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Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis makes his long-awaited return to the grand slam stage at the French Open but faces a tough challenge against eighth seed Kei Nishikori in the first round. Join The Roar for live scores from around 8:30pm (AEST).
Kokkinakis made such a promising start to his career during 2014 more so 2015, but since then has been overcome by injuries, with the young Aussie playing just two matches since the beginning of 2016.
One of those was at the Rio Olympics, the other in Lyon last week as he fell in straight sets to Denis Istomin, who sensationally beat Andy Murray at the Australian Open earlier this year.
It’s difficult to make any assumptions of form about the Australian, but given he will come up against one of the best players in the world after a seriously underdone preperation, it would be one of the biggest French Open upsets in history if he could pull it off.
While reports suggest he has been training well as he works back to full fitness, five sets is a different beast to three, and when he couldn’t get over Istomin in Lyon, you have to wonder if he shouldn’t be preparing for Wimbledon to have a tilt on a more preferred surface.
Nishikori is known as one of the most consistent players on the planet, and that means from point to point the opponent must be at the top of his game. An underdone preparation then, is simply not the way to get over the Japanese superstar.
In saying that, Nishikori has had some moments in early rounds of grand slams, and none more so than at the Australian Open earlier this year when Andrey Kuznetsov took him to a tense five sets.
It’s also worth noting Nishikori had his own problems with injury, having to abandon his third round match in Madrid, and since then has battled his way to a third-round exit in Rome and a semi-final loss to Mischa Zverev in Geneva.
The loss to Zverev saw Nishikori make uncharacteristic errors, but with clay statistically being his best surface, he would be expected to turn that around easily.
Unsurprisingly, the pair have never met before this encounter.
Prediction
Kokkinakis will probably win some games and hold his own on serve, but ultimately he will be no match for one of the most consistent players on tour. Nishikori to blast through to the second round.
Nishikori in straight sets.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this match from around 8:30pm (AEST) or at the completion of Alize Cornet versus Timea Babos on Court 1 and don’t forget to add a comment below.