Thanasi Kokkinakis can hold his head high for various reasons despite being knocked out of the Australian Open by Jack Draper.
Draper trained with Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner before the Australian Open, although he did pull out of an off-season training camp with Carlos Alcaraz.
British number one and ATP number 18 Draper had been suffering from a hip injury ahead of the first Grand Slam of 2025.
He was forced to withdraw from the United Cup due to the issue, but it hasn’t stopped him from reaching the Australian Open third round.
And that was achieved in a dramatic and entertaining fashion, with the Briton edging out home favourite Kokkkinakis in a five-set thriller.
Thanasi Kokkinakis praised by tennis fans for sportsmanship gesture against Jack Draper
John Cain Arena played host to the epic encounter, which Draper won 6-7(3-7), 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 after four hours and 35 minutes.
But one moment of superb sportsmanship from Kokkinakis has been highlighted, when the chair umpire called let right before Draper hit what would have been a winning point during the fourth set.
But rather than playing out a replay, Kokkinakis told the umpire to award the point to the Briton, much to the delight of tennis fans, with one writing on X: “Fantastic sporting gesture from Kokkinakis giving the point to Draper when the umpire played a let, when she basically shouldn’t have.”
A second fan said: “That’s great sportsmanship from Kokkinakis right there to give Draper the point. Total right thing to do. Draper had him beaten cold.”
A third commented: “Good sportsmanship from Kokkinakis there to award the point to Draper. But why the hell did the umpire call let to begin with?”
And a fourth fan also praised the home favourite, saying: “Kokkinakis tonight and [Alex] de Minaur last night, Aussies should be really proud of the sportsmanship they have both shown…”
Further praise arrived as other tennis fans noted: “Well done Kokkinakis, good sportsmanship” and “Class act Kokki.”
Thanasi Kokkinakis rightfully praised after admirable Australian Open gesture
The contentious moment in question arrived at 15-15 in the fifth game of the fourth set, when Kokkinakis was leading 3-1.
But in a superb act of sportsmanship, the Australian felt obliged to hand the point to Draper, who went on to win the game and later the set.
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A replay of the point was, of course, on the cards as Draper leaned on the net exasperated, but that was avoided thanks to the brilliant gesture from Kokkinakis.
Draper would later clinch the final set to clinch a memorable victory and reach the Australian Open third round for the first time in his career.
Kokkinakis will now play doubles with Nick Kyrgios, although it remains to be seen just how fit he will be after his latest battle in Melbourne, during which he struggled with injury.
One certainty is that he deserves all of the praise he is getting for taking such action at such an important stage of the match, which many other players undoubtedly would not have done.
He explained his thought process post-match, with Kokkinakis saying in his press conference: “If you want to replay the point… I didn’t hear what happened.
“Apparently someone talked through the microphone or something like that. It was a long point. I thought he was going to win the point anyway. I gave him the point.”
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