Kokkinakis Withdraws from Adelaide with Shoulder Injury

Australian tennis player Thanasi Kokkinakis withdrew from the Adelaide International on Wednesday, citing a shoulder injury that forced him to end his emotional return to singles competition after just one match. The 29-year-old South Australian, who had not played a competitive singles match in nearly 12 months, advanced to the second round with a hard-fought victory over American Sebastian Korda on Monday but could not continue against Monaco's Valentin Vacherot, handing the unseeded player a walkover into the quarterfinals.

Kokkinakis's comeback win, a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) thriller, showcased his resilience but came at a steep physical price. During the second set, he grimaced after serving and called for the trainer multiple times, undergoing a medical timeout and receiving treatment for right shoulder discomfort. He pushed through to claim the match with 38 winners, including a clutch performance in the final-set tiebreak, but later admitted the pain differed from his previous pectoral issues. "It's something that I've been dealing with, it feels like, my whole career," Kokkinakis said in his on-court interview. "Second set, I hit a serve, and it didn't feel great. I was...