Why Kokkinakis and Kyrgios should play Davis Cup doubles

Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios are into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open doubles. They’re no joke – and should be Australia’s Davis Cup pairing.

Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios after winning their third round doubles match

Pre-match photo. Nick Kyrgios grabs Thanasi Kokkinakis by the bum. One half of the crowd rolls with laughter. Encouraged by the heartwarming response, Kyrgios takes another handful of his mate’s bum. Spectators who don’t have the rear view are thinking, what’s so funny? Kyrgios’s mum has a bit of a giggle.

Kia Arena is full. All 5000 seats are taken. Hundreds are being turned away at the door. The siuuu thing is back, but less often. Quieter. Perhaps it will follow Kyrgios around the world. Otherwise the atmosphere is phenomenal. Deafening noise. Electrifying. Australian flags are everywhere. Nobody takes doubles too seriously, even though they should. It’s underrated as a spectacle. You can forgive the crowd for being nuts. At least one of the Australian players is.

Kokkinakis and Kyrgios are playing Ariel Behar and Pablo Escobar. The latter sounds dangerous, eh? Kyrgios better behave himself there. Oh, it’s Gonzalo Escobar, from Ecuador, partnered by Uruguay’s Ariel Behar,

People shout all sorts of stuff. “C’arn Richmond!” “We love you, Novak!” Someone shouts, “Give us a wave, Nick” He gives them a wave and the joint erupts like it’s the Super Bowl halftime show. The only complaint is about the incessant high-pitched whistling from a bloke in the third row. Someone asks, rather impolitely, can you go easy with that? Unlikely. It’s Kyrgios’s old man.

Kokkinakis and Kyrgios win 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Kia Arena might be the best court at Melbourne Park. Five-thousand seats. Intimate atmosphere. Acoustics that give a beautiful rendition of ball hitting strings. Credit to Kyrgios. He’s emotionally invested. Playing his heart out. Jumping out of his skin. The best player on the court by a country mile. Demonstrative. wildly passionate. His most memorable shot is one he misses. An air-swing to a sitter of a smash. He looks like he enjoys doubles more than singles. He has someone to talk to. He’s always wished he was in a team sport. Well, here one is.

To the suggestion that picking apart established doubles teams is difficult, Kyrgios says: “I mean, it’s been pretty easy. Kidding. Kidding!”

He tells Kokkinakis: “It’s a pleasure to play with you, brother.”

Kokkinakis says during the on-court interview: “We play for fun but we want to impress you guys … we’re winning it (the tournament).”

Kokkinakis and Kyrgios have a hint of the Harlem Globetrotters about them, but there’s a serious side to this lunacy. Australia needs a better Davis Cup doubles combination – a winning one would help – and these sprightly young gentlemen may be it.

Australia’s fall from grace as a Cup powerhouse has coincided with a ruinous decline in doubles results. John Peers has been partnered by a revolving door. He played alongside Alex Bolt, James Duckworth, Jordan Thompson, Alex de Minaur and even captain Lleyton Hewitt, who called on an old favourite against Austria in 2018. Himself.

Hewitt was 37 years of age and retired. He played the lights out in a win alongside Peers on clay at Graz. Hewitt repaid the faith he had shown … in himself. He pulled off a selection masterstroke … by selecting himself. Since then, with Hewitt properly out to pasture, Australian doubles combinations have won two of seven Cup rubbers.

Australia’s Cup ranking has fallen to 12th. Harry Hopman must be rolling in his grave. The team is no longer an automatic entry to the finals, bumming around in a qualifier against Hungary at Sydney’s Ken Rosewall Arena on March 4.

For all the frivolity around the run of Kokkinakis and Kyrgios at the Open, the most significant thought is this – they should be Australia’s Cup doubles team. Why keep recycling Peers and someone else?

They’ll get bums on seats, for starters. They have enough firepower to lift Australia from the Cup wilderness. Their second-round win over top-seeded Croatians Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, the Olympic champions, was no joke. They’re hardly strangers to each other, winning the junior doubles at Wimbledon in 2013. An Australian team revolving around de Minaur, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis would take some beating. A bit of arse but plenty of class.