No less an authority than Spanish tennis ace Rafael Nadal has tipped youngster Thanasi Kokkinakis as the next big Australian star of professional tennis, despite the young up-and-comer being derailed by injury of late.
Kokkinakis has shown plenty of promise at this early juncture of his career, according to Nadal, but his future prospects will hinge on how he recovers from a shoulder issue that has kept him out for the first half of the year. The south Australian prospect did turn out for the Rio Olympics, but he failed to advance past the first round. Another injury to a racquet-swinging muscle in his chest forced him to sit out the U.S. Open in September.
Kokkinakis has been ranked as high as 69th in the world in 2015 and his best showing to date in a Grand Slam event was when he made it to the third round in the 2016 French Open.
Nadal, perhaps trying to move gracefully into the role of an elder-statesman of tennis, has complimentary things to say about another Australian, Nick Kyrgios, who has risen to number 13 in the world and has more than enough talent to win at the top level, provided he can learn to tame the mental demons that occasionally distract him from the focus necessary to beat the Murrays, Djokovics and Nadals of the tennis world.
