Local favourite Thanasi Kokkinakis is hoping to renew his brilliant form in his hometown and tune up for the Australian Open tonight in the Adelaide International. Follow live below – the match is not before 8:30pm AEDT!
The world No.68’s sole career ATP-level title was won in Adelaide in 2022, and he made a brilliant run to the semi-finals last year including a win over top-five fixture Andrey Rublev.
But after a difficult 2023 campaign, where his best result came on clay as he made the third round at Roland Garros, the former Australian Open doubles champion looks to get back on track against Serbia’s world No.52 Dusan Lajovic on Monday night.
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Kokkinakis suffered an ankle injury during a Challenger-level event in Sydney last November.
“I was a little bit underdone, sort of got injured a little bit end of last year before Davis Cup, so I wasn’t able to play there,” he said this week.
“I’m looking at this to try and kind of kick start my year and this week feels like my starting point where I’m going to feel physically and mentally ready to go.
“I am going to give everything I have here and hopefully get a few matches and see how we do before the Aussie Open.
“I feel good. I had a few training days. I just want to play a few more matches kind of to see where I’m at. I had a very short pre-season, sort of rehabbing after Davis Cup and then trying to get ready for the first couple of tournaments of the year. I knew I wasn’t going to be at 100 percent the last couple of weeks, but now I think I’ve got no restrictions and I feel great.”
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Kokkinakis is one of seven Aussies in the ATP 250 event draw, along with Alex Bolt, James McCabe, Chris O’Connell, Adam Walton, Rinky Hijikata (who beat Kokkinakis last week in Brisbane) and Jordan Thompson, who upset Rafael Nadal on Friday.
Alexei Popyrin and, on the women’s side, Ajla Tomljanovic withdrew over the past 24 hours.
Kokkinakis, Popyrin, Thompson, O’Connell, Hijikata, plus Aleksandar Vukic and Max Purcell (both playing in Auckland this week) all earned main draw entries into the Australian Open via their rankings while McCabe, Waltson, Jason Kubler, Marc Polmans and James Duckworth were given wildcards.
Follow Thanasi Kokkinakis vs Dusan Lajovic in our live blog!
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