Kokkinakis falls to Draper in five-set Australian Open battle

Thanasi Kokkinakis has once again fallen short in a five-set thriller at the Australian Open, losing 6-7(3), 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 to No.15 seed Jack Draper on Wednesday night in Melbourne.

The Australian led two sets to one against his British opponent in front of a packed-out John Cain Arena, but was unable to get across the line in the four-hour, 35-minute epic.

Carrying a pectoral injury ahead of the match and picking up a thigh issue during it, Kokkinakis still managed to strike 69 winners to the delight of the raucous late-night crowd.

It was his 68 unforced errors – to Draper’s 30 – that ended up defining the final two sets, with the Brit holding his composure perfectly in the longest match of his career to book a spot in the third round.

“I know Thanasi always brings his best tennis when he plays me,” said Draper, whose odds of winning the Australian Open shorten to $41 across tennis betting sites after defeating the world No.71.

“When I played him at Davis Cup, Los Cabos, and Madrid, every time it’s a battle.

“He serves great. His forehand… You know, usually with most players, my backhand into their forehand, they break down, whereas he is one of these players who can just hit a winner off of any position on the forehand, even off the back foot.”

For Kokkinakis, the loss is his third five-set heartbreaker at the Australian Open in recent years, having gone down 7-5 in the fifth to Andy Murray in 2023 and 6-4 in a decider to Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2021.

Speaking to media afterwards, the 28-year-old gave an insight into his injury struggles.

“I know I’m going to be out for a while, I think,” he said.

“Shoulder was gone before the match. I just tried to tough it out.

“I was touch-and-go again to play this week. Took a million painkillers to try and get through.

“I just tried to kind of empty the tank today and for this week and see what I can do.

“I put myself in a winning position. I didn’t have enough to get over, so that’s annoying.

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Kokkinakis, who was a $2 underdog to win the match with the top online bookmakers, described himself as “seething” after the match and painted a bleak picture of his future in tennis

“I can take losing. I’m fine with losing. It’s part of it. I lose pretty much every week,” he said.

“It’s just what it means going forward a little bit. That’s the hard one to take.

“I know I don’t have forever left.

“So I don’t know how long I’m going to be out or kind of what the future holds a little bit, even if I can get back to this point if I get something done.

“I’m just in a lot of doubt and pretty upset.”

Kokkinakis is scheduled to play doubles on Thursday evening alongside compatriot Nick Kyrgios – with whom he won the title in 2022 – but implied there was a strong chance he would be withdrawing from the match.

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