Injured Kokkinakis withdraws from US Open before hitting a ball

Thanasi Kokkinakis may have contested his last US Open without hitting a ball. The Australian withdrew from the year’s final Grand Slam after an ankle sprain ruled him out of his scheduled first-round match against Spain’s Rafael Jodar.

Kokkinakis suffered the injury at a tournament in Cincinnati two weeks ago and had been racing to recover in time for New York. He ran out of time, adding another setback to a career marked by repeated injuries to his back, shoulder, abdomen, knee and arm.

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It is a possibility for sure. I’m not going to say never. The thing is, I feel like the tennis part, I’ve still got a lot of good tennis left in me.

The 30-year-old acknowledged that his US Open career could be over. “It is a possibility for sure,” he told AAP. “I’m not going to say never. The thing is, I feel like the tennis part, I’ve still got a lot of good tennis left in me.”

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I’m sick of going into tournaments not feeling like I can do it physically and everyone asks me how my body is.

Kokkinakis used the fifth of nine injury-protected ranking entries available to him to enter the US Open draw. The former Roger Federer conqueror said he remains frustrated by repeatedly arriving at tournaments unsure whether his body will hold up. “I’m sick of going into tournaments not feeling like I can do it physically and everyone asks me how my body is,” he said.

He now plans to continue his recovery and aim to be fully fit for the Australian summer. “I want to go into it being confident in myself and, if I do win, give myself a chance to back up and try and play again,” Kokkinakis said.

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I want to go into it being confident in myself and, if I do win, give myself a chance to back up and try and play again.