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Thanasi Kokkinakis drops a bombshell on his chances to defend the Australian Open men’s doubles title with Nick Kyrgios
- Thanasi Kokkinakis doubts he and Nick Kyrgios can defend the doubles title
- Aussie says she is trying to build her singles career and not focusing on doubles
- Kokkinakis says he ‘would be lying’ if he thought Speciak Ks could repeat 2022 win
Australian tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis says he “would be lying” if he thought he and good partner Nick Kyrgios had a chance to defend the Australian Open men’s doubles title this year.
Kokkinakis came up short over the weekend after blowing nine break point chances in the final set of his semi-final loss to Roberto Bautista Agut at the Adelaide International.
Australian tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis (pictured at the Adelaide International) says he “would be lying” if he thought he and good partner Nick Kyrgios had a chance to defend the Australian Open men’s doubles title this year.
Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios lift the Australian Open trophy last year
The advantage of retiring for the 26-year-old is that he will now have more time to prepare for his Australian Open first-round singles clash with Italian Fabio Fognini.
Kokkinakis, currently ranked No. 110 in the world, comes into the event in excellent form with recent wins over No. 6 Andrey Rublev and No. 28 Miomir Kecmanovic, but he will enjoy an extra day of rest.
“Hopefully I can use those days to an advantage,” he said.
‘It’s hard to play every day… I’ve had some battles against good players.
‘Will wear [those] days wise, get used to the conditions in Melbourne and give it a red hot crack there.
Kokkinakis, currently ranked 110th, enters the event in excellent shape with recent wins over No. 6 Andrey Rublev and No. 28 Miomir Kecmanovic, but he will enjoy an extra day of rest.
‘From [Adelaide] to the Australian Open last time, [the courts] they were a lot slower so it took me a bit to get used to the conditions but now I have a couple of days so hopefully I can get acclimatized and play some good ball.”
Kokkinakis will also look to continue his winning ways when he meets Kyrgios, with whom he won the Australian Open men’s doubles title in 2022. But he doesn’t give the Special Ks much of a chance.
“We’ll play, but if I told you I think we’re going to defend the title, I’d be lying,” Kokkinakis said.
Kokkinakis will also be looking to continue his winning ways when he meets Nick Kyrgios, with whom he won the Australian Open doubles title in 2022. But he doesn’t give the Special Ks much of a chance.
‘We only thought about winning it [last year]to be honest, more or less in the quarters onwards when we both had no singles.
“We’re going to try to do the best we can in singles, the doubles are an advantage, hopefully our bodies will hold up.”
‘I wasn’t going to start this year thinking I had to defend my doubles title.
“I didn’t expect to achieve much in doubles, I don’t feel like I should do anything else in doubles, I want to build my career in singles.”