Thanasi Kokkinakis is finally back on a tennis court, playing without pain, after battling ongoing pectoral muscle issues that derailed his season. The 29-year-old became the first tennis player to undergo groundbreaking surgery in an attempt to save his career.
Kokkinakis knew the procedure was a “risk” – he had a dead man’s body part put into his shoulder. But he’s hoping to return to competition next year, and put his body to the test as he came out to support the Australian Davis Cup team during their qualifier tie in Sydney over the weekend.
The former world No. 65 served as a hitting partner for Alex de Minaur and the rest of the team, and reflected on the recovery from his pectoral reattachment surgery.
“It’s a risk I took knowing that that might not be a chance,” the former Australian Open doubles champion told AAP.
“No tennis player’s had the surgery that I’ve had before, so it’s a risky one and the tough part is it’s hard to bounce ideas off anyone.
“But I didn’t want to keep doing what I was doing and playing through the pain that I was the last few years, so I wanted to take a risk and see how I go.”
Kokkinakis has been back on the court for a couple of weeks, and says his groundstrokes “are pretty close to 100 per cent”, but he’s still finding it difficult to serve.
The Aussie is now targeting a comeback next season, with the Australian summer swing kicking off at the end of December. Most importantly, he’s playing pain-free for the first time in years.
Kokkinakis went to the same doctor who completed shoulder surgery on Pat Rafter and Shane Warne, helping them save their own careers.
The 19-year-old explained: “I’ve been playing with a bad pec rupture for the best part of four or five years.
“And long story short, if I was to try and play a long match or a five-setter or even back-to-back matches, I’d pull up and my arm would swell up and I wouldn’t be able to play, or I’d play through and have to retire.
“So I didn’t want to go through that just making up the numbers and having a good win and then having to pull out.”
As for the revolutionary procedure itself, Kokkinakis said: “I wanted to try something to see if it worked and I ended up having a lot of scar tissue cut out and half my pec essentially cut off the right one.
“And then I have an Achilles allograft, so a dead person’s Achilles attaching from my pec that was torn to my shoulder to try and assist with strength.”
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