Djokovic & Kyrgios lose doubles nailbiter in Brisbane

Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios came within two points of extending their doubles run in Brisbane Wednesday, but an untimely double fault in the match tie-break proved to be a turning point against Nikola Mektic and Michael Venus.

Having rallied from a set down, Djokovic and Kyrgios looked headed for the semi-finals before the former World No. 1 pushed for too much on his second serve at 8/6, the beginning of a four-point winning streak by the top seeds to close out the match 6-2 3-6, 10-8.

“Down three points [4/7] in the match tie-break it wasn’t looking great, but somehow we got back in there and Mekta hit a great return on match point,” Venus said.

Mektic, playing his first match of the season and the first match of his new partnership with Venus after 2024 partner Wesley Koolhof retired at the end of the season, said that playing Kyrgios and Djokovic was a perfect and entertaining start to the year for him.

“I was very happy when I saw we could play them to start our year,” said Mektic, who is No. 6 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings. “We knew there would be points like that against these great players. It was a perfect first day of the year.”

Mektic was referring to a 31-rally point in the second game of the match that featured two Kyrgios ‘tweeners and a near collision between the eventual match winners (see below).

Mektic and Venus will next meet Britons Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool. On Thursday Djokovic will play his second-round singles match against Gael Monfils as he looks to extend his Lexus ATP Head2Head record against the Frenchman to 20-0.

Kyrgios, who is playing his first tour-level event in more than 18 months, lost a third-set tie-break to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round, during which the 21-year-old Frenchman fired 36 aces according to Infosys ATP Stats.