Kokkinakis will play: Kyrgios not sweating on AO bid

Joanna Guelas | January 17, 2026

Declaring tennis partner Thanasi Kokkinakis fit, Nick Kyrgios says the ‘Special Ks’ are locked in to making waves again in the men’s doubles at the Australian Open.

Kokkinakis’s hotly anticipated return to singles action was short-lived, withdrawing from the Open after being forced to pull out of the Adelaide International earlier this week.

The 29-year-old had played through pain during a three-set win over American Sebastian Korda in the first round in Adelaide – his first match after nearly 12 months following pectoral surgery last February.

Feeling underdone himself, Kyrgios has also withdrawn from the men’s singles at Melbourne Park.

The 30-year-old, who reached the 2022 Wimbledon final, has played just seven singles tour matches over the past three years following multiple wrist and knee surgeries.

But Kyrgios, giving assurances Kokkinakis is ready to go, is out to go all in for more doubles success.

The box-office duo famously won the men’s doubles at Melbourne Park in 2022.

“He told me he’s definitely going to play,” Kyrgios told AAP.

“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.”

Kyrgios and Kokkinakis were dogged by injury at last year’s Australian Open, retiring midway through their first-round encounter with fellow local hopes James Duckworth and Aleksandar Vukic.

The fan-favourite pairing took to the court together at the Brisbane International last week, reaching the final 16 before an entertaining 6-0 1-6 10-6 match tiebreak loss against No.6 seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul.

“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 (Kyrgios) 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.”

After beating Chinese veteran Zhizhen Zhang in a super tiebreaker at the Kooyong Classic, Kyrgios is targeting Wimbledon for his return to grand slam tennis.

The Canberra product got more singles action after taking on compatriot Jordan Thompson at Red Bull BassLine, a promotional event which featured a courtside DJ.

“Look, when me and Thanasi play, we’ve got this (Rod Laver Arena) place rocking, so it’ll be similar vibes,” Kyrgios said.

“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 was a guest of Red Bull.