Thanasi Kokkinakis, who is still recovering on the sidelines after pectoral reattachment surgery, says he doesn’t know when he’ll be back but insists he’s still got glory to chase when he does return.

During an interview with The Sit-Down podcast, Kokkinakis said it felt unusual being at Melbourne Park this time of year.

“I’m sure when I’m ready I’ll be keen to get back into it,” he said.

“It’s weird obviously missing these big events at the moment [like Roland Garros], but it’s something that I’ve done a lot of times in the past, and it’s just part of my journey, I guess. Another setback, but I’ll get there.”

The 29-year-old said he’s enjoying the change-up though, getting to explore more opportunities off the court like commentating Roland Garros for Channel Nine.

But he insists he’s “still got time in the sport” and that he continues to evolve more than 10 years on from turning pro.

His biggest dream of all?

“Oh, Aussie Open. Winning Aussie Open. There would be nothing that trumps that,” he replied when asked about that career dream.

“[Winning AO 2022 with Nick Kyrgios in] doubles is cool, but not quite as cool as winning the singles.

“Obviously, it’s a long way away and you’ve got a lot of great players in the sport, and fingers crossed my arm gets back, and better.

“We’ll see what happens there. But yeah, winning Aussie Open would be the ultimate goal.”

He said a smaller goal would be to try and win another title and winning the Davis Cup with Australia would be “massive”.

The former world No.65 has noted that things can change in the tennis world almost instantly.

“That’s the thing I’ve noticed with tennis; it can all look pretty bleak, and then it just takes one sort of big week or result, and you’re back there and all of a sudden people are talking about you as a serious player as opposed to someone that hasn’t filled their potential.”

That potential was seen in the Greek Australian early on in his career when he reached the boys’ singles final in 2013, won his first Grand Slam main-draw match in 2014 at age 17, then stunned 11th seed Ernests Gulbis in the first round of 2015.

He looks fondly back on those memories and others later like the doubles title win with Kyrgios and that includes anytime he can get in front of fans who get behind him.

“It’s why you play and it’s what keeps me driven to get on my rehab journey and get back there.”