How does it feel to share the same side of the court with Novak Djokovic? For Australian player Nick Kyrgios, the experience is nothing short of surreal. A champion in the tournament’s singles division in 2018, the ATP star is returning to the court after over a year of rehabilitation. As he prepares for his first tournament since his comeback, Kyrgios laid bare his heart narrating how the incredible opportunity to play alongside none other than Novak Djokovic worked out for him.

Kyrgios has landed in the city to initiate his exciting doubles partnership with Novak Djokovic for Brisbane International. A singles champion of the tournament in 2018, Kyrgios showed great excitement about his collaboration with the Serb. Not just him but the entire fraternity is intrigued to see how their friendship reflects through their performance on the court since the Aussie star announced it on 16th December. Reflecting on both his and Serb’s excitement, Kyrgios cheekily commented, “Of course he is, yeah. I mean, everyone thinks it’s a pleasure playing with him it’s actually a pleasure playing with me let’s be real.” The Aussie star previously confessed his wish to team up with the Serb before he retires and expressed his delight in having the opportunity in front of his home crowd. Now, in a recent press conference, Kyrgios talked about how this partnership came to success.

“He kept, like, messaging me over and over again. I was just like, I’ll give him a little handout and give him the pleasure of playing doubles with me (smiling). But no, it’s going to be a lot of fun. Look, kid from Canberra gets to play with the greatest of all time in his hometown in front of the fans is pretty special. It’s something that I’m able to tell people when it’s all said and done that I played doubles with him. It’s pretty special,” said the Aussie player highlighting how grateful and fortunate he felt upon receiving this opportunity.

However, this is not Kyrgios’ first revelation about how he feels about teaming up with the Serb. Previously, channeling a similar excitement, he said, “I think we wanted to play one time at least before either his career ends or mine finishes as well so, to finally do it on my home soil where, you know, I think for the fans whenever you get a team-up like this, it’s important that the fans get that because that’s what tennis is about. Having two great personalities and trying to have some fun out there.”

Interstingly, Kyrgios’ Olympic gold-medalist doubles partner is as thrilled as the Aussie star about their debut attempt doubles partnership. Moments before arriving at the venue, the Serb laid bare his thoughts and fuelled the fraternity’s excitement about his coordination with Kyrgios.

Novak Djokovic thinks his partnership with Nick Kyrgios will be “fun”

Djokovic’s relationship with Kyrgios wasn’t really good at the beginning. In 2019, the Aussie player made a controversial remark about the Serb in the No Challenger Remaining podcast. Kyrgios said that Djokovic had “a sick obsession with wanting to be liked. He just wants to be like Roger (Federer).” He also called the Serb “a tool” during the 2021 Australian Open, to which Djokovic responded, “Off the court, I don’t have much respect for him, to be honest. That’s where I’ll close it. I really don’t have any further comments for him, his own comments for me, or anything else he’s trying to do.“

However, they grew over that and developed a friendship and mutual admiration. Now, the Serb feels excited about playing with Kyrgios forgetting their past feuds. “That’s going to be fun. We’ve never teamed up. Let’s see umm… we texted about it, we spoke earlier in Wimbledon about playing together when he was back on tour so got a first chance right away in the first week of the season so should be fun,” said the Serb.

Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios’ partnership is one of the most anticipated things of the 2025 season. Following the Serb and the Aussie players’ excitement t, it feels they will offer their best and impress everyone with a stunning coordination. So, are you excited to see Djokovic and Kyrgios in Brisbane together?