Nick Kyrgios smashed his racket and fumed at spectators as he and Thanasi Kokkinakis suffered a 4-6, 6-4, 6-6(10-4) defeat by Aussie duo Marc Polmans and Jason Kubler on Thursday.
Despite fears arising over Kokkinakis’ right shoulder injury, this match was a feast of entertainment from start to finish and quite literally had everything.
Fans had queued up outside the KIA Arena for hours to catch a glimpse of the 2022 Australian Open men’s doubles champions, Kokkinakis and Kyrgios, with long queues seen winding their way around the 5,000-seater stadium.
The match would not get underway until late in the evening, after Stan Wawrinka had prolonged his final appearance at the Australian Open, by besting Arthur Gea over five sets.
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis finally took to the court for their all-Aussie match-up but started poorly, suffering a 4-6 defeat in the first set.
Despite the early slump, the duo gallantly surged back into the match, fighting through injuries and taunts from the crowd to take the game to a final-set tiebreak. But with the clock edging closer towards midnight, Kubler and Polmans – who were making their doubles debut together – found an extra gear, ultimately outlasting their compatriots.
The match wasn’t without drama, with Kyrgios being handed a code violation for using an expletive in the first set. The former Wimbledon singles finalist also appeared to exchange a few words with a few boisterous fans, sarcastically biting back at their taunts.
He then exploded after he and Kokkinakis had gone 2-1 up in the second set. Kyrgios overcooked a groundstroke over the baseline and, in a fit of rage, smashed his racket into the ground.
Fans on the sidelines had joked with the Aussie star, holding up signs that read: ‘Nick, can I please have a smashed racket? You are my idol.’
Kubler and Polmans then fought their way back into the set, forcing Kyrgios and Kokkinakis to save a break point at 4-3. But as the ‘Special Ks’ sparred with their opponents, the crowd became more invested, with some unruly fans shouting in between serves.
Chair umpire Marijana Veljovic became increasingly incensed by the continual disruptions and paused the match to remind the fans of the expected etiquette.
‘Guys, the support is great. Cheering is great, but that is very disturbing for all of them,’ the official said.
‘In between serves, please try to stay quiet.’
The fans inside the KIA Arena then taunted the umpire by making ‘shushing’ noises just as Kyrgios prepared to serve. Veljovic had to ask the fans to be quiet on several occasions before Kyrgios could finally get his serve away.
‘It is a raucous court this,’ TNT Sports commentators said. ‘There’s certainly a lot of noise. We had a match yesterday where the chair umpire was continuously telling people to settle down.’
On Wednesday, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina was involved in a heated spat with a group of spectators sitting in the crowd during his victory against Reilly Opelka. The spectators had continually taunted him during the match, with Davidovich Fokina subsequently storming over to the fans before exchanging a few heated words.
The unsavoury scenes prompted the chair umpire to leave his seat and urge Davidovich Fokina to step away from the altercation.
‘That got a bit feisty,’ the commentators added, speaking on Davidovich Fokina’s win. ‘You kind of feel like at 10 o’clock, the crowd’s had to wait a long time, they kind of want to get involved.’
That they did. The crowd attentively hung on the edge of their seats, wondering what was going to happen next, as Kokkinakis, Kyrgios, Kubler and Polmans did battle.
At 5-4 in the second set, Kubler had been forced to stop serving when another fan interrupted him with a shout.
The umpire then commented: ‘Thanks, that’s not funny. Thank you. Ready to play.’
Kubler prepared to serve again, but pointed at Kyrgios, saying: ‘He started it.’ Kyrgios replied: ‘I didn’t start anything.’
The crowd then began to laugh and cheer again, forcing the chair umpire to step in. She then became the most popular person in the arena.
‘OK, guys, you are amazing,’ the umpire said, but was forced to stop as the unruly crowd lapped up her praise, cheering wildly.
‘Now, we are ready for play, OK, thanks.’
Kokkinakis and Kyrgios had been forced to withdraw from the first round of the men’s doubles at the 2025 Australian Open after the former had pulled up with a shoulder injury.
He would spend the following year on the sidelines, with Kokkinakis undergoing surgery to have a dead person’s Achilles tendon attached to his right pectoral muscle and his shoulder.
The Aussie star has struggled with the injury since making his return to the ATP Tour at the Adelaide Invitational, where he was forced to withdraw from his third-round match against Sebastian Korda due to the injury.
Agonisingly, just as the duo had found their rhythm, fears began to mount that the Special Ks would once again be forced to withdraw after Kokkinakis appeared to pull up in pain.
He had sent down some booming serves of over 190km/h during the match, but the force began to take its toll, with the Australian serving out to give him and Kyrgios a 4-1 lead in the third set, before immediately returning to his bench and calling for a medical time-out.
He apologised to his team-mate, but Kyrgios reassured his opponent: ‘Don’t be silly! I genuinely don’t care.’
After receiving a massage from the physio, Kokkinakis was OK to return to the court, but would continue to receive treatment in between breaks in play.
Gallantly, he played on and the game would go to a tiebreak, which wasn’t without drama.
At 1-2, Kokkinakis approached the net and slam dunked a ball over the net. But the point was ruled out by the chair umpire, who, on video review, saw that Kokkinakis had struck the ball before it had crossed the net.
Polmans and Kubler then broke their opponents to go 3-1 up and from there, placed their feet on the gas pedal, closing out the tiebreaker in emphatic fashion.
After what was an enthralling match, Kubler praised the energy of the fans and Kokkinakis and Kyrgios during his post-match interview.
‘When you play those two, you’re in for an experience. The energy everyone brought out tonight was crazy,’ Kubler said.
‘I don’t know if we’ll feel like that for the rest of the tournament.’
Polmans added: ‘It was very cool to share the court with Thanasi and Nick. It’s good to see them back on court. It was awesome to share the court there tonight.’
Kubler and Polmans will face off against Jakub Paul and Marcus Willis in the second round of the men’s doubles.
