It has been an extraordinary journey for Thanassi Kokkinakis in recent months and none of it took place on the court.
After dealing with persistent pain in his shoulder and chest area, he underwent surgery that even Rafael Nadal’s former doctor didn’t know much about. The procedure involved a dead man’s Achilles tendon being used to attach Kokkiankis’ pec to his shoulder. Afterwards, he was unable to lift his arm over to the side and had to rely on a friend flossing under it after he had a shower.
Coming through the surgery and working himself back onto the court once again, Kokkinakis admits he is still limited, telling reporters leading up to the French Open that his right arm ‘isn’t as functional as probably the average human.’
Nevertheless, the Australian still has the firepower and illustrated this in his opening match at Roland Garros on Monday. Taking on home player Terence Atmane, he produced a gut-busting 6-7(5), 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory in the blistering heat. A gigantic effort for somebody playing their second main draw match of 2026.
“My tennis level, without sounding like an idiot, I’m not that surprised,” Kokkinakis said afterwards in his press conference.
“I’ve missed so much time in my career, and I feel like time and time again I’ve been able to prove and have some good wins after that time.
“But I think to come back after such little tennis on a Grand Slam stage and in these conditions against a good player from France, as well, it’s probably my best mental effort considering where I was.”
Kokkinakis, who has been ranked as high as 65th in the world and is a two-time junior Grand Slam finalist, continues to deal with the physical and mental toll of injury. Prior to his win over Atmane, there were doubts about him taking to the court.
“I had some people flying in, and I told them to stay home because I didn’t want to play a few games and something would go bad,” he explains.
“I was very scared, very nervous to go out there, but when I got going, I just played on energy.”
As to why there were doubts, Kokkinakis admits that he is still trying to come to terms with his new arm and how to minimise the risk of injury.
“I’m trying to kind of work out what my new normal is and what I should be feeling, and if there’s some soreness, is that alarm bells that stuff is going to get really bad, or it’s part of the process,” he said.
“I’m learning stuff every day, and every day I’m trying to work out some things to try and help it and strengthen it.
“It’s the first thing I think when I wake up in the morning, to be honest. It does consume my life.
“It’s tough mentally because a lot of times when I’m playing the opponent, I don’t even care. I just hope my arm is alright.”
Kokkinakis’ fight continues in Paris, where he will play Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round later this week. These matches are the ones for him to savour. Especially when the threat of being forced to retire is still looming.
“I said to my team, I’m going to play until the Aussie Open next year. If stuff is not going well and my arm doesn’t feel great, then that will probably be it for me,” Kokkinakis confirmed.
“Days like today give me a lot of hope that ‘s probably not going to be it, and I can keep pushing.”
