{"id":388801,"date":"2026-01-05T02:57:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T02:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/388801\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T02:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T02:57:07","slug":"thanasi-kokkinakis-and-nick-kyrgios-make-emotional-doubles-comeback-with-win-in-brisbane-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/388801\/","title":{"rendered":"Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios make emotional doubles comeback with win in Brisbane | Tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanasi Kokkinakis\u2019s tears after a doubles match told the story as the injury-plagued Australian won in his latest and most dramatic return to the sport alongside old friend Nick Kyrgios<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old hadn\u2019t played in almost a year, after groundbreaking pectoral surgery that involved attaching a donor\u2019s achilles tendon to his shoulder.<\/p>\n

Despite early rust, Kokkinakis soon clicked, and he and Kyrgios were brilliant at times in a 5-7 6-4 10-8 defeat of elite doubles specialists Matt Ebden and Rajeev Ram at the Brisbane International on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios and Kokkinakis won the Australian Open doubles title together in 2022 but have endured injury struggles since, with Kokkinakis not playing since the pair\u2019s withdrawal from the same event last January.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never really teared up after a doubles match,\u201d Kokkinakis said of the moment he choked up in the on-court interview after their enthralling win.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut all I\u2019ve gone through in the last 12 months \u2026 A lot of surgeons, doctors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kokkinakis boasts a win over Roger Federer and has threatened many times to make grand slam runs, only for injury to intervene and keep him to a career-high of 65 in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said I didn\u2019t want to keep doing what I was doing,\u201d he said. \u201cPlay one match, maybe have a big win, and then my arm was shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018I don\u2019t care if I don\u2019t play again, because I\u2019m not doing that again.\u2019 It was almost like a tease of what I can do, then I just have to pull out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanasi Kokkinakis plays a shot during his men’s doubles match with Nick Kyrgios in Brisbane. Photograph: William West\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

He encountered puzzled looks and hesitation in meeting with doctors and surgeons around the world, including Rafael Nadal\u2019s specialist, before the decision was made to attach \u201ca dead man\u2019s achilles\u201d to his shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been days it\u2019s been OK and others where I\u2019ve thought, \u2018There\u2019s no chance I\u2019m playing again,\u2019\u201d he said of his lonely, unique rehabilitation effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what my future holds, but I\u2019ve done everything I can do give myself a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kokkinakis said he was yet to hit top gear on serve but had surprised himself with his level of play, rifling forehand winners and producing a clutch reflex volley and a winning smash on match point to end the 92-minute tussle.<\/p>\n

He will return to singles at the Adelaide International next week while Kyrgios \u2013 back after three injury-hit years of his own \u2013 will play singles on Tuesday against Aleksandar Kovacevic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand how emotional it can be,\u201d Kyrgios said of the pair\u2019s rehabilitation efforts. \u201cPeople underestimate how much work goes into it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were really surprised with our level. It\u2019s been a year \u2026 playing two of probably the best doubles players out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho knows what this year could look like for us, doubles wise?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thanasi Kokkinakis\u2019s tears after a doubles match told the story as the injury-plagued Australian won in his latest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-388801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}