Journalists who came to interview a confident Wimbledon underdog were perhaps disappointed by Thanasi Kokkinakis’ more frank assessment of his chances against world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
“Probably not,” he said when asked whether he felt more prepared for the 20-time major champion than in past encounters. “I think I sort of had more match play and better form coming into when I played him last, but I was real young. And again, it's a completely different surface playing him. I was third round French, 2015. Obviously, yeah, on grass second round.”
The second round is already a vast improvement for the popular Aussie, who had never before won a main-draw match in two previous appearances at SW19—though he pushed Juan Martin del Potro to four sets in 2017. Repeatedly sidelined by injuries in his career, Kokkinakis shook off issues with his knee and hip to defeat Kamil Majchrzak in straight sets to book the Djokovic clash.