- Thanasi Kokkinakis criticized for pre-Open scheduling
- Australian star 'prioritizes Russian money over career'
Todd Woodbridge has criticized Thanasi Kokkinakis for putting Russian money ahead of his Australian Open campaign, urging the injury-prone Australian tennis star to rethink his priorities.
Kokkinakis was forced to withdraw from his hometown Adelaide International last week with a shoulder injury, dealing a further blow to his Australian Open hopes.
The 2022 champion was due to face second seed Sebastian Korda on Thursday night for a place in the final four, but withdrew late due to a right shoulder ailment.
While the injury is not expected to sideline the 28-year-old for long, it is one of many unpleasant problems he has had over the years.
Kokkinakis has experienced everything from abdominal and groin injuries to shoulder surgery and stress fractures.
Injuries have left him below his potential, and the talented South Australian admits they have made him think about retiring from the sport.
Australian tennis great turned Channel Nine star Todd Woodbridge has forcefully addressed Thanasi Kokkinakis' injury problems and blamed him for playing in Russia.
Kokkinakis arrived at the Australian Open under a cloud of injuries after being forced to withdraw from the international tournament in his hometown of Adelaide.
Woodbridge believes some of Kokkinakis' obstacles have been self-inflicted, including not taking a break at the end of 2024 and instead taking money to play in Russia.
“Programming is something that's really interesting to him,” Woodbridge told Wide World of Sports. The morning service.
“He has to think a lot about what he is going to do to achieve the best tennis career for himself. At the end of the year he played Challengers and then went and played exhibition matches that he didn't need to do.
“Yes, money is great and we all love to put it in our pockets and that's exactly what it did, but that calendar hurts to start the year.”
Woodbridge said Kokkinakis should try to arrive at the Australian Open in top form, suggesting his current injury problems could have been avoided.
“He needed to do some really important work, maybe get to Brisbane, play that – he retired from Brisbane,” Woodbridge said.
“He always plays well in Adelaide, that's his hometown, he loves it there, but the problem is when you try so hard and so early, you get tired here.”
Woodbridge suggested that Kokkinakis could follow Alex de Minaur's example.
Woodbridge advised Kokkinakis to make the home Grand Slam his top priority
“That's something Alex de Minaur has done on several occasions over the last five years,” he said.
'He has learned to change that schedule. Now you have the week off before and that has allowed you over the last 12 months to delve into all the majors, right? That's something Thanasi needs to think about.
“I hope what happened in Adelaide has given him enough time to start here because he comes in confident and in good shape… but you have to think about it for next year because otherwise time is running out.” .'