Fans convinced Wimbledon star predicted his OWN INJURY in pre-tournament tweets before pulling out
THANASI KOKKINAKIS was forced to retire from his Wimbledon second round match against Lucas Pouille – after suffering an injury that he appeared to predict on social media.
The Aussie, 28, battled back from two sets and four match points down to beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in round one.
He then faced Frenchman Pouille, but was unable to see out the match.
During the third set, Kokkinakis slipped and took a heavy fall.
He appeared to suffer a knee injury in the process, and received lengthy treatment during a medical timeout.
The world No93 battled on for another game, before shaking hands with Pouille and retiring unable to continue down 2-6 7-5 5-2.
Having suffered with several long-term injuries during his career, Kokkinakis recently shared his concerns over playing on grass in a series of prophetic tweets.
He began his grass court season at Queen’s last month, but withdrew after winning in the first round of qualifying due to the slipperiness of the courts.
When former Wimbledon semi-finalist John Isner called the Queen’s courts “diabolically slippery”, Kokkinakis replied: “Yupp.”
After injuries suffered by Frances Tiafoe and Dan Evans that week, he tweeted again: “Grass is a walking MCL sprain.”
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The extent of Kokkinakis’ current injury has not yet been disclosed.
But he has withdrawn from the men’s doubles event, in which he had been due to play alongside Denis Shapovalov.
After pulling out, Kokkinakis tweeted: “This sport comes at you fast…”
To which pal and doubles partner Shapovalov replied: “You’ll be back soon bro.”
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