AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 16, 2022

Thanasi Kokkinakis

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations on the first title in Adelaide. How does that feel coming into the AO?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: I'm so happy. I don't know if it's really sunk in yet to be honest. Obviously it just happened yesterday, now I'm here getting ready for another tournament. Crazy quick turnaround.

I thought the first week I had was good. I was tossing up whether to play the second week. Yeah, looks like I made the right decision. Couldn't be happier to do it in front of friends and family. Atmosphere was electric. Yeah, perfect start to the year for me.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Very different to last year when you were here and came without a sponsor. Now you have your first ATP title. Any main difference between yourself last year and this year besides the success of last night?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: I'd say the main difference is just I had a year of tennis under my belt. Last year when I came into the Aussie summer, I came off of glandular fever and hadn't played a match. I only played maybe four or five tournaments in two years.

I came in with a year of tennis under my belt. I had a pre-season uninterrupted. I was able to build that continuity and rhythm. I was able to train hard, get in the best shape physically I've probably ever been in. The results kind of speak for themselves so far.

Q. Talk us through the chat with Roger. How did it all sort of play out?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Which chat?

I wasn't going to reach out to him like, Did you see my win? He just messaged me out of nowhere. It was pretty unreal to see that.

Actually Djokovic messaged me today, as well. It's good having support from two legends of the game.

Q. What is it like to have two of the all-time greats watching?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Pretty surprising. They go in the other folder, not the primary one that doesn't come up straightaway. I was having a scroll because I'm bored. They came up. A bit of a shock.

It's awesome having that support, two guys that have done so much, to reach out to me. Obviously they know it means a lot to me. They've won about a million of them, so it was probably pretty minor to them but to me it's massive. So it was pretty sweet to have them reach out.

Q. You have a first-round match to win. Have you let yourself look at potentially playing Rafa, what a moment that would be for you?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, 100% I've seen that. You can't really miss it when you're on social media. That's all they talk about.

Obviously, no, I'd love to get that opportunity. I'm not looking ahead at all though. I've got a tough player who has won three quality matches in qualifying. He's obviously playing some good tennis, been around, felt the courts, played out. I haven't hit yet. I'll probably only hit just before my warmup. I'm having a day off today.

Yeah, I've just got to be ready to go mentally. It's the most tennis I've probably ever played in such a short amount of time. Then to back up and play a Grand Slam, five sets, with only a day off. I think I played five days in a row.

It's going to take a bit of an effort from me but I feel good. I just got to be sharp and ready to go.

Q. Back on Djokovic, he's had such a crazy day today. For him to reach out, how special was that for you?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, he's obviously got a few things going on. Might have a bit of time in his room, I'm not too sure (smiling) what's going on.

But yeah, for him to reach out, it's obviously good. I mean, in person he's been nothing but nice to me, always asking how I'm doing. He said last year when I came back, Great to see you back.

Yeah, no, he's obviously got a bit on his plate right now. For him to reach out and take the timeout, it means a lot, yeah.

Q. How far back do you go with him? Maybe at the Hopman Cup?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, that's probably it. I was 16 I think as a fill-in. I played doubles against him, mixed doubles, I think with Venus, against him and Ivanovic. That's probably the first time we met. Obviously I practiced with him a little bit there. Yeah, that's probably the extent of it.

Q. Before winning Adelaide, you'd spoken about how you never experienced the energy or the buzz that you felt on court after beating Gulbis as an 18-year-old. Each experience is different, you have the win over Federer in Indian Wells, now this. In terms of just emotions at the time, how would you compare winning in Adelaide to the other two highs?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, I mean, they were obviously phenomenal moments for me. But this one definitely takes the cake. I mean, I think I was down a set, maybe up 6-5 on serve in the second set, and the crowd just went nuts coming out of a change of end. I haven't heard noise like that forever. I know it's a pretty business end of the match, but I had to laugh, smile. It was unreal.

The steps and grinding to get to that point. To play out of all places in Adelaide, to find my best tennis, have my best two tournaments maybe ever. Yeah, it was unreal.

The crowd just like rallied me back. I honestly couldn't have asked for anything more. They were great. I'm hoping for the same support here.

Q. Guessing you haven't had too many decent nights' sleep in the past two weeks.

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Very minimal. Very minimal. Got a couple hours last night. I'm going to need a few more tonight hopefully.

Q. I'm looking at a piece on the ATP website of all the people that congratulated you. Kim Clijsters tweeted at you. Obviously they know what you've been through. You mentioned it was difficult when you were having your physical problems, it was a bit isolating and stuff. With everyone now acknowledging that, how does that feel? Does it surprise you at all these people are following you even when you weren't on tour?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, it has surprised me a little bit. I felt some serious love from a lot of people. It actually means a lot. I don't know if I've walked past one person that hasn't stopped me and congratulated me.

Yeah, it's an unbelievable feeling, to be honest, something I haven't experienced obviously in a long time, maybe ever. As I said, hopefully now it's a sign that I can keep going. Gives me obviously a lot more motivation as well. I don't want to stop here.

I'm going to have some good weeks and some bad weeks. As long as I'm trying to do the right thing every week, stay locked into it, yeah, hopefully I can keep getting those results.

Q. Playing doubles with Nick, are you looking forward to that, you can reunite on the doubles court?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Always. I just saw him in the corridor just before. I hadn't seen him in ages. We always talk rubbish together. Playing with him is always an experience. I don't think we're the most sort of traditional doubles pairing you'll see. We have fun out there. We like to get the crowd going.

I mean, singles is so intense and so serious. The media hypes it. It's massive for us as well, we want to do well. Kind of being on court with each other, we can kind of relax a little bit, kind of feed off each other. It gives us a good sort of bond.