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3 months ago
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Thanasi Kokkinakis will have an MRI scan in London to determine the extent of the injury that has wrecked his Wimbledon hopes - after he appeared to predict the heartbreaking turn of events in a social media post.
The joy of the Aussie's remarkable triumph over 17th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime from two sets down on Wednesday turned to misery less than 24 hours later in his second-round match against French qualifier Lucas Pouille.
Trailing 2-6 7-5 4-2, Kokkinakis - a big man who's often talked of how tentative he feels with his movement on grass courts - slipped and twisted his left knee while trying to retrieve a forehand.
The 28-year-old tumbled over, clearly in agony, while former French No.1 Pouille crossed the court to help attend to him.
Kokkinakis eventually soldiered on for one more game, but at 5-2 down limped across to tell Pouille there was no way he could continue.
The day before the clash, the Aussie re-tweeted a post showing a video of cooked meat falling off a bone accompanied by the caption 'Thanasi Kokkinakis' legs when he woke up this morning after playing 15 sets in 4 days', referring to his marathon five-set win over Felix Auger-Aliassime, which took two days.
Kokkinakis added the word 'Accurate' with a tears of joy emoji.
'It was a tricky match. It started well but there was a weird kind of energy out there, it felt strange,' Kokkinakis said after his tournament ended.
Kokkinakis pulled out of the match soon after twisting his left knee and cut a dejected figure while receiving treatment for the injury (pictured)
The 28-year-old has previously talked about his worries over playing on grass courts
Kokkinakis injured his knee and had to stay off the court for a week in the lead-up to Wimbledon
The Australian had been unhappy with a heckler in the crowd the previous day who had badgered him and Auger-Aliassime to play on after rain had made the surface treacherous.
A fortnight ago Kokkinakis suffered a similar tumble at the Queen's Club Championship on a wet court, which caused a medial collateral ligament injury that kept him out of action for a week.
He also had sprained his troublesome left knee two years ago at a pre-Wimbledon Challenger tournament in nearby Surbiton, which cost him a month out of the sport.
'He was starting to play some good tennis and I was trying to rally and just slipped and hurt my knee,' he said.
'I'm going to see the severity after some scans - but I know I've done a similar injury to what I did at Queen's Club.
'But it feels a bit worse, that's my gut feeling.'
Kokkinakis had planned to play a hard-court tournament in Atlanta next.
Kokkinakis appeared to predict his injury when he made the above comment as he re-tweeted a social media post showing cooked meat falling off a bone
'But now I've got to have an MRI to see if that's going to be possible or not,' the world No.93 said.
He had some stern words for a spectator who blasted him and opponent Auger-Aliassime for leaving the court when it rained during their two-day clash.
'All right, have a go and try to move on a dewy grass court. It's one of the hardest things, especially with me injuring myself at Queen's and also a couple of years back.
'I'm not going to let some muppet in the crowd dictate when I go back on the court, whether it means waiting two extra minutes.
'I was walking on eggshells a little bit at the start, but it started to get comfortable.'
English (US)