Kokkinakis, ranked 180th, books Wimbledon house until final day

London, June 26: Wimbledon fans will see plenty more of qualifying hopeful Thanasi Kokkinakis if he is to make the most of his accommodation booking.

The Australian, ranked 180th, has taken a bold approach to this year's tournament, renting a house for three weeks so that he will be available for the business end of the grand slam.

Kokkinakis, who has never won an ATP Tour title and never been passed the first round at the All England Club, acknowledges he has been rather "ambitious" in making time to challenge Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and the rest.

It almost ended in tears for Kokkanakis on Monday, however, just "a couple of days" after deciding to enter qualifying, as he was forced to come from behind to scrape past Marcelo Arevalo 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.

Three weeks out from the final, the 22-year-old would have been left with a lot of spare time on his hands.

"I booked my house for three weeks, which is a bit ambitious," Kokkinakis said.

"It wasn't pretty. It was pretty ugly, I came out really flat. I wasn't sure if I was going to play a couple of days ago. I just went point by point and, hopefully, the body held up.

"It was ugly, but I got there in the end so I'll take it."

Kamil Majchrzak will be the next man to attempt to make a mockery of Kokkinakis' optimistic booking.