AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 16, 2025

Thanasi Kokkinakis

Nick Kyrgios

Press Conference

DUCKWORTH-VUKIC/Kokkinakis-Kyrgios

7-5, 3-2 (ret.)

THE MODERATOR: Tough luck, guys. Thanasi, if you could explain a little bit more about your injury and what the doctor said.

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, I mean, I explained it all kind of yesterday in my press conference.

Doctor advised me not to play. I'm going to need to do a serious procedure now probably. I've got to speak to as many experts as I can.

But, yeah, I can't serve, can't hit a high forehand. I'm in a lot of plain. I wanted to come out here. I know there was a lot of talk about us playing again. I wanted to see if I was somewhat competitive, even without a serve. Just wanted to get on court again with the big fella. Such great memories. We had a big crowd we knew waiting for us.

Yeah, any other event, any other circumstance, I'm not stepping foot on court, for sure.

THE MODERATOR: Let's have a few questions.

Q. How frustrating was it for you to be serving the way you did, so restricted?

THANASI KOKKINAKIS: Yeah, I mean, I knew it was going to happen. I was broken yesterday. I was serving restricted yesterday. It was tough.

I knew coming into the event I was just going to leave everything out there. It wasn't just my forehand. It wasn't just my serve, it was my forehand I was feeling pain.

Yeah, my arm's essentially cooked. I need to fix it. It's going to take some time.

Frustrating, but yeah. I was distraught yesterday, not because of the loss but just because I knew I couldn't compete at my best, which was tough.

Q. Nick, you said it might have been your last match, singles match, at the Australian Open. Do you think you'll come back next year to play doubles?

NICK KYRGIOS: Potentially. You know, I think as Thanasi said, we knew -- he serves over 200 easily. Today I don't think we saw one serve over 200.

I think we, on full potential and full health, could do some damage in the doubles always. Obviously I felt like the crowd tonight was ready to erupt from the get-go.

For me, obviously this year I've been out for a year and a half, two years, so I don't know what this year's going to bring. Obviously I'm going to trust the process. I think I'm hitting the ball great. I've still got a long way to get back to that same level I was in 2022.

For me personally, I couldn't see myself playing more than probably this year high-level singles anymore. The maintenance, I think he knows, four, five hours on the treatment table every day to not even have the guarantee to be healthy to play a week of tennis. I think I'm weighing up my options.

Doubles is a bit easier on the body. I think we can still play amazing doubles. I think you saw, we broke. Served three times in the set, and we lost the set, which is probably the first time it's ever happened in our careers I think I broke someone three times and lost the tennis match.

I'm not too sure. For me, as soon as we got to the locker room, I told him thanks for even stepping out. I knew it was going to be a big effort for him.

It's been a special court for me in my career. To go out there one more time was good. I loved being out there. I feel like the crowd appreciated, especially Thanasi, but even me. I would have been happy to not take the court today either.

Q. Nick, it sounds like you've kind of committed Thanasi to a few more years of doubles together. Have you had a chat about what the next few years looks like in doubles?

NICK KYRGIOS: No. We literally just, like, text on and off about doubles. Like, we have no plan. I think we just have that connection on the court and the chemistry. We know each other's games. Grew up together.

We just have a good feel for the game of doubles together. I think we play very similar. We like to do the same things. It felt like we hadn't stopped playing doubles. Literally from the first game, we broke to love. I was, like, this just feels like a continuation of where we were that time we won it.

I'm sure we'll play together at some stage. But I can't guarantee that I'll be back here.

Q. Nick, pretournament you talked about the emotion of coming back to the tour. Now how do you assess the situation?

NICK KYRGIOS: It's good to be back, but I think it's weird. Me and Thanasi are like a bit of the older kind of guys now. In the locker room you have Fonseca. You've got this next generation coming through.

I definitely feel like we're a bit on the older side, especially the way our body is. The next generation of talent coming through is pretty special.

It's good to be back. It's not easy. If whatever happens with his body and my body, we won't just sit on the couch and get ready to play again. The process of getting back here for me, I didn't think I was ever going to step on a tennis court again after my surgery. It was good to even be back and be a part of it.