Ahead of his return to competitive tennis for the first time in over a year, Australian Nick Kyrgios has appeared to make an interesting announcement to team up with Novak Djokovic for doubles at the Brisbane International.
Kyrgios, who has been out of action for a good part of two years, shared an image with Djokovic on his instagram and wrote: “Doubles at Brisbane. See y’all there.”
Kyrgios’ comeback ATP Tour 2025 season will begin with the Brisbane International in the last week of December. In a bid to extend his record 10 titles at the Australian Open, Djokovic has also listed himself for the singles competition in Brisbane.
Aussie Kyrgios and Djokovic hadn’t gotten along all too well in the initial years, have taken a jibe at each other on a few occasions. The pair have since turned around their relationship, even developing a “bromance” of sorts. Despite his wavering returns on the court, Kyrgios enjoys a positive head-to-head against Djokovic, leading the Serb 2-1 in singles meetings.
Kyrgios won their first two matchups in 2017 but lost the 2022 Wimbledon final – his only Grand Slam final appearance – to the 24-time Slam winner.
Kyrgios-Djokovic: Friends and foes
After having beaten Djokovic twice in succession in 2017, Kyrgios had said he would imitate Djokovic’s celebrations if he would make a hat-trick of wins. “The celebrations, they kill me. Every time, they kill me,” Kyrgios told tennis correspondent Ben Rothenberg on the No Challenges Remaining podcast in 2019.
“Honestly, that’s what I’m doing next time, if I play him and beat him, I’m doing his celebration in front of him. That would be hilarious.” Kyrgios even took a shot at Djokovic’s “obsession of wanting to be liked.”
“He wants to be like Roger (Federer),” Kyrgios said. “For me, personally, I don’t care, I’ve just come this far, he just wants to be liked so much that I can’t stand him. Like this whole celebration thing he does after he wins a match, it’s like so cringeworthy. It’s very cringeworthy.”
Before the Wimbledon final in 2022 would flip the scales partially, Kyrgios even said he would not consider Djokovic ‘the GOAT’ as he had not beaten the Australia in two previous meetings. “No matter how many grand slam titles he wins, he will never be the greatest simply because I’ve played him twice and, I’m sorry, if you can’t beat me, like, you’re not the greatest of all time,” Kyrgios said on the podcast.
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