Kokkinakis talks bout with severe mono; McEnroe recovers from COVID-19

Thanasi Kokkinakis has revealed that his withdrawal from the 2020 Australian Open was due to severe mononucleosis.

The 24-year-old Australian did not play the tournament for "personal reasons," and was subsequently sidelined from tour. But he recently told a newspaper that he had had to go to hospital twice with the illness.

"I was told I had stopped breathing when I was sleeping, my throat was so inflamed," he was quoted as saying in an interview by The Australian.

The problems started when Kokkinakis returned to court following the off-season, and had problems breathing.

"I thought it might be the bushfire thing with all the smoke," he said. "I was going through four or five shirts a night with a fever, my bed was drenched. It felt like razor blades down my throat so I went to hospital in Melbourne."

He returned home, and again needed urgent attention.

"I got back to Adelaide and it got really bad, I couldn't eat," he said. "But I'm better now, I'm feeling relatively healthy, but it's been frustrating."

It is yet another physical problem in a career filled with injuries. But Kokkinakis, who dropped several pounds during his illness, says he is doing a little training and is aiming to start playing when there are tournaments again.

"I'm trying to stay in shape... and not push it too much," he said.

Patrick McEnroe says has recovered from coronavirus, a few weeks since he announced he had the illness.

"All right everyone, great news for me and my wife, Melissa, we both tested negative," he said online.

The ESPN commentator and former U.S. Davis Cup captain had announced more than two weeks ago that he had been diagnosed with the illness, but also said that he was no longer having symptoms.

That has been confirmed by a second round of testing, with McEnroe saying he found local testing facilities had increased since his initial diagnosis.

"I know we're talking a lot about testing, we need more of them. It was great to see this," he said.

The former ATP player had been isolating at his home and had started an online podcast.

McEnroe's most recent event as a commentator was at the 2020 Australian Open.