Kokki off to a flying start
Australian wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis ended an eightyear run without a win at Roland Garros by beating Dan Evans to reach the French Open second round, but now faces “the toughest draw”.
The 27-year-old saw off British 20th seed Evans 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to win on the Paris clay for the first time since reaching the last 32 as a teenager in 2015.
Kokkinakis will face either former champion Stan Wawrinka or veteran Spanish clay-courter Albert Ramos-Vinolas in round two.
If he was to make a remarkable run to the final, like his friend Nick Kyrgios did last year at Wimbledon, he may then have to beat 11th seed Karen Khachanov, seventh seed Andrey Rublev, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.
“Someone sent me my path to the final, obviously ambitious, but it’s one of the toughest draws I’ve ever seen,” said the world No.108.
“But I probably wasn’t expected to win today either so I’ll rest up, recover and see what I can do.”
The talented Kokkinakis has been plagued by injuries in his career so far.
Last season was the first year he had managed to play in the main draw of every grand slam tournament since 2015.
“When it feels like half of your career has been kind of taken away, you hope you can have a bit at the back end,” Kokkinakis said.
“As long as my body is able to … we’ll see.
“There was a point when we didn’t think I’d play that much longer and I was 22 years old. I’m 27 now and who knows. Winning is addictive and losing makes you want to quit tennis.”
Kokkinakis has produced some eye-catching performances in the past, including a victory over Roger Federer at the 2018 Miami Open.