Jan 16, 2026, 08:10 PM ET<\/p>\n
Declaring tennis partner Thanasi Kokkinakis<\/a> fit, Nick Kyrgios<\/a> says the ‘Special Ks’ are locked in to making waves again in the men’s doubles at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The 29-year-old had played through pain during a three-set win<\/a> over American Sebastian Korda<\/a> in the first round in Adelaide — his first match after nearly 12 months following pectoral surgery in February 2025.<\/p>\n Feeling underdone himself, Kyrgios has also withdrawn from the men’s singles at Melbourne Park.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n But Kyrgios, giving assurances that Kokkinakis is ready to go, is out to go all in for more doubles success.<\/p>\n The box-office duo famously won the men’s doubles at Melbourne Park in 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n “He told me he’s definitely going to play,” Kyrgios said.<\/p>\n Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n 2 Related<\/p>\n “I just feel for him. Obviously, he had to pull out of his singles<\/a>, but at this point in our careers I think we’re just grateful to be out here.<\/p>\n “If we can make waves again in the doubles world, I think it’ll be pretty sick.<\/p>\n “I did tell Thanasi, like, it would be sick if we ran it back.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n Kyrgios and Kokkinakis were dogged by injury at last year’s Australian Open, retiring midway through their first-round encounter with fellow Australians James Duckworth<\/a> and Aleksandar Vukic<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> to No.6 seeds Sadio Doumbia<\/a> and Fabien Reboul<\/a>.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n “We’re going to be energetic, and we’re going to give it our all.<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n “We’ll get the crowd up and about.”<\/p>\n After beating Chinese veteran Zhizhen Zhang<\/a> in a super tiebreaker at the Kooyong Classic, Kyrgios is targeting Wimbledon for his return to grand slam tennis.<\/p>\n