THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 27, 2022

Thanasi Kokkinakis

Press Conference

T. KOKKINAKIS/K. Majchrzak

7-6, 6-2, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Good win for you today. How did you feel out there?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, I'm super happy with how sort of the result panned out. A lot of doubt sort of coming into the tournament. Wasn't sure how I'd pull up, how I'd play, if I would even play.

Yeah, to get it done especially in straight sets, yeah, for my first win at Wimbledon, couldn't be happier.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I was going to ask you how satisfying is it after all these years to get your first win at Wimbledon?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, definitely. I found myself in a good position sort of few years back I think against Del Potro. It was a fairly close one. Been in qualifying kind of since then with some injuries and whatnot.

Yeah, super happy to get that done in front of a pretty rowdy Court 16. Yeah, happy with that.

Q. Pretty big reward as well?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, definitely was in the back of my mind sort of playing that match. I obviously saw the draw. I'm not one of those people that doesn't look sort of ahead. I knew I had a tough match obviously first but definitely knew what was at stake.

Yeah, can't wait. Can't wait for the opportunity.

Q. You have played Novak once before. What are your memories of that match? Do you think you're better prepared this time around?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, probably not (smiling). I think I sort of had more match play and better form coming into when I played him last, but I was real young. And again, it's a completely different surface playing him. I was third round French I think 2015. Obviously, yeah, on grass second round.

It's a surface that I haven't been too comfortable with in the past. But, yeah, I felt pretty great out there today. It's obviously going to be a really tough challenge. He's won the last how many years? Yeah, I'm probably not the favorite, let's put it that way.

It's going to be good fun out there and I'm going to swing free hopefully and play my game. He's a brick wall, so you kind of got to beat him. He's not going to beat himself. So that's going to be fun.

Q. Nick said over the weekend that he really abhors the five-set practice here for doubles, men's doubles. What are your thoughts about that? What do you look forward to in getting the opportunity to play with Nick here?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, I'm probably with him on that, especially if you are playing singles as well. I think if you're just playing doubles then you can deal with best-of-five for doubles.

I think when I played with Lleyton in the past we had some long five-setters, and some guy we actually played against cramped in doubles, which I've never seen before in my life. That was pretty funny. I mean, I've cramped in singles, so I'm not one to laugh. But, hey, doubles is a different ball game.

Yeah, definitely if you're playing singles, best-of-five sets for doubles is definitely tough. But yeah, we'll see. We'll see what happens. We said if we kind of win a few singles matches, you know, it could be a tough situation for us.

Any time I can share the court with Nick is always a pleasure. Obviously we get along so well off the court. We talk all the time. We don't play for results. We kind of play to have fun and the chemistry with each other.

Yeah, we'll see how we go.

Q. What sort of flair that differs from other doubles teams do you think you guys bring to your matches?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Well, I guess we try and get the crowd involved. Especially we did in Australia and hopefully we can bring the same sort of energy here.

I think we just play a lot different to the sort of generic doubles teams that like to serve/volley. We try and serve big from the baseline and kind of tee off groundstrokes. Kind of get the crowd involved, as I said, and kind of use our personalities and play off that energy.

Q. Obviously you prefer to play him in a semis, but is there some sort of advantage to you to play him earlier on when he hasn't really gotten into his groove on the grass?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: I don't know. Maybe (smiling). Maybe not. I guess I haven't really had much groove on grass, to be honest.

I don't think there's a right time to play him. You just got to go out there against him and play your game. I've beaten some good players before, and yeah, obviously the best-of-five is a different kettle of fish. We'll see.

Hopefully it's on Centre Court and I'm going to play with the crowd and -- sounds weird (laughter). I'm just going to have fun out there. It's going to be a good atmosphere so I'm going to laugh it up.

Q. You have played Roger, Novak, Rafa. What's the difference between playing them or what sort of things do you have to do well against each of them?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, well, I played Rafa when I was 17, so, I mean, it was a long time ago. They're obviously different players but obviously do things extremely well. The biggest chopping I got was from Andy in Davis Cup though, that one in Glasgow, that was something else. I don't know why I brought that up. That's a bad memory for me.

I've played them all. I've played them all. Obviously I'm going to say the Federer match is my favorite because I won that.

Yeah, Novak is kind of a brick wall. Federer plays with a little bit more flair. When I played Rafa I just felt like I kind of got -- I just wasn't on the same level physically as him. Not many people are. Everyone brings something different.

Novak, the thing that separates him is he moves so well, especially on the grass as well. That's, for me, the biggest challenge on grass. It feels like he slides out there and he can cover sort of defensive balls on grass that not many people can.

I'm going to have to hit one, two, three, four, five, which almost normally would be winners against other players to just kind of have a chance of winning the point.

Q. A few weeks ago Jelena Dokic shared on her Instagram account a few things about private life and especially of mental health. In your case about mental health, please tell me how do you deal with this kind of thing for your career?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, it's tough. I heard about it but I didn't read kind of everything that came -- I heard she kind of opened up. I wasn't sort of aware of all the details and everything like that.

But for me personally, I can only speak on my behalf. It was, yeah, there have been some dark times for sure, which have been pretty well documented, for me. A lot of times where I didn't think I'd play again and wasn't enjoying the sport at all.

I think for me, which I was fortunate enough, I had a good group around me, a lot of friends and family, that kind of believed in me a lot more times than I did in myself.

To get back on track, I tried to kind of do things that I enjoy, get myself in a good head space first and then worried about sort of my career and tennis later.

When I was starting to do stuff off the court that I enjoyed made me happier and made me want to kind of resume my career and keep playing.