Thanasi Kokkinakis prepares for “brick wall” Novak Djokovic after maiden Wimbledon win

Journalists who came to interview a confident Wimbledon underdog were perhaps disappointed by Thanasi Kokkinakis’ more frank assessment of his chances against world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

“Probably not,” he said when asked whether he felt more prepared for the 20-time major champion than in past encounters. “I think I sort of had more match play and better form coming into when I played him last, but I was real young. And again, it's a completely different surface playing him. I was third round French, 2015. Obviously, yeah, on grass second round.”

The second round is already a vast improvement for the popular Aussie, who had never before won a main-draw match in two previous appearances at SW19—though he pushed Juan Martin del Potro to four sets in 2017. Repeatedly sidelined by injuries in his career, Kokkinakis shook off issues with his knee and hip to defeat Kamil Majchrzak in straight sets to book the Djokovic clash.

The thing that separates him is he moves so well, especially on the grass...It feels like he slides out there and he can cover defensive balls on grass that not many people can. I'm going to have to hit one, two, three, four, five [shots], which almost normally would be winners against other players to just kind of have a chance of winning the point. Kokkinakis on Djokovic

“It's a surface that I haven't been too comfortable with in the past,” he admitted. “But, yeah, I felt pretty great out there today. It's obviously going to be a really tough challenge. He's won the last how many years? Yeah, I'm probably not the favorite, let's put it that way.”

If the 26-year-old has reason to hope, he can take heart in Djokovic’s early struggles against Kwon Soon-woo. The unseeded Korean won the second set and pushed the Serb early in the third before Djokovic ultimately advanced in four sets.

“I'm going to swing free hopefully and play my game. He's a brick wall, so you kind of got to beat him. He's not going to beat himself. So that's going to be fun.”

Kokkinakis is a combined 1-3 against the Big 4, winning a three-set thriller against Roger Federer at the 2018 Miami Open but enduring one defeat each to Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Andy Murray.

Asked to compare the experiences, the reigning Australian Open men’s doubles champion opined at length.

“Novak is kind of a brick wall. Federer plays with a little bit more flair. When I played Rafa I just felt like I kind of got—I just wasn't on the same level physically as him. Not many people are. Everyone brings something different.

“Novak, the thing that separates him is he moves so well, especially on the grass as well. That's, for me, the biggest challenge on grass. It feels like he slides out there and he can cover sort of defensive balls on grass that not many people can. I'm going to have to hit one, two, three, four, five [shots], which almost normally would be winners against other players to just kind of have a chance of winning the point.”

Kokkinakis will wage his war of attrition against Djokovic on Wednesday.