Thanasi Kokkinakis has laughed off drama surrounding his request of a ball kid during his first victory at a ATP Masters 1000 tournament since beating Roger Federer in 2018.
The Australian reached the second round in Miami on Thursday with a 6-3 6-3 win over Japanese teenager Shintaro Mochizuki, the only real disruption coming when he was refused additional shade.
With the sun beaming down underneath a fixed umbrella and right into his face, Kokkinakis asked the chair umpire if a ball kid could hold a brolly over his head.
But the umpire said they had been told players would have to do it themselves.
“Kokkinakis is not getting any shade and I told him he has to hold his own umbrella,” the umpire was quoted as asking a tournament supervisor.
“That’s what we were told and he said ‘could we get a confirmation because it’s the stupidest rule’ and he’d like to hear it from you, basically.”
Kokkinakis also challenged the ruling.
“What’s worse, what’s worse: them holding the umbrella here or us touching the same balls? Exactly,” he was quoted as saying.
The 24-year-old later indicated inconsistencies from qualifying – where he won two matches – to the main draw were his greatest frustration.
“Hi @TKokkinakis your need to be in the shade is not as important as the need to protect children from COVID-19,” a fan wrote on Twitter.
“You can hold your own umbrella, you’re a big boy.”
Kokkinakis, adding two laughing emojis, said: “We literally touch the same tennis balls, they held it in my last qualies match. All good tho.”
Ball kids have received new instructions, particularly surrounding hygiene issues, since tennis resumed during the coronavirus pandemic last year.
But Kokkinakis’s umbrella request became the latest teething problem.
French tennis professional Elliot Benchetrit was “told off” by a chair umpire during qualifying for this year’s Australian Open after he asked for banana.
But he took the request one step too far when he then asked the ball girl to peel it for him.
As you can watch in the video at the top of the page, the ball girl looked perplexed by the request before turning to the chair umpire for guidance.
The umpire stepped in and “told off” Benchetrit, according to tennis journalist Alex Theodoridis.
“So this is the moment where Elliot Benchetrit asks the ball kid to peel his banana,” Theodoridis wrote on Twitter.
“I’m glad the umpire (John Blom) stepped in and told him off.”
Benchetrit then attempted to open the banana with his teeth, considering his fingers were strapped up.
Kokkinakis’s confidence
Meanwhile, world No.243 Kokkinakis will give himself a chance in a challenging second-round match against 29th seed Marton Fucsovics.
The Aussie returned to the ATP Tour last month in Melbourne and pushed eventual semi-finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas to five sets at the Australian Open.
He has since beaten world No.134 Henri Laaksonen in Acapulco and Frederico Ferreira Silva (world No.174) and Mario Vilella Martinez (world No.196) in Miami qualifying.
“I haven’t played in so long, so any match is a good chance to get out there for me to show and prove that I belong to get my ranking back and rebuild some confidence,” Kokkinakis said after making the main draw.
He is already set to rise about 20 places in the rankings after his win over Mochizuki.
Elsewhere in Miami, Australian Jordan Thompson defeated Federico Delbonis 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 to book a second-round meeting with former Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic.
– with AAP