Thanasi Kokkinakis Faces Terence Atmane After Shoulder Return
Thanasi Kokkinakis is back at Roland Garros and the timing is sharper than the draw line. The 30-year-old Australian will open against Frenchman Terence Atmane after another shoulder layoff, and he said he will spend the next 12 months finding out what he has left.
Kokkinakis and Atmane at Roland Garros
Kokkinakis reached this point after returning to match play in Croatia earlier this month. He had pulled out of the Australian Open after reinjuring his shoulder, then worked through another rehab stretch before getting back on court.
“I wasn't sure I'd even be able to step back on a tennis court and try and play at full capacity, so I've done well,” he said after his first couple of matches since January in Croatia. That return puts him in a first-round match against Atmane on Monday at Roland Garros, where he has already delivered memorable results before.
Shoulder rehab and protected ranking
The shoulder work has been severe enough that Kokkinakis described the surgery as “not normal.” He said there were “many months where it wasn't normal,” and added, “For a while, couldn't lift my arm over to the side, had to get my mate to floss my armpit after I had a shower to dry that off, because of the surgery.”
He also said, “My right arm isn't as functional as probably the average human…” and called it “my new normal.” Those are the details that explain why the next stretch feels different for him: he said he could play the next four slams because of his protected ranking, but the body still has to hold up first.
What Kokkinakis is playing for
The stakes are not abstract. Kokkinakis said, “These are things you can't replicate when you're done with tennis. So I owe it to myself at least to see how I go the next year and then I'll probably make a decision after the next 12 months to see how my arm goes, if I'm able to play further or not. I'm seeing what I've got left”.
That gives this opening-round match a harder edge than a standard Roland Garros drawline. Kokkinakis has already beaten Stan Wawrinka in a “crazy” 2023 Roland Garros match and played three five-set “absolute wars” there in 2024, but Monday brings a different test: whether the shoulder has enough left to carry him into the rest of the season and through the protected-ranking window.
