Thanasi Kokkinakis didn't expect himself to be dragged into the Nick Kyrgios incident at the Rogers Cup, but with the issue sparking a global outrage, the 19-year-old from Adelaide couldn't seem to get himself out of it. He admitted that he has had "sleepless nights" after Kyrgios told world no. 5 Stan Wawrinka during their match that Kokkinakis "banged" his girlfriend - referring to WTA youngster Donna Vekic. Despite Kokkinakis clearing the air between him and the parties involved, another controversy lit up, this time in Cincinnati while playing a qualifying match against American Ryan Harrison.

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Kokkinakis, who won the match, got himself in a heated clash with Harrison that prompted the chair umpire to separate both players during the post-match handshake. Throughout the game, ABC reported that both players were also hurling verbal insults towards each other but Harrison denied the allegations.

"It's been interesting. It's been a circus," said Kokkinakis who has reserved his slot in the final draw of the Cincinnati Masters. "I haven't gotten much sleep on the nights of the two incidents. I didn't get much sleep last night either. But, luckily enough, I recovered and I'm playing a tournament at the moment, so I'm trying to focus on that and I'm happy I found a way to get the win."

Trevor Kokkinakis, the father of the world no. 76, described the Harrison incident as "bizarre".

"We tried to stay away from the whole matter [involving Kyrgios] and we thought look you know it's some rubbish we should not be involved in. Thanasi should not be involved in it and he got dragged into it," Mr Kokkinakis told 891 ABC Adelaide's breakfast program. "It's pretty well snowballed and gained legs and yesterday Thanasi was playing a qualifying match and the opponent started to give him a lot of lip to the point it got rather unsavory."

The young Kokkinakis though has been receiving support and advice from other players.

"Most of the guys have been pretty good, pretty much everyone," Kokkinakis said. "They've been good to me and I don't think I'm in the wrong with anything. I'm getting advice from everyone: 'Don't worry about it, do your thing'. But it's fine. I want to say some stuff, but I've got to keep it pretty low."

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