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South Australian wildcard, Thanasi Kokkinakis, begins his Australian summer on Pat Rafter Arena as he takes on Julien Benneteau today. Join The Roar for a live blog of the match from around 4:00pm AEDT.
After rising from 628 to 150 in the world last year, the South Australian has been rewarded by Tennis Australia with a wildcard into the event.
Awaiting him in the main draw is Julien Benneteau who finished in the top 60 for the seventh year in a row.
The Frenchman is currently ranked at 25 in the world which is a career high for the 33 year old.
He is also the 8th seed for the event today.
He will be a tough test for the South Australian who had a breakout year in 2014. At the same event, 12 months ago, he defeated a top 100 player on his way to qualifying for the event.
He then faced Lleyton Hewitt in the first round and played well against the Australian number 1.
Kokkinakis would then win his debut Grand Slam match at the Australian Open against Igor Sijsling before losing to Rafael Nadal in Round 2.
The Australian then hit the Challenger scene and made the semi-finals at the Heilbronn and Lexington Challengers. He would also win his first ever Future title at the Canada F5 event.
At the end of the season, he would move into the top 200, and make the 2nd round of the ATP event in Shenzhen.
He would also make his Davis Cup debut in February against France after being called in the squad.
His debut came against today’s opponent in the dead rubber of the tie. Benneteau would win 6-4 6-1 in a contest that went one-sided after the first set.
Today will be a different affair. For starters the match isn’t on clay, it is on hard courts in Brisbane.
Secondly the crowd will be cheering for Kokkinakis and not for Benneteau today.
Thirdly Kokkinakis has improved considerably over the last 12 months. He has gained plenty of experience in the ATP World Tour and is slowly building on his results.
Kokkinakis also trained with Roger Federer recently in Dubai to prepare for the season and impressed everyone in the UAE.
He is ready for this season and is also ready for today’s match. I predict he will have a similar season to Kyrgios last year, when the Canberra local made the quarter finals at Wimbledon, and climbed into the top 50.
He has the game to do it and he is at the same age as what Kyrgios was in 2014. Kokkinakis has the chance to deliver on that potential today against Benneteau. While Benneteau will be a tough opponent, Kokkinakis has the advantage of being used to the conditions.
Fatigue has been a factor already in the Australian summer and I expect that to continue with those people who arrive in Australia and play a match a couple of days later.
If Kokkinakis is to win then he needs to serve well and control the rallies from the baseline.
Benneteau has plenty of power to his game and Kokkinakis will need to match him to be a chance of winning.
The start is also crucial. If Kokkinakis can get the crowd on his side, and he wins the first set, then anything can happen.
Last year Benneteau played Marinko Matosevic at the same event and was blown away by the crowd and the Victorian.
If Kokkinakis can do the same then he is a big chance to win the match.
Benneteau will get into the game at some stage during the match so it is vital that Kokkinakis takes his chances when it counts. This could be a really close encounter and a match where we see the arrival of another South Australian star.
I predict Benneteau to win in three sets but hope that Kokkinakis can take advantage of a fatigued Benneateau to win in straight sets.
Prediction: Benneteau in three sets.
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