Kokkinakis won the title in Adelaide four years ago.
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He said he would stay off the courts on Tuesday, seek medical advice and take “the strongest painkillers” to try to play again on Wednesday. Not being able to back out of fights due to injury is a problem that has plagued Kokkinakis throughout his career.
“Tomorrow they will put me on ice… [but] I hope to come back to this court again and experience it,” he said.
The protected ranking means Kokkinakis can play at next week’s Australian Open, but he said before the tournament there was no guarantee he would play.
The first signs of trouble came after the second point of the third game in the second set, when Kokkinakis grimaced and clutched his right shoulder. He held a 3-0 lead but immediately called the trainer and underwent a medical timeout.
Kokkinakis could be heard discussing what was going on with the trainer, wondering aloud if fatigue or strain was to blame for his shoulder problem.
Kokkinakis took a medical timeout midway through the second set.Credit: Getty Images
The coach came out twice more to massage the Australian’s right shoulder and continued to show signs of distress, including firing an ace to level the match at set-all.
Kokkinakis has openly said he does not yet know if surgery will solve the breast problems he has been dealing with since first injuring the area in the final round of qualifying for the 2019 Australian Open. But he opted for the first tennis operation in a desperate bid to revive his career.
“If someone advised me not to do it, I just blacklisted them,” Kokkinakis told this masthead.
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“I was fine with retiring rather than continuing to do what I was doing. I couldn’t back up matches and I was losing hope. I want to lose because people beat me in tennis. If that happens, fine. But if I lose because I can’t serve, which is my strength, then I’m done.”
Kokkinakis said he generally wakes up with stiffness in his surgically repaired shoulder joint after tennis-related activity, but that he hasn’t experienced any soreness in his right pectoral muscle since the surgery.
He only played doubles in Brisbane with Nick Kyrgios last week and choked back tears after they won their first-round match.
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