Kyrgios and Kokkinakis chase doubles fire in Melbourne
Injuries tested their bond, but Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis gear up for an Australian Open doubles run, where shared grit could echo their 2022 triumph amid the roar of home crowds.
Nick Kyrgios paces the edges of Melbourne Park, the hard courts humming with pre-tournament buzz as he locks eyes on a doubles reunion with Thanasi Kokkinakis. The Australian Open beckons, a proving ground where their ‘Special Ks’ duo once claimed the men’s doubles crown in 2022, turning baseline battles into crowd-pleasing spectacles. Now, after a gauntlet of surgeries and withdrawals, Kyrgios shrugs off singles fatigue to chase that electric synergy again, the air charged with redemption’s quiet pull.
Kokkinakis’s return to singles fizzled fast, a pull out of his singles after a three-set win over Sebastian Korda in Adelaide that hid the ache from pectoral surgery in February 2025. The 29-year-old had endured nearly 12 months away, each practice swing a negotiation with his body on the unforgiving hard courts. Kyrgios, at 30 and fresh from just seven singles matches in three years due to wrist and knee woes, mirrors that caution, withdrawing from singles to pour everything into this partnership.
“He told me he’s definitely going to play,” Kyrgios said. “I just feel for him. Obviously, he had to pull out of his singles, but at this point in our careers I think we’re just grateful to be out here. If we can make waves again in the doubles world, I think it’ll be pretty sick. I did tell Thanasi, like, it would be sick if we ran it back. There’s a long way to go, but if we’re able to do it again, what we did in 2022, it might be crazy.”
Injury scars shape net rushes
Last year’s Australian Open cut short against James Duckworth and Aleksandar Vukic, a mid-match retirement that left doubts lingering like sweat on the baseline. The duo now adjusts, favoring shorter points to spare their frames—Kyrgios’s booming serves down-the-line setting up Kokkinakis’s quick poaches rather than drawn-out exchanges. This tactical pivot, born from Brisbane’s round of 16 push, demands precision on Melbourne’s faster bounce, where an entertaining 6-0 1-6 10-6 match tiebreak loss to Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul exposed vulnerabilities in sustained rallies.
The hard-court tempo amplifies their strengths: Kyrgios’s heavy topspin into the body forcing weak returns, Kokkinakis slicing underspin to keep opponents guessing on the rise. Yet recovery tempers aggression; they lean on 1–2 patterns, serve-volley combos that minimize scrambling and maximize their instinctive chemistry. Each net approach carries the weight of past halts, transforming physical limits into sharper focus, the court’s blue lines a map for cautious advances.
Crowd roar ignites shared momentum
Kyrgios sharpened his edge with a super tiebreaker win over Zhizhen Zhang at Kooyong, then traded shots with Jordan Thompson under the beats of Red Bull BassLine’s courtside DJ. These warm-ups tune his timing for doubles, where the Australian Open’s Rod Laver Arena crowd will pulse like a heartbeat, fueling risks they couldn’t take alone. Kokkinakis thrives in that energy, his footwork lighter post-surgery, ready to exploit gaps with crosscourt winners while Kyrgios holds the baseline anchor.
Their 2022 run wasn’t mere luck—inside-out forehands pulling foes wide, followed by Kokkinakis’s angled passes—but a psychological surge that silenced skeptics. Now, with expectations high, they promise fun over guarantees, the arena’s roar turning pressure into propulsion. As the draw unfolds, this mateship could stretch their limits, each volley a step toward recapturing that Melbourne magic and beyond.
“Obviously, there’s going to be some high expectations [at the Australian Open], but the one thing that people can expect is we’re going to have fun,” Kokkinakis said. “We’re going to be energetic, and we’re going to give it our all. I can’t guarantee a win like last time, but he’s a character and it’s always going to be fun going out there and playing with him. We’ll get the crowd up and about.”
“Look, when me and Thanasi play, we’ve got this [Rod Laver Arena] place rocking, so it’ll be similar vibes,” Kyrgios added. “Honestly, I’m really excited to see what the stadium’s going to be like when me and TK are out there.”
AAP’s reporter attended Red Bull BassLine as a guest of Red Bull.