Thanasi Kokkinakis: “As a tennis player that’s what you want to playing in front of – good atmosphere and have energetic fans”
- Did you have a chance to visit something in St. Petersburg? If so, tell us please about your impressions.
- No, I haven’t visited too much. I came here in 2015 and I remember it was a beautiful city. This year I just went one morning for a little walk around the river but I think we have plans for the party tonight and I’ll maybe ask Sasha [Bublik] or Karen [Khachanov] where is good to go in St. Petersburg. Everyone is so nice here. People are lovely. It's a really nice city so hopefully I can explain a little bit more. Maybe after the next few days I can tell you what’s nice.
- How did you like this experimental format of the tournament? Did it somehow influence how you choose the tactics?
- It’s different. Usually I would like to return first just to find the rhythm. But with this format you’re trying to win as many games as you can so it’s probably better to serve first. It’s a little bit different. We are used to play sets so if you get down in one set, sometimes you let it go and I think that’s what happen in a second set. Here it’s with games total so it’s a little bit more difficult but I do like playing with time. I think playing for time is good.
- The crowd is very active today and everyone is cheering a lot. Were you distracted by it or you’re okay with it?
- It’s great! It’s definitely different if you’re about to serve and somebody calls up but it’s all part of the atmosphere and the entertainment. The crowd support was incredible for both players. Obviously, Karen being Russian had a good atmosphere behind him but I had a few people going for me as well which was fun. I thought it was a good atmosphere. Stands were pretty much full. As a tennis player that’s what you want to playing in front of – good atmosphere and have energetic fans and supporters so for me it was great.
- Nick Kyrgios just announced that he’s going to be back on tour. Do you communicate with him? Do you have a plan to play doubles again? Do you think he can be at the top level again?
- He’s coming back. He’s going to start up again I think in January in Brisbane. I think he might have entered the exhibition event in Dubai to practice beforehand but I’m not sure. We will play doubles hopefully in Australia. Will see. We need to play. We haven’t really play since we won the Australian Open. It’ll be exciting having him back. You never know how someone can come back after injury but hopefully he’s going to be healthy and playing well. With that serve everything can happen.
- We haven’t mentioned the rule about the deciding point yet. Do you like it? Would you like it to be introduced to the tour – deciding point on deuce without advantage rule?
- It’s definitely interesting. I didn’t like it too much today because I lost a lot of the deuce points but if I played again and I won the deuce points I would probably tell you I like it so I’m not sure. I think playing for time is good. It helps the TV, they know for how long the matches are going to go for and adds a little bit of the time pressure as well. The games thing is a little bit confusing just because we’re used to play with sets so games don’t really matter but I think no ads is interesting. No ads for deuces is also interesting to add. If I win I like them, if I lose I don’t like them very much.
- No, I haven’t visited too much. I came here in 2015 and I remember it was a beautiful city. This year I just went one morning for a little walk around the river but I think we have plans for the party tonight and I’ll maybe ask Sasha [Bublik] or Karen [Khachanov] where is good to go in St. Petersburg. Everyone is so nice here. People are lovely. It's a really nice city so hopefully I can explain a little bit more. Maybe after the next few days I can tell you what’s nice.
- How did you like this experimental format of the tournament? Did it somehow influence how you choose the tactics?
- It’s different. Usually I would like to return first just to find the rhythm. But with this format you’re trying to win as many games as you can so it’s probably better to serve first. It’s a little bit different. We are used to play sets so if you get down in one set, sometimes you let it go and I think that’s what happen in a second set. Here it’s with games total so it’s a little bit more difficult but I do like playing with time. I think playing for time is good.
- The crowd is very active today and everyone is cheering a lot. Were you distracted by it or you’re okay with it?
- It’s great! It’s definitely different if you’re about to serve and somebody calls up but it’s all part of the atmosphere and the entertainment. The crowd support was incredible for both players. Obviously, Karen being Russian had a good atmosphere behind him but I had a few people going for me as well which was fun. I thought it was a good atmosphere. Stands were pretty much full. As a tennis player that’s what you want to playing in front of – good atmosphere and have energetic fans and supporters so for me it was great.
- Nick Kyrgios just announced that he’s going to be back on tour. Do you communicate with him? Do you have a plan to play doubles again? Do you think he can be at the top level again?
- He’s coming back. He’s going to start up again I think in January in Brisbane. I think he might have entered the exhibition event in Dubai to practice beforehand but I’m not sure. We will play doubles hopefully in Australia. Will see. We need to play. We haven’t really play since we won the Australian Open. It’ll be exciting having him back. You never know how someone can come back after injury but hopefully he’s going to be healthy and playing well. With that serve everything can happen.
- We haven’t mentioned the rule about the deciding point yet. Do you like it? Would you like it to be introduced to the tour – deciding point on deuce without advantage rule?
- It’s definitely interesting. I didn’t like it too much today because I lost a lot of the deuce points but if I played again and I won the deuce points I would probably tell you I like it so I’m not sure. I think playing for time is good. It helps the TV, they know for how long the matches are going to go for and adds a little bit of the time pressure as well. The games thing is a little bit confusing just because we’re used to play with sets so games don’t really matter but I think no ads is interesting. No ads for deuces is also interesting to add. If I win I like them, if I lose I don’t like them very much.
