Thanasi Kokkinakis set to return for first time in almost a year with Aussie wildcards confirmed

After being plagued with injuries throughout his career including recently, Thanasi Kokkinakis has not played a competitive match since January 15 this year albeit that is soon to change with the Aussie hero set to play in both Brisbane International and Adelaide International in the coming weeks.

Kokkinakis is now ranked World No.452 so will have to rely on wildcards in order to get into tournaments likely including the Australian Open but given his previous exploits as a must watch ace for the nation, he is one of the most exciting players to watch and also a great ticket seller for the Aussie summer.

He will make his return alongside Nick Kyrgios who also opens his season in Brisbane between 4-11 January, 2026. Between Brisbane, Adelaide takes place between 12-17 January 2026 which Kokkinakis will also play. The 2022 Australian Open Men's Doubles champion alongside Kyrgios, he has been given a wildcard for the Adelaide International. He was the 2022 champion in this event too.

That year, Kokkinakis defeated future Shanghai Masters finalist Arthur Rinderknech in the final 6-7, 7-6, 6-3. At the 2025 event which was one of the last tournaments before injury took hold, he defeated Yoshihito Nishioka and Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the opening two rounds.

Kokkinakis was forced to withdraw from his next match against Sebastian Korda. “Massive apologies,” said Kokkinakis to the Adelaide crowd.

“There’s nowhere else I would rather be playing than here tonight in front of you guys. Unfortunately, just a lot of pain last night, playing through an injury that’s kept me out for many years, and it came back and crept up on me.”

He also sealed the title in 2022 which was a career best victory and that it hadn't sunk in at the time. He has suffered serious injuries in 2016, 2019 and throughout 2024 and 2025.

“You grow up playing, you never know if it’s ever going to happen. I made one final before. Down a set, down a mini break in the breaker. From then on, from 2-0 in the second set, I started to play really good tennis.

“To do it in Adelaide, a court I grew up playing on when I was seven, eight, nine years old, my hometown, in front of friends and family, they’ve had a tough year, ridden the ups and downs with me, yeah, I’m so happy.”

He had pectoral surgery as the first ever case in the tennis world and added that he had to 'bite the bullet' if he wanted to continue his tennis career. He had to play through this injury for around five years and the issue worsened and the former World No.65 didn't play after the Australian Open. He required a complicated surgery as a result.

“The surgery I did, it’s risky. No tennis player has ever done it. A few surgeons didn’t want to do it but I feel like I had to take a chance and bite the bullet if I want to have a crack at the rest of my career. When you speak to surgeons and tennis players, no one has seen this injury or had a surgery like this before in tennis. It’s pretty daunting. I knew I had to have a crack and why not be the first," the 29-year-old said on TODAY.