Australian tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis makes shock confession about his sporting career following another knee injury: ‘I think this is me done’

Thanasi Kokkinakis recently made a shocking confession about his tennis career by admitting that he thought about giving it all up.

The 28-year-old Australian Open champion, who has been plagued by several injuries over the years, revealed in stellar In Sunday’s edition “he thought about quitting several times.”

Despite being destined for greatness at a young age and making a name for himself at several Opens, the professional athlete struggled to stay out of the hospital.

Kokkinakis nearly collapsed under the weight of expectations in his early years as he struggled to keep up with emerging tennis champions like Nick Kyrgios.

“At the time I thought it would be a smooth progression to the top 10 and competing for Grand Slam titles,” Kokkinakis recalled.

He went on to say that the reality he faced while growing up on the tennis court was far from what he dreamed of, stating that it was “very difficult” to compete against “so many hungry people.”

Add to that his struggle to be competitive and his numerous injuries over the years, and Kokkinakis said he wondered if he could become a tennis champion.

“There were some tournaments where I thought, ‘I think this is done,’ because I felt so out of rhythm,” he admitted.

“I didn’t see how I could find my way and make a living and I didn’t enjoy it because it wasn’t competitive. It was as low as it gets.”

Kokkinakis has experienced everything from abdominal and groin injuries to shoulder surgery and stress fractures in his back, the most recent being another knee injury.

Earlier this year he underwent an MRI in London to determine the extent of the injury that ruined his Wimbledon 2024 hopes.

The joy of his remarkable victory over 17th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime from two sets down in early July turned to misery less than 24 hours later in his second-round match against French qualifier Lucas Pouille.

Trailing 2-6, 7-5, 4-2, Kokkinakis, a big man who has often spoken of how hesitant he feels with his movements on grass courts, slipped and sprained his left knee while trying to recover. a forehand blow.

The tennis player fell, clearly in agony, as former French number 1 Pouille crossed the court to help him.

Kokkinakis eventually moved on for one more game, but when they were 5-2 down he limped off to tell Pouille there was no way he could continue.

The day before the clash, the Australian retweeted a post showing a video of cooked meat falling off a bone accompanied by the caption “Thanasi Kokkinakis’ legs when he woke up this morning after playing 15 sets in 4 days”, in reference to his marathon five-set victory over Auger-Aliassime, which took him two days.

Kokkinakis added the word “accurate” with a tears of joy emoji.

“It was a tough match. It started well, but there was a strange kind of energy out there, it felt strange,” Kokkinakis said after finishing his tournament.

The Australian had been unhappy with a heckler in the crowd the previous day who had pestered him and Auger-Aliassime to continue playing after rain had made the surface treacherous.

A fortnight earlier, Kokkinakis suffered a similar fall in the Queen’s Club Championship on a wet court, causing a medial collateral ligament injury that kept him out of action for a week.

He had also sprained his problematic left knee two years ago at a Challenger tournament before Wimbledon in nearby Surbiton, which cost him a month out of the sport.

“(Pouille) was starting to play some good tennis and I was trying to recover and I slipped and hurt my knee,” Kokkinakis said.

‘I will see the severity after some scans, but I know I have suffered a similar injury to the one I sustained at the Queen’s Club. But I feel a little worse, it’s my intuition.’

Kokkinakis had planned to next play a hard-court tournament in Atlanta.

“But now I have to have an MRI to see if that will be possible or not,” said the world number 93.