One Direction star Liam Payne distracts Thanasi Kokkinakis at Queen's
Thursday 18 June 2015 07:35, UK
Australian teenager Thanasi Kokkinakis admitted he was a little star-struck by 1D's Liam Payne and Jeremy Clarkson during his loss to Gilles Simon at the Aegon Championships on Wednesday.
The 19-year-old wild card was defeated 6-4 6-2 by the Frenchman, as the effects of a dash back Down Under to visit his ailing grandmother appeared to catch up with him.
And Kokkinakis said afterwards the sight of some very big names in the stands may also have had an impact on his performance!
He told reporters: "Got a bit distracted, actually. Was like, 'oh, there he is from Top Gear'. Disappointing performance in front of him. What can you do sometimes?
"Was the guy from One Direction here too?"
When told that a member of the Boy Band was indeed watching, Kokkinakis added: "Jeez! Just got to be better than that.
"I looked over when I was down like a set and a double break. I was like, 'Ah, this is rubbish'. At least I saw some important faces in the crowd. That's good."
The highly-rated World No 70 had jetted back to Adelaide to be with his family after the French Open, only to discover on landing that he had been offered a wild card entry into the Wimbledon warm-up event in west London.
Kokkinakis got back on a plane, shrugged off the inevitable jet-lag, and captured his first tour-level win on grass on Tuesday, when he came from a set down to defeat France's Jeremy Chardy.
But the 19-year-old, one of only four teenagers in the top 100, can now take a well-earned rest and catch up on some sleep after being brushed aside by Simon.
Next up for World No 13 Simon in the quarter-finals will be a clash with Canadian third seed Milos Raonic, who beat France's Richard Gasquet in three sets.
Wimbledon starts a week next Monday and Kokkinakis will not have to qualify for the grass court major after his recent climb up the rankings.
"Yeah, it's big for me," he said. "I definitely don't want to play quallies the rest of my life!"
