kokkinakis could not go on any longer when they fell to 3-2 down after 15 minutes of the second. The pair retired.
“I knew it was going to happen. I was broken yesterday. I was serving restricted yesterday. It was tough,” Kokkinakis said.
“I knew coming into the event I was just going to leave everything out there. It wasn’t just my serve, it was my forehand I was feeling pain.
“My arm’s essentially cooked. I need to fix it. It’s going to take some time. I was distraught yesterday, not because of the loss but just because I knew I couldn’t compete at my best, which was tough.”
For Kyrgios, carrying an abdominal injury, it was a taste of being back on court in the format he expects will soon be his future.
“For me, obviously this year I’ve been out for a year and a half to two years, so I don’t know what this year’s going to bring. Obviously I’m going to trust the process. I think I’m hitting the ball great. I’ve still got a long way to get back to that same level I was in 2022,” Kyrgios said.
“For me personally, I couldn’t see myself playing more than probably this year [in] high-level singles any more. The maintenance, I think he knows, four, five hours on the treatment table every day to not even have the guarantee to be healthy to play a week of tennis. I think I’m weighing up my options.
“Doubles is a bit easier on the body. I think we can still play amazing doubles. I think you saw, we broke serve three times in the first set, and we lost the set, which is probably the first time it’s ever happened in our careers I think I broke someone three times and lost the tennis match.
“For me, as soon as we got to the locker room, I told him thanks for even stepping out. I knew it was going to be a big effort for him.
“It’s been a special court for me in my career. To go out there one more time was good. I loved being out there. I feel like the crowd appreciated, especially Thanasi, but even me. I would have been happy to not take the court today either.”
Kokkinakis could barely lift his arm, only able to dink serves over the net like a tubby mid-week retiree. By the time he was serving to stay in the first set, Kokkinakis was sending down serves at 114km/h, nearly 100km/h slower than his norm. They were first serves.
He couldn’t swing his right arm. He couldn’t reach. He had no power. He winced and grabbed at his right pectoral whenever he played a shot. And he played a lot of shots; Duckworth and Vukic were rightly unsparing in forcing the winged Kokkinakis to play plenty of forehands.
Kyrgios was also injured but tried to cover for his friend, running for balls that ordinarily were just not his to hit, but he figured he’d try to get to them anyway. On one occasion it meant he clattered into Kokkinakis at the net as they both went for the same ball.
Kyrgios knew his own game was limited from the start. He stood flat-footed and ripped a forehand winner in the first game.
“Look at the footwork, bro,” he smiled and said of himself, self-deprecatingly, after the swing.
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