WATCH: Novak Djokovic & Nick Kyrgios play amazing 31-shot rally before costly error leads to Brisbane doubles loss
Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios’ doubles run at the 2025 Brisbane International ended with a tight second round defeat to top seeds Nikola Mektic and Michael Venus.
The Serbian and Australian duo were beaten 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 by Mektic and Venus on Pat Rafter Arena in the second round of the ATP 250 tournament.
Djokovic and Kyrgios both lost serve in an opening set their opponents won in convincing fashion, but the wildcard pairing struck back by earning the only break of the second set to level the contest.
In the 10-point match tiebreak, Djokovic and Kyrgios led 7-4 and 8-6, but they fell agonisingly short of upsetting the doubles specialists.
Serving at 8-6, Djokovic hit a double fault that proved costly as he and Kyrgios did not win another point thereafter, with Mektic and Venus making an impressive late comeback.
In the second game of the match, Mektic and Venus won an astonishing 31-shot rally that is a very early contender for point of the year.
DELIVERING what it promised #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/3AQxDYMSS5
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) January 1, 2025
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After his team’s win, Metkic gave his reaction: “Incredible. I was very happy when I saw them (Djokovic and Kyrgios), I could play them on the first of January.
“It’s an amazing feeling to start the year like this and we knew there would be points like that against players like this.”
Djokovic and Kyrgios won 6-4, 6-7(4), 10-8 against Alexander Erler and Andreas Mies in the opening round in their debut as a doubles team.
The 37-year-old Serbian is still competing in singles in Brisbane after his 6-3, 6-3 first round victory against world No 73 Rinky Hijikata.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion will face Gael Monfils, against whom he holds a 19-0 record, in the second round on Thursday.
Kyrgios was beaten 7-6(2), 6-7(4), 7-6(3) by world No 31 Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the opening round in his first singles match since June 2023.
The 29-year-old Australian underwent reconstruction surgery on his right wrist in September 2023 and revealed he was feeling “constant pain” in his singles loss.
“I don’t really have any protocol of how it’s going to be or how it’s going to pull up,” the 2022 Wimbledon finalist said after losing to Mpetshi Perricard on New Year’s Eve.
“So me and my physio, we are taking it as it comes. If we can get through a match, we get through a match. How it pulls up tomorrow, I have no idea. It’s throbbing like s**t right now.
“There is a lot of positives. But again, it’s how much do I want to take of the trauma on the body, the pain.
“I guess, when I played the majority of my career, I was playing pretty much pain-free. You go out there for two, three hours, you’d enjoy the battle and you would just focus. Where now, there’s just constant pain in that wrist.”
