ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL

January 15, 2022

Thanasi Kokkinakis

Press Conference

T. KOKKINAKIS/A. Rinderknech

6-7, 7-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Winning at home, how does it feel? Has it sunk in yet?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: No, not really to be honest. Geez, when I saw that final ball went long, I don't think I've ever felt emotions like that.

You grow up playing, you never know if it's ever going to happen. I made one final before. Down a set, down a mini break in the breaker. From then on, from 2-0 in the second set, I started to play really good tennis.

To do it in Adelaide, a court I grew up playing on when I was seven, eight, nine years old, my hometown, in front of friends and family, they've had a tough year, ridden the ups and downs with me, yeah, I'm so happy.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. The last service game, that was probably the first time you had a little window. Threw a couple of second serves in there. Did you feel in the late stages of the second set the door was opening or his level had come off?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Maybe a little. He was serving unbelievable. In that shadow as well to start the match, I was finding it really tough to see, really tough to kind of trust my shots. He was playing really good tennis.

I had a set point in the first set. I wouldn't say like I deserved to win the first set. I think we were both neck-and-neck. He was playing great tennis for pretty much two sets.

I kind of mixed up my return position, went a long way back. I said he's going to have to beat me with pace. I started thankfully to get a couple second serve looks.

Yeah, I trusted my best shot, which is my forehand. I said to myself, if I see one, I'm going to go big, not die wondering. I didn't want to wait for his errors, I wanted to take it into my own hands, have some courage. I did that. I played a great breaker in the third set. I'm so happy.

Q. Your journey has been spoken about a lot with the injuries, setbacks. Can you reflect on some of the memories since the final ball was played that have come into your mind?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: 100%, everything. Not just the final, throughout the week, when I'm having good wins, playing in front of a packed house, it reminds you why you keep doing it, why you get up in the morning, do the training sessions, spend countless hours rehabbing what look like injuries you may never come back from. I just makes it all worth it.

As I said, in front of mum and dad, then seeing the tears in their eyes when I went to hug them after the match, they're the moments you live for. Who knows, as I said, not a lot of people get the opportunity to win a title. For me to do it at home kind of in my comeback, I just started to play again, I hope this is just the beginning for me. If this is as good as it gets, I'm content as well, to be honest.

Q. Straight after the match the emotions spilled over.

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah.

Q. Did it all just come with a rush, everything that had been happening to you over five, six years?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, 100%. Just many, many emotions. Just relief. Happy. Not just for myself and the work I put in, but everyone that stuck by me. They see me at my lowest points. To ride this high, it's just validation, just happiness for everyone involved. It's as much their title as it is mine.

Yeah, just emotions boiled over. I started to get little feelings of it when I got up a break in the third set. I knew if I took my foot off the gas, a quality player like him, or anyone at this level to be honest, is going to come back, it's going to be a tough road.

I tried to stay as composed at possible. I started serving great. I know how hard it is serving out matches, maybe serving out a title. I just decided to stay with it and break for the win.

Q. You have noticed people were starting to write you off. What were some of the signs you noticed? Sponsorship? You talked about people not stopping you at training.

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: All of it. But it's part of sport. Less people kind of message you. When you're doing well, everyone wants to pat you on the back, message you. When you're on the other side, a lot of people don't really care.

But it took me by surprise the first couple years. The last three years I kind of stopped caring about what other people thought because I knew it was part of it. Everyone loves a winner, I get that. Yeah, it was just messaging. When you walk through the hallways and that, when they used to come up to you, sponsorships. It's just a bunch of things.

I know that's part of it as well. When you're an injured player, you're not spending too much time playing, if you're a big company, why would you want to sponsor someone? It makes sense to me. Now I'm happy, I'm on the front foot, my body feels great. Yeah, as I said, I hope this is just the beginning for me, and onwards and upwards.

Q. Full season on the challenger tour, you said you grinded it out. You haven't had too many physical injuries. What has changed for you, allowed you to have this consistent run of now more than a year of comparative physical health? Anything you changed? Are you doing anything different?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, for sure. I think there's a few factors. I think my body's adapted. I think I've become a bit smarter in myself, things that I started to do. Me and my team, I found a trainer that I really like in Jono, being smart about what I do, how often I do things.

I mean, last year was a real good step. As I said, the challenger circuit, there's a lot of good players on there, they make you work for everything. I've said it many times. A lot of players that do well on the challenger circuit end up transitioning and end up doing well on the tour. I don't think the challie tour needs to be looked over. That being said, I much prefer here.

Jono has been great. Coaches have been great. I think we're all on the same page. This is the first off-season in years where I had no real hiccups. I was able to work on my tennis and my fitness without sort of a laboring issue, trying to maintain or manage, to be honest. Just having that continuity was massive for me.

Yeah, I just got to try and rest and recover and as put as many of these weeks together as I can.