Shoulder injury to Thanasi Kokkinakis set to end Aus Open doubles push with Nick Kyrgios

Thanasi Kokkinakis says he feels like he’s “letting people down”, with the doubles reunion of his 2022 Australian Open winning partner Nick Kyrgios “unlikely” after he suffered a recurrence of a pectoral injury in his second round loss at Melbourne Park.

The duo, dubbed the “Special Ks”, who were also set to reform for Australia’s Davis Cup tie with Sweden, were scheduled to start their campaign at Melbourne Park on Thursday afternoon.

But after his heartbreaking singles loss to Jack Draper, Kokkinakis said he could struggle to “lift my arm” in the wake of his five-set defeat, putting the highly anticipated reunion in serious jeopardy.

“I feel like I’m letting him down, letting people down,” Kokkinakis said.

“I don’t know, I won’t be able to lift my arm tomorrow, so we’ll see. Unless we’re both playing with underarm serves, it’s looking pretty unlikely.”

Kokkinakis said he had to take a “million pain killers” just to get through his clash with Draper having battled the injury before.

“I try to do everything I can recovery-wise to heal it. It’s frustrating because the rest of my body feels great,” he said.

“Even if I won, I wouldn’t have been able to play the next match. I’m annoyed. I still had a chance to win. I’m angry.

“Shoulder was gone before the match. I just tried to tough it out. I was touch-and-go again to play this week. Took a million painkillers to try and get through.

“It’s just this one injury. It affects my serve and my forehand. They’re my two biggest strengths.”

Kokkinakis said there was a “tear for sure” in the muscle, and his immediate future was clouded.

“I’m playing with a crazy amount of scar tissue in there. It’s something that every time I show a physio or a doctor or something, they’re taken back by it,” he said.

“I’ve tried to sort it out for years manually, without surgery, just trying to do what I can. It’s the reason why I can’t back up big matches. My whole body is fine. It’s just the same injury that I worked so hard on to try to get right. I still can’t do it.

“That’s the thing holding me back.”