Thanasi Kokkinakis fears the worst over devastating knee injury that ends Wimbledon campaign

Thanasi Kokkinakis will have an MRI scan in London to determine the extent of the injury that’s wrecked his Wimbledon hopes - and he fears the worst.

The joy of his remarkable triumph over 17th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime from two sets down on Wednesday turned to misery less than 24 hours later in his second-round match against French qualifier Lucas Pouille.

Trailing 2-6 7-5 4-2, Kokkinakis - a big man who’s often talked of how tentative he feels with his movement on grass courts - slipped and twisted his left knee while trying to retrieve a forehand.

The 28-year-old tumbled over, clearly in agony, while former French No.1 Pouille crossed the court to help attend to him.

Kokkinakis eventually soldiered on for one more game, but at 5-2 down limped across to tell Pouille there was no way he could continue.

“It was a tricky match. It started well but there was a weird kind of energy out there, it felt strange,” Kokkinakis said.

The Australian had been unhappy with a heckler in the crowd the previous day who had badgered him and Auger-Aliassime to play on after rain had made the surface treacherous.

A fortnight ago Kokkinakis suffered a similar tumble at the Queen’s Club Championship on a wet court, which caused a medial collateral ligament injury that kept him out of action for a week.

He also had sprained his troublesome left knee two years ago at a pre-Wimbledon Challenger tournament in nearby Surbiton, which cost him a month out of the sport.

“He was starting to play some good tennis and I was trying to rally and just slipped and hurt my knee,” he said.

“I’m going to see the severity after some scans - but I know I’ve done a similar injury to what I did at Queen’s Club.

“But it feels a bit worse, that’s my gut feeling.”

Kokkinakis had planned to play a hard-court tournament in Atlanta next.

“But now I’ve got to have an MRI to see if that’s going to be possible or not,” the world No.93 said.