The 19-year-old wildcard could not repeat the form that saw him beat Jeremy Chardy for his first Tour level victory on grass the previous day, stalling to a 6-4 6-2 defeat on Centre Court as the effects of a dash back Down Under to visit his ailing grandmother appeared to catch up with him.
Kokkinakis, 70th in the ATP rankings after reaching the French Open third round where he pushed Novak Djokovic hard, actually started well but was too inconsistent against the wily seventh seed and his challenge faded.
With refreshing youthful honesty, Kokkinakis said he had become a bit distracted by the sight of Jeremy Clarkson, long-time presenter of the hugely popular BBC car show, watching on from the front row of the stands.
He also sent a Twitter message saying: "Feel bad for the spectators tbh about that one.... yuck! Hope to redeem myself on the doubles court with Rusty (Lleyton Hewitt).
Chatting easily to reporters later he added: "Got a bit distracted, actually. Was like, 'oh, there he is from Top Gear. Disappointing performance in front of him. What can you do sometimes?" he told reporters.
"Was the guy from One Direction here too?"
When told that a member of the Boy Band was indeed watching, Kokkinakis, said: "Jeez!! Just got to be better than that.
"I looked over when I was down like a set and a double break. I was like, Ah, this is rubbish. At least I saw some important faces in the crowd. That's good."
Show courts will become regular playgrounds for Kokkinakis who is following in the slipstream of fellow Aussie Nick Kyrgios who made such an impact by reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals last year after beating Rafa Nadal.
Kyrgios hogs the limelight but the level-headed Kokkinakis looks ready to share the burden when Wimbledon starts this month, even if he was stuck in second gear against Simon.
"I liked it yesterday. Didn't like it so much today," he said of the grass surface on which he won his first national title at under-12 level. "I felt like it was one of my poorest performances in a while."
At least he is spared having to qualify for Wimbledon after his climb in the rankings.
"Yeah, it's big for me. I definitely don't want to play quallies the rest of my life," he said.
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
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