What a match it was! After a grueling four and a half hours of fighting, Thanasi Kokkinakis kicks Stan Wawrinka out of Roland Garros. The Australian is back in great form after several seasons of injury.
Thanasi Kokkinakis is an Australian tennis player who was considered one of the greatest talents of the young generation a few seasons ago. Unfortunately, injuries plagued him. But the Australian has returned. He won the 2022 Australian Open in doubles and has now caused a sensation at Roland Garros.
Stan Wawrinka has bid farewell to what may be one of the last Grand Slam triumphs of his declining career. The Australian defeated the Swiss in five sets by a score of 3-6 7-5 6-3 6-7(4) 6-3. Thanasi Kokkinakis reached the match point after more than four and a half hours of fierce fighting. Leading 5-3, 40-0 in the fifth set, Kokkinakis served and played a six-shooter, which Wawrinka finished with a backhand winner. Everyone wondered if Kokkinakis’ advantage would evaporate, especially as four match points came and went. The Australian has faced such a chance before with a big star on the opposite side of the net. Kokkinakis led Andy Murray on the same stage at the Australian Open earlier this year, only to lose in five titanic sets.
“I feel like I have a lot of dramatic matches. I guess it’s my fault that I can’t finish them sooner, or the testimony of these guys I play with. They’re all legends, so they really make your life difficult. Definitely a pretty crazy ending. But yeah, I’m happy with how the movie ended in this match,” said a cheerful Kokkinakis after finally winning the match against Wawrinka.Kokkinakis will advance to the third round of a grand slam for the first time in eight years. The only other time was in 2015, at the same tournament when Kokkinakis was a teenager – the same year he peaked at world No. 69. Then came a set of injuries and illnesses that destroyed his confidence, momentum, and faith in his body and excluded him almost completely from the game for five years. Now he’s back, fit and reclaimed his ranking. Does this bode well for this talented Aussie? Let’s hope so.
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