Tennis great Todd Woodbridge accuses Thanasi Kokkinakis of putting Russian money ahead of his Australian Open campaign

  •  Thanasi Kokkinakis slammed for pre-Open scheduling
  •  Aussie star ‘prioritising Russian money instead of career’

Todd Woodbridge has criticised Thanasi Kokkinakis for putting Russian money ahead of his Australian Open campaign, urging the injury-prone Aussie tennis star to rethink his priorities.

Kokkinakis was forced to withdraw from his hometown Adelaide International last week with a shoulder injury in a fresh blow to his Australian Open hopes.

The 2022 champion was due to play second seed Sebastian Korda on Thursday night for a place in the final four, but was a late withdrawal citing a right shoulder complaint.

While the injury is not expected to sideline the 28-year-old for too long, it is one of many nasty niggles he has picked up over the years.

Kokkinakis has experienced everything from abdominal and groin injuries to shoulder surgery and stress fractures.

Injuries have seen him fall short of his potential, with the talented South Australian admitting that it’s made him think about retiring from the sport.

Aussie tennis great turned Channel Nine star Todd Woodbridge has delivered a blunt take on Thanasi Kokkinakis’s injury woes as he blamed him for playing in Russia

Kokkinakis has come into the Australian Open under an injury cloud after being forced to pull out of his hometown Adelaide International tournament

Kokkinakis has come into the Australian Open under an injury cloud after being forced to pull out of his hometown Adelaide International tournament 

Woodbridge believes some of Kokkinakis’ obstacles have been self-inflicted, including not taking a rest at the end of 2024 and instead taking money to play in Russia.

‘Scheduling is a really interesting thing with him,’ Woodbridge told Wide World of Sports’ The Morning Serve.

‘He has to think hard about what he’s going to do to get the best tennis career out of himself. At the back end of the year he’s played Challengers and then he went and played exhibition matches that he didn’t need to do.

‘Yes, the money’s great and we all love putting that in our pocket and that’s exactly what he did, but that schedule hurts to start the year.’

Woodbridge said Kokkinakis should be trying to come into the Australian Open in his best shape, suggesting that his current injury problems could have been avoided.

‘He needed to get some really big work in, maybe get to Brisbane, play that- he pulled out of Brisbane,’ Woodbridge said.

‘He always plays well in Adelaide, that’s the home town, he loves it there, but the problem is when you go that hard that early, it wears you out for here.’

Woodbridge suggested Kokkinakis could take a leaf out of Alex de Minaur’s book.

Woodbridge advised Kokkinakis to make his home grand slam his biggest priority

Woodbridge advised Kokkinakis to make his home grand slam his biggest priority

‘That’s something that Alex de Minaur has done on a number of occasions over the past five years,’ he said.

‘He’s learned to change that schedule. Now he’s got the week off prior and that has allowed him over the past 12 months to go deep in all the majors, right? That is something Thanasi needs to think about.

‘I’m hoping that what happened in Adelaide has given him enough time though to be able to get started here because he’s coming in with confidence, good form … but you’ve got to think about it for next year because otherwise time’s running out.’

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