Australia’s Alex de Minaur has also come out in defence of fellow country Thanasi Kokkinakis, who has received criticism about prioritising exhibition events before preparing for the mega-events.

Kokkinakis has been struggling with a pectoral injury for some time, and was forced to withdraw from the Adelaide International last week. He managed to win his first-round singles match at the Australian Open, before suffering a heartbreaking five-set loss in the second round.

Thanasi Kokkinakis was warned for "bending the rules" as he called the physio during his marathon battle with Jack Draper in Melbourne.

Thanasi Kokkinakis says he suffered pectoral muscle injury "torture" in marathon Australian Open second-round defeat to England's Jack Draper.

Jack Draper fed off ‘abuse from the crowd’ in victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis - Draper came through a second five-setter while debutant Jacob Fearnley is also through to round three.

Thanasi Kokkinakis has seen his Australian Open campaign ended in the second round by Brit Jack Draper. The popular Aussie, who battled to a gutsy four-set win over Roman Safiullin in the previous round,

Australian tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis has stunned his opponent with an amazing act of sportsmanship at a critical moment of their second-round Australian Open clash. British No.15 seed Jack Draper was serving at two sets to one down, and trailing by a break in the fourth when he was about to be denied a certain point after a long rally.

Jack Draper said the abuse he received during his thrilling five-set Australian Open comeback over home favourite Thanasi Kokkinakis inspired him to raise his level as the British No 1 reached the third round of the grand slam for the first time.

Jack Draper conjured the spirit of Andy Murray to claw his way back from the brink of defeat against home favourite Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Australian Open. Two years ago, Murray famously recovered from two sets and a break down against Kokkinakis to win a second-round match that finished at 4.05am.

Jack Draper dug deep in order to take down home hope Thanasi Kokkinakis earlier on Wednesday afternoon sealing a 6-7(3-7), 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over the Aussie ace at the Australian Open.

The so-called war of words between the perennially injured Thanasi Kokkinakis and tennis analyst Todd Woodbridge is a case study in modern-day sports journalism.