US OPEN

August 30, 2022

Thanasi Kokkinakis

Press Conference

N. KYRGIOS/T. Kokkinakis

6-3, 6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Your perspective on the match.

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, I thought Nick played very well. He's playing very confident right now, very free. Obviously he always serves well.

Yeah, I didn't play great, to be honest. Just didn't find enough on the return, wasn't able to hit my groundies well enough.

I thought I served pretty well, but that's probably the only positive I could take away.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Nick was saying it's the most uncomfortable he's felt in a match. What was your perspective?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, definitely up there. It was hard to get pumped up, hard to get real, like, fired up in the contest a little bit.

Obviously with what happened before, there was a lot of energy in the first. Kind of got sucked out a little bit after that, which is understandable. When we play, it's a bit tough to get that rhythm as well, two pretty good servers going at it, there's going to be some short points, a lot of first-strike tennis. Hard to get a good rhythm.

It's never easy playing someone like that. Yeah, it was definitely a bit awkward.

Q. (Question about playing doubles.)

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Doubles is fine. We're fine. Talking rubbish in the locker room already. Nick was sending me memes five minutes before the match.

We're fine. It's just when you get out there, it's hard to get pumped up. Obviously we competed, but it's hard to have that same fire a little bit.

Q. Nick was saying that he was basically trying not to look at your face, trying to think of you as another player out there. Did you feel those kinds of feelings, too?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, I mean, a little bit. I looked at his face a bit. I knew I was playing him (smiling).

The weird thing was kind of hearing support from his box to Nick, when I'm used to it coming to us a little bit. Like, I'll miss a shot. Let's go, Nick. Just a little bit weird. Felt weird behind it. It's nothing bad at all. Just not a comfortable feeling. It was vice versa as well.

Yeah, it is weird. Almost felt like a bit of a practice match. Didn't have the same sort of match intensity. Yeah, I don't know, it's hard to explain.

Q. After playing Novak at Wimbledon you basically tipped him to win the crown. He delivered. Without putting too much pressure on Nick, how well is he playing in comparison?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: It's different. I've lost to a couple decent players my last two slams. It would be nice to meet them a little bit later. That's the way it goes until I get my ranking up, try to get seeded.

They're just different. Nick obviously serves a lot better than Novak. Novak returns the best in the business, maybe the best ever. A different sort of game style.

Nick is probably playing with the most freedom I've ever seen from the back of the court. It puts a lot of pressure on your serve and groundies. If you don't serve as well as you need to, he's going to play.

He's an incredible frontrunner. If he gets ahead, feels confident, it makes it really tough. Scoreboard pressure is everything. A couple loose games in the first and second set, especially the second set, I thought I gave it away a little bit. You can't have that against someone that is so high on confidence.

Q. You mentioned you felt like you didn't return as well as you wanted, groundies were off. How much do you feel that was hard to get pumped up, how much of it is Nick?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: I think it's a bit of both to be honest. Frustrating for me, I know I can play better. The last couple weeks, had a couple tough losses. Felt like I should have won both those matches that I lost 7-6 in the third. Frustrating coming in. Playing good in practice.

Is annoying. It's always going to be tougher in a match. I definitely have some gears I can go to. Haven't found them yet. Got to get better and do a bit more I think.

Q. You've been saying about the tight matches you've lost. Compare this one to some of those. Is this a worst loss or than easier one to get over, or a loss is a loss?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: A loss is a loss. There's not many moral victories, to be honest. The last two I definitely felt like I was in the driver's seat to win, against Sinner and the match last week against Ducks. Both of those I felt I should have won.

This one was tough. Nick was the better player today. This one, it's frustrating, but I don't go away from it thinking I should have won. Do I think I could have played a lot better? Yes. Made a bit more of a match of it.

Definitely it's just a different loss. All losses are, that's all the record shows.