Thanasi Kokkinakis concedes he may have contested his last US Open without even hitting a ball after the cursed star’s body failed him once again.
Kokkinakis formally withdrew from the season’s last grand slam after being unable to take the court for his scheduled first-round clash with Spanish wonder boy Rafael Jodar because of an ankle sprain.
The Australian suffered his latest injury in Cincinnati two weeks ago and has been racing the clock to be fit for the Open ever since.
He ran out of time and, after a decade battling endless back, shoulder, abdominal, knee and arm injuries, Kokkinakis admits he is losing patience.
“It is a possibility for sure,” the 30-year-old told AAP when asked if his US Open career might be over.
“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.
“On the limited matches that I’ve played, I’ve shown that I’m more than good enough to still compete and then beat some good players.
“But, to be honest, I’m sick of going into tournaments not feeling like I can do it physically and everyone asks me how my body is.”
The 30-year-old used — or “wasted” — the fifth of nine injury-protected ranking entries available to him to make the US Open draw.
The one-time Roger Federer slayer now plans on continuing his recovery and trying 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.
“That’s always the thing. So it’s about feeling strong in myself.
“I’ll definitely obviously give the next Aussie a crack and see where I’m at after that.”
AAP
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