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0 It was probably meant as a passing comment, but it gave a glimpse into the battles of life as a tennis pro.
In his post-match interview following his win over Sebastian Ofner that put him into the second round of the Australian Open, Thanasi Kokkinakis revealed he sometimes struggles for motivation throughout the year.
The 27-year-old had just won yet another five-set thriller – his third in the space of 12 months, after that famous one against Andy Murray that ended after 4am at last year’s Australian Open, and then another against Stan Wawrinka at Roland-Garros.
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“You don’t want to know (what was going through my head) – battling serious demons, that’s for sure,” Kokkinakis said.
“It was an incredible court – sometimes I struggle for motivation during the year but January and the Aussie Open definitely isn’t one of those times.”
Kokkinakis is No.80 in the world, and while he’s a household name in Australia, he’s never reached the upper echelons of world tennis.
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And while being a professional athlete may look like the life, Jim Courier said in commentary for Nine during his match against Ofner the $3.5 million in prize money to Kokkinakis’ name would probably only have him about breaking even on his 10 years since turning pro.
In his formal media conference after the match, Kokkinakis was asked to elaborate on that comment, and lamented the nature of tennis’ year-round calendar as one the sport’s biggest drawbacks.
“It’s just tough. I find it … very difficult to kind of bring my intensity and level week in, week out as the year gets longer and longer,” he said.
“There’s barely any off-season in this sport – I know it might look in the headlines (like) I’m a bit of a brat complaining about something that we get paid well to do.
“But I’m very jealous of the sports that can play eight months and then have some time off and regroup.
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“It feels like with tennis you’re always kind of looking over your shoulder as to what’s next. There’s no time to really decompress.
“I know you can pick and choose your tournaments, but if you do that too much and take too much time off, guys are going to lap you.
“It’s a tricky sport, and that’s something that I’m always trying to get better at.”
Kokkinakis has been as high as No.65 in the world. He believes this inability to keep himself up is his biggest hurdle in cracking the top-50 and beyond.
“Of course there are things in my game that I can get better, but I think just constantly applying myself day in, day out, week in, week out, all year is probably the thing that I struggle with the most.
“That’s what these top guys do so well, and that’s why they’re ranked where they are.”
He admitted he has “no idea” how to change that mental struggle.
“I’m 27 now – I wish I would have figured it out by now. Just keep working.
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“It comes a lot from myself, but yeah, from my team as well. We have some conversations and some things that we try and get better at.”
Crowds packed John Cain Arena to see Kokkinakis and compatriot Ajla Tomljanovic headline action on day three at Melbourne Park.
They both won through to the second round.
In that courtside interview, Kokkinakis said much of the credit for his gruelling win needed to go to the crowd, who were up and about in the moments he wasn’t.
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“They didn’t pick and choose their moments – they were up the whole time, which was incredible for me,” he said.
“The support here is always nuts. It’s a balance. You want to hype the crowd, but you also want to remember you’re playing an opponent, and the crowd is not going to beat them for you.
“So you have to stay locked in and kind of use them when need be.”
Kokkinakis will take on Bulgarian 13th seed Grigor Dimitrov in the second round on Thursday, where he will no doubt be hopeful of a strong home crowd to lift him into the third round.
