{"id":301945,"date":"2023-05-30T05:37:08","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T05:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=301945"},"modified":"2023-05-30T05:58:11","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T05:58:11","slug":"wawrinka-whacked-ahead-of-kokkinakis-grudge-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=301945","title":{"rendered":"Wawrinka whacked ahead of Kokkinakis grudge match"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian tennis great Wally Masur<\/a> says Thanasi Kokkinakis<\/a> is a strong chance of beating Stan Wawrinka<\/a> in their Roland-Garros<\/a> showdown \u2014 and has thrown a light-hearted jab at the Swiss champion's waistline.<\/p>\n

When Australian wildcard Kokkinakis meets the three-time singles grand slam champion in the second round of the Paris major, it'll mark the first-ever ATP match between the two men.<\/p>\n

"I reckon this is not a bad draw for Thanasi," Masur said on Stan Sport's Grand Slam Daily<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Djokovic's controversial post-match camera signing<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Origin won't be perfect until this trophy changes<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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"We know that Stan is a champion, he's been a great player for a lot of years.<\/p>\n

"But … you look at Stan's midriff \u2014 he's \ufeffcarrying a couple of kilos."<\/p>\n

Watch Roland-Garros 2023 from May 28. Every match ad free and on demand.<\/strong> Centre court coverage in 4K UHD on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Wawrinka\ufeff had a golden run between 2014 and 2016, winning the Australian Open, Roland-Garros and the US Open.<\/p>\n

But the former world No.3 hasn't advanced beyond the quarter-finals of \ufeffa major since the Roland-Garros tournament of 2017.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In 2022, he fell to as low as 322nd in the rankings on the back of a foot injury that required two surgeries and, reflecting on his physical struggles, has admitted to thinking he would never compete again.<\/p>\n

Wawrinka is ranked 89th on the cusp of his match against Kokkinakis, who's ranked 108th.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Wawrinka defeated Spaniard\ufeff Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-7 (2), 1-6, 6-4 in the first round at Roland-Garros, while Kokkinakis overcame Great Britain's Dan Evans 6-4, 6-4, 6-4<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch Roland-Garros 2023 live and free on<\/strong> 9now<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kokkinakis' win was his first singles victory in the main draw of a Roland-Garros tournament since 2015, when he defeated Bernard Tomic.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"I don't feel too bad about Thanasi's chances going forward\ufeff," Masur added.<\/p>\n

\"Kokkinakis<\/p>\n

Tension has long lingered between Kokkinakis and Wawrinka, but by no doing of their own.<\/p>\n

Nick Kyrgios fired an infamous sledge at Wawrinka during a \ufeffCanadian Cup match in 2015<\/a>, saying: "Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend. Sorry to tell you that, mate."<\/p>\n

The dirty sledge referred to Kokkinakis and Croatian star Donna Vekic, who had played mixed doubles with Kokkinakis and later dated Wawrinka.<\/p>\n

In the same match against Wawrinka, Kyrgios also said, "He's banging a 19-year-old".<\/p>\n

A fuming Wawrinka confronted Kyrgios in the locker room after the match and the story became folklore on the ATP Tour.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios was fined $13,580, slapped with a suspended one-match ban and apologised.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Kyrgios and Kokkinakis are close mates and doubles partners.<\/p>\n

They combined to win the men's doubles title at the 2022 Australian Open.\ufeff<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian tennis great Wally Masur says Thanasi Kokkinakis is a strong chance of beating Stan Wawrinka in their Roland-Garros showdown \u2014 and has thrown a […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":301947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301945"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=301945"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301949,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301945\/revisions\/301949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/301947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=301945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=301945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=301945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}