{"id":360290,"date":"2024-01-16T10:28:59","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T11:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=360290"},"modified":"2024-01-16T12:02:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T12:02:05","slug":"kokkinakis-hilarious-clash-with-junkies-after-murray-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=360290","title":{"rendered":"Kokkinakis' hilarious clash with 'junkies' after Murray loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanasi Kokkinakis<\/a> is through to the second round of the Australian Open<\/a> after yet another five-set thriller.<\/p>\n

Having already endured a tough start to the year with first-round exits at both the Brisbane<\/a> and Adelaide<\/a> internationals, Kokkinakis came from a set down to climb over Austrian Sebastian Ofner 7-6 (1), 2-6, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 7-6 (10-7).<\/p>\n

In his post-match interview, Kokkinakis said he battled some "serious demons" as memories of last year's epic 4am finish against Andy Murray returned to him.<\/a><\/p>\n

FOLLOW LIVE:<\/strong> Australian Open 2024 day three<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'I can't see': Aussie's bizarre gripe with security<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Winner's urgent handshake before throwing up<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I wish I could (win) easier, but I can't \u2013 I've got the mental focus of a three-year-old," he said.<\/p>\n

"I was battling serious demons, that's for sure. Sometimes I struggle for motivation during the year but January and the Aussie Open definitely isn't one of those times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I had a tough end to last year, a tough start to this year and I know it is the first round but this one meant a lot."<\/p>\n

He also revealed a bizarre clash he'd had in the days after last year's Open with some punters at Melbourne's Crown Casino.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Last year, that one hurt. I had a couple of junkies come up to me at Crown Casino ripping me for that loss against Murray. Didn't enjoy that," he said.<\/p>\n

"Glad I could make amends and win a five-setter here."<\/p>\n

\"Sebastian<\/p>\n

Kokkinakis took the opening set in a tiebreak but lost the next two. He bounced back in the fourth to clinch the set with a double break, but was pushed the whole way to a fifth set 10-point tie-breaker.<\/p>\n

He will now take on Bulgarian 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov in the second round on Thursday. Given he is also scheduled to play doubles with Alexei Popyrin that day, Kokkinakis said the next 24 hours would be all about recovery.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Australian Open live and exclusive on Nine,<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and ad-free on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

"I'll recover, I dunno what else I'll do \u2013 just chill out," he said.<\/p>\n

"Grigor is a hell of a player, he's been doing this for a while and he is in some great form right now.<\/p>\n

"I'll back myself \u2026 I've beaten high-ranked players before, I've lost to lower-ranked players.<\/p>\n

"It is about coming out on the day and playing my best tennis. Hopefully I can do that."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanasi Kokkinakis is through to the second round of the Australian Open after yet another five-set thriller. Having already endured a tough start to the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":360292,"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\/360290"}],"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=360290"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":360296,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360290\/revisions\/360296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/360292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=360290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=360290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=360290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}