"As distraught as I was, I actually really enjoyed it" - Thanasi Kokkinakis on 'heartbreaking match' against Andy Murray at Australian Open

Thanasi Kokkinakis recently talked about how he found the positives in his heartbreaking loss to Andy Murray at the 2023 Australian Open.

In the second round of the Australian Open, Kokkinakis led by two sets to love and looked on course for a straightforward win. But Murray mounted an extraordinary comeback to clinch the victory after a grueling five hours and 45 minutes.

Kokkinakis is currently competing at the Indian Wells Masters, where he battled past Yuichi Sugita and Matteo Arnaldi in the qualifiers to book a place in the main draw. The Aussie then enjoyed a comfortable 6-4, 6-1 victory against Brandon Holt in the first round.

In a post-match interview, Kokkinakis shared his thoughts on the agonizing defeat to Andy Murray in Australia. The 26-year-old admitted that although the defeat was heartbreaking and he had felt distraught afterwards, he had also enjoyed the experience.

“Although it was a heartbreaking match to be honest and I had it in the bag a few times, as distraught as I was after the match, I actually really enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun out there," Kokkinakis said.

The Aussie went on to state that it was one of those rare occasions where he had found satisfaction despite losing the match. Kokkinakis acknowledged that while tennis is heavily reliant on results, he had learned to appreciate his level of play over the summer and was trying to focus on the positives instead of the negatives.

“One of the only times I can say after a big loss, especially one where I was on the front foot the whole time, that I enjoyed it," he said. "Tennis is so results based that if you don’t win you’re just pissed and obviously I was pissed off, but I can look back at the summer I had and the level of tennis when I was playing at my best and try to take the positives away from that."

Kokkinakis went on to state that he had experienced worse situations than losing a tennis match from a winning position. While the defeat did hurt initially, he received a lot of positive feedback from people.

“I’ve gone through worse stuff than losing a tennis match from being in a winning position," he said. "In the scheme of things it hurts for a little bit, but I had a lot of good feedback, a lot of people came up to me. Some idiots came up to me saying, ‘What happened?’ Not what I really wanted to talk about after, but for the most time it was encouraging signs."

Thanasi Kokkinakis will take on Carlos Alcaraz in the second round of the Indian Wells Masters.

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Andy Murray through to the second round of Indian Wells 2023

Andy Murray at the BNP Paribas Open

Andy Murray had a characteristic start to his campaign at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells as he fought his way back against Tomas Etcheverry after trailing by a set.

"I did really well to keep going in the end... Another brutal match and glad I managed to get through it," he said in the post-match interview.

Andy Murray is yet to register a straight sets victory in 2023. The three-time Grand Slam champion will take on Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round of the Indian Wells Masters.