Australian Open ’25: Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios knocked out after injury retirement

It was a miracle that they were even out there, but in the end a win was too much to ask of Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios, who were unable to overcome their Aus Open injury issues.

Thanasi Kokkinakis defied doctors orders to partner Nick Kyrgios despite a “cooked” arm which ultimately led to his retirement midway through the opening round doubles match.

There was to be no repeat of the 2022 miracle run by the Special Ks with an ailing Kokkinakis pulling up stumps with fellow Aussies James Duckworth and Aleksander Vukic leading 7-5 3-2.

There had been doubt all day in the lead-up about whether the Special Ks would front given Kokkinakis finished his second round singles match in agony with a pectoral muscle issue the previous night.

Kyrgios had also battled through an abdominal strain during his first-round loss so no-one really knew if the walking wounded pair would be able to chase a second Australian Open title.

But after a brief late afternoon hit, Kokkinakis declared he was willing to give it a go and at 9pm they arrived to thunderous applause as they emerged onto the arena.

It wasn’t to be for the pairing of Kokkinakis and Kyrgios on Thursday night. Picture: Michael Klein

While their service games, in particular Kokkinakis’, were limited because of the injury issues there were plenty of highlights with Krygios showing why he is regarded as potentially one of the best doubles players in the game.

But unfortunately as the match ticked over the hour mark, Kokkinakis realised he couldn’t go on.

“The doctor advised me not to play,” Kokkinakis revealed afterwards. “I’m going to need to do a serious procedure now. 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 pain but 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. I 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.”

Kokkinakis’ service was more than 60kmph down on his usual effort, hovering below the 140kmph mark and often even slower. At one stage he tried a badly executed underarm serve.

James Duckworth and Aleksandar Vukic are moving on. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

“I knew it was going to happen,” he said. “I was broken yesterday. I was serving restricted yesterday and it was tough.

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

“My arm’s essentially cooked. I need to fix it. It’s going to take some time. I was distraught yesterday, not because of the loss but just because I knew I couldn’t compete at my best, which was tough.”

Kyrgios thanked his partner for courageously stepping out on the court and said he hoped the 2022 Australian Open champions played together again in the future

“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,” he said.

“I think we just have that connection on the court and the chemistry. We know each other’s games, we grew up together. We just have a good feel for the game of doubles together.

“I think we play very similarly. We like to do the same things and 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.”

This was the first time the Special Ks had been back together since November 2022 when they competed at the ATP Finals.

While they failed to advance to the semi-finals, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis had an incredible season winning 19 of 25 matches together.

The incredible run started at the 2022 Australian Open when they took over Melbourne Park with their partnership electrifying the second week of the tournament.

Their amazing run took them all the way to the final where they defeated fellow Aussies Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell.

The early night was a blessing for Vukic who is still alive in the singles, having played two five-set encounters to set up a third-round clash with Great Britain’s Jack Draper tomorrow night on Margaret Court Arena.

Duckworth and Vukic are a relatively new pairing and they will now face another all Aussie pair of Luke Saville and Li Tu.