Thanasi Kokkinakis’ return to Wimbledon for the primary time since 2017 has come to an finish by the hands of six-time champion Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic was all the time going to be an enormous problem for the world No.79, who was coming off his first-ever foremost draw victory at SW19.
The highest-seeded Serbian, who’s having fun with a 23-match profitable streak on the event, took a dominant opening set 6-1 in lower than half an hour.
Kokkinakis lifted within the second set, discovering his rhythm on serve to ask much more questions of the three-time defending champion, however in the end he couldn’t make sufficient inroads on the Djokovic serve.
The second set completed with Djokovic dropping solely 5 factors on serve, having conceded solely 4 on serve within the opener.
One other break got here early within the third and from there, Djokovic ran away with the match. He posted a 6-1 6-4 6-2 victory simply wanting two hours.
After years of toil within the face of harm, Kokkinakis was excited to get such a chance.
“In the event you do get the chance to step up in opposition to one of many biggest of all time, it’s a dream actually,” Kokkinakis stated earlier than as we speak’s match.
“You need to play on these huge courts and that huge ambiance.”
Kokkinakis profession peak, pre-injuries, was a third-round run at Roland Garros in 2015. Djokovic additionally stopped him there, an emblem of the inroads Kokkinakis has made in his combat again this year.