Three weeks can be an eternity in pro tennis.
Thanasi Kokkinakis may have been Australia’s star turn on the clay of Roland Garros but now Australia’s Paris stand-out faces a rare old battle just to make it to the main draw of Wimbledon.
At the end of May, the ‘Special K’ won one of the most dramatic matches at the French Open, downing former winner Stan Wawrinka in an epic five-setter, before going on to lose a thrilling four-set affair with Karen Khachanov in the third round a couple of days later.
After all that manic excitement in front of noisy full-houses on Court Simonne Mathieu, Kokkinakis will be back down to earth in the sleepier surrounds of Roehampton, a couple of miles from Wimbledon, playing a first-round qualifier in a bid to make it into the main draw at a seventh straight grand slam.
Kokkinakis was left frustrated he hadn’t quite done enough earlier in the summer to automatically qualify for Wimbledon and he now has to enter the minefield of qualifying, having to win three matches to make the big show.
Seeded second in qualifying, despite having lost his only grass-court match since Paris at Nottingham, the world No.88 will be one of the favourites to get to the All England Club again, having won his first main-draw match there last year.
First up on Monday, he will face a 21-year-old Swiss, Leandro Riedi, ranked 165 in the world.
Kokkinakis will be one of five Australian men in action on the opening day, with at least one guaranteed to make it into the second round of qualifiers with Sydney’s ninth seed Rinky Hijikata having been rather unfortunately drawn against Adelaide’s Alex Bolt.
Melbourne’s Marc Polmans, who reached the second round two years ago, faces Italian 19th seed Andrea Vavassori, while Sydney’s No.7 seed James Duckworth will tackle British wildcard Stuart Parker.
The depth of competition in qualifying can be gauged by players of the quality of former top-tenners David Goffin and former quarter-finalist Lucas Pouille being in action at Roehampton.
One of the sport’s rising stars, 18-year-old Frenchman Arthur Fils, who’s No.63 in the world after winning his maiden tour-level title in Lyon, will compete too.
The draw for the women’s qualifying will be announced on Monday.
