Nick Kyrgios is planning to play doubles with Novak Djokovic at the Brisbane International in Australia later this month.
Kyrgios, who last played competitive tennis in June 2023 because of knee, foot and wrist injuries, will make his comeback at the event which begins December 29. He and Djokovic are both on the singles entry list; the doubles list is yet to be released.
Kyrgios teased the partnership on Instagram Monday December 16, by posting a picture of himself and Djokovic with the caption: “Doubles at Brisbane. See y’all there.”
A member of his team confirmed to The Athletic that the pair will play competitively together for the first time; Djokovic camp’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s a partnership that will generate a huge amount of excitement. Djokovic and Kyrgios are two of the most recognisable figures in men’s tennis and their relationship has had some major ups and downs. In 2019, Kyrgios told the No Challenges Remaining podcast that Djokovic had “a sick obsession with wanting to be liked. He just wants to be like Roger (Federer).”
Kyrgios added: “I feel like he just wants to be liked so much that I just can’t stand him. This whole celebration thing (blowing kisses to the crowd) that he does after matches, it’s like so cringeworthy. It’s very cringeworthy.”
A year later, Kyrgios was an outspoken and repeated critic of Djokovic’s Adria Tour exhibition event in Serbia and Croatia. It was ultimately cancelled after multiple players contracted Covid-19, including Djokovic. Then in January 2021, Kyrgios wrote on X (then Twitter) that “Djokovic is a tool”, after Djokovic reportedly wrote to Australian Open organisers asking them to ease quarantine restrictions for players.
Djokovic is a tool. I don’t mind Bernie but his Mrs obviously has no perspective, ridiculous scenes 🤦🏽♂️ https://t.co/MMgeriH2GJ
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) January 18, 2021
In response, Djokovic told reporters at the 2021 Australian Open: “Off the court, I don’t have much respect for him, to be honest. That’s where I’ll close it. I really don’t have any further comments for him, his own comments for me, or anything else he’s trying to do.”
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Over the next year or so, the tensions between the two men eased, in large part because Kyrgios spoke out against the Australian government for what he called “really bad” treatment of Djokovic. Australian authorities deported Djokovic in January 2022 because he was not vaccinated against Covid-19, with Minister for Immigration Alex Hawke ultimately vetoing the then-nine-time champion’s visa. The support from Kyrgios meant a lot to Djokovic at a time when he came under heavy criticism.
By the time they met in the 2022 Wimbledon final, both players were readily speaking of their affection for each other and Kyrgios first floated the prospect of playing doubles together. The Australian’s terrible run of injuries meant the collaboration didn’t happen, but after the pair practiced together at Wimbledon this year, Djokovic said in a news conference: “Yeah, it’s a little bit of a bromance that we are having in the last few years, considering we really didn’t like each other at all for many years.”
Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios at the 2023 Australian Open. (Graham Denholm / Getty Images)
Some of the wider tennis community will have misgivings about Kyrgios’ return, as well as Djokovic’s partnering with him. In early 2023, Kyrgios pleaded guilty to assaulting former girlfriend Chiara Passari in 2021, but was not convicted; in September 2024, Kyrgios was criticized for writing “second serve” under a picture of himself and world No. 1 Jannik Sinner’s girlfriend, top-20 WTA player Anna Kalinskaya.
In March this year, he suggested in a post on X that Sinner should be “gone for two years” following his two positive tests for clostebol, an anabolic steroid.
An independent tribunal convened by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) and conducted by Sports Resolutions ruled that Sinner bore “no fault or negligence” for the two positive tests — a verdict that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
He doubled down on his comments about Sinner when speaking on the Nothing Major podcast this month: “Let’s be honest, I just want to go out there and I really want to play Sinner.
“If I played him in the Australian Open, I’d get every person in the crowd to get on him. I would turn into an absolute riot. All respect would go out the window and I would just do anything to win.”
Kyrgios is expected to play the Australian Open doubles event with his compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis, with whom he won the title in 2022. The tournament begins Sunday January 12 in Melbourne.
(Top photo: Julian Finney / Getty Images)
