Thanasi Kokkinakis was born on April 10, 1996, in Adelaide, Australia, and he has Greek citizenship. His parents are Trevor and Voula Kokkinakis, and he has two siblings, Panayoti and Christina. The Australian player got into tennis when playing for fun with his brother Panayoti on local courts.
Kokkinakis also credited Marat Safin as his favourite player growing up, and he took inspiration from the former Russian player’s powerful shots. Kokkinakis was a Top 10 junior player and made the Boys' junior finals at the 2013 Australian Open and US Open. He also showed promise in the doubles events alongside compatriot and friend Nick Kyrgios, as the pair lifted the Wimbledon Boys' doubles title in 2013.
In 2014, Kokkinakis made a bold move to step away from the junior tour and focus on competing in men’s competitions. It seemed like a positive move when Kokkinakis earned a wildcard for the Brisbane International in January despite losing in the first round to Australian great Lleyton Hewitt.
The young Australian continued to impress in 2014 and generally competed at the ATP Challenger level. However, he did reach the main draws of the Roland Garros and two Masters 1000 events. Kokkinakis had a ranking of 150, which shows his growth at the end of 2014. Kokkinakis turned pro in 2015 and started to compete regularly in ATP Tour events.
Strong runs at Indian Wells (second round), the Roland Garros (second round), and the US Open (third round) helped Kokkinakis break into the ATP top 100 by the end of 2015, as he finished the year 80th in the rankings.
Two years of progress for Kokkinakis were paused in 2016 when he missed most of the season, other than a showing in the Olympics. The Australian had to bounce back up the rankings in 2017 and struggled in the Grand Slams, missing the Australian Open and crashing out in round one of the other three majors.
However, it wasn’t all negative for Kokkinakis in 2017, as he won his first-ever ATP doubles title at the Brisbane International alongside Jordan Thompson. More highs and lows came in 2018 and 2019. Kokkinakis had difficulty reaching main round draws at the big events and lost in qualifying at Indian Wells and the Roland Garros.
But he earned the biggest win of his career at the Miami Open when he eliminated Roger Federer in the second round before losing in the third round. In a bid to find consistent form late in the 2018 season, Kokkinakis returned to Challenger level.
Injuries continued to setback Kokkinakis’ progress throughout 2019 as he jumped between Challenger events and the ATP tour. The Australian retired in the first round of the 2019 Australian Open and was ruled out until April. A short comeback in April followed before Kokkinakis was injured again and ruled out for most of the summer, despite returning to the US Open and reaching the second round before withdrawing due to injury.
After a disrupted 2020 season, Kokkinakis gradually returned to form, mostly at Challenger level, in 2021. However, one of his most consistent campaigns came in 2022 with a second-round run at Wimbledon and a fourth-round push at the Miami Open.
Kokkinakis also reached the Davis Cup finals and won his first-ever Grand Slam doubles title at the Australian Open with childhood friend Kyrgios. 2023 was a second consecutive period of growth for Kokkinakis as he reached round three at the French Open - his equal-best run since 2015. Second-round runs in the Australian Open and five Masters 1000 competitions helped Kokkinakis end 2023 with his career-best ranking of 65th.
