Nick Kyrgios admits he is not ready to play single...

Nick Kyrgios admits he isn’t able to play singles on the Australian Open and can as a substitute concentrate on the doubles occasion alongside his associate Thanasi Kokkinakis.

The Australian posted introduced on social media that he had “made the decision to concentrate on doubles” and was “not fairly able to go the space” in singles.

Damage-plagued Kyrgios, who misplaced the primary spherical of the Brisbane Worldwide earlier this week has performed simply six official singles matches within the final three years. He had been hoping for a late wildcard at Melbourne Park, which begins on January 18.

The 30-year-old has suffered varied accidents to his wrist and knees since 2022 when he made the ultimate at Wimbledon and misplaced to Novak Djokovic.

“After some good conversations with (Tennis Australia), I’ve made the decision to concentrate on doubles at this yr’s AO,” he wrote.

“I am match and again on courtroom, however five-setters are a distinct beast and I am not fairly able to go the space but.

“This match means the whole lot to me, however I might moderately give my spot to somebody who’s able to make their second rely.

“It is all constructing blocks and I will be again subsequent yr and pumped to compete.”

His singles conflict with little-known American Aleksandar Kovacevic in Brisbane was his first since March.

Kyrgios, who’s ranked down at 670, has been a distinguished determine on the exhibition circuit during the last month, not least along with his victory over Aryna Sabalenka of their ‘Battle of the Sexes’ conflict in Dubai, however he couldn’t replicate that on residence soil, shedding out 6-3 6-4.

He plans to play males’s doubles alongside Kokkinakis on the Australian Open, the place they gained the title in 2022.

Dubbed the ‘Particular Ks’, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis reprised their partnership by profitable their opening match on the Brisbane ​Worldwide this week.

It was the primary match on the ATP tour in ​167 days for Kyrgios, whereas ​Kokkinakis performed for the primary time since struggling a pectoral ‍harm in January 2025.

The pair beat Matthew Ebden and Rajeev Ram 5-7 6-4 10-8 earlier than shedding within the second spherical to Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul.

“This can be a stepping stone,” Kyrgios mentioned. “I truly simply spoke to Daniil Medvedev within the locker room, and he is like, ‘look, you play one match from time to time, it is not going to be the way in which you need it on a regular basis’.

“So long as I really feel good and I am ​going to have the ability to try to use it as a constructing block, that is my objective clearly, and never simply Australian Open however this yr, for no matter this yr holds, I do wish to proceed to ‍play as a lot as I can.”

‘Battle of the Sexes was pointless with girls’s tennis taking successful’

Sky Sports activities’ presenter Gigi Salmon was critical of ‘Battle of the Sexes’ clash in her column, saying it was an opportunity for Kyrgios to remain “related”.

She mentioned: “For Kyrgios it was simpler to see why he would agree, out of the highlight and with simply 5 matches to his title in 2025, with just one aggressive match win for the reason that finish of 2022, largely as a result of harm and sitting at 671 on the earth it was an opportunity to remain related.”

Salmon added: “The explanation I known as it pointless when requested for my ideas on it, was I noticed it as solely lose, lose for Sabalenka, win the match and congratulations you’ve got overwhelmed the world No 671, who has hardly performed in current instances, lose and ‘oh expensive the ladies’s world No 1 has simply misplaced to the world No 671, who solely performed 5 matches with one win all yr’.

“For Kyrgios it is win, win – lose and he says he wasn’t meant to win he has hardly performed, win which he did and take a look at me I’ve hardly performed but I’ve overwhelmed the most effective girls’s participant on the earth.

“Whereas within the short-term girls’s tennis took successful, with all these ‘new’ followers they wished to deliver into tennis questioning how does somebody who has hardly performed all yr beat and beat convincingly the most effective participant in girls’s tennis and what does that say in regards to the girls’s sport?

“I believe individuals will transfer on and be joyful to take action. Ladies’s tennis rightly led by Sabalenka is in a fantastic place proper now, so whereas individuals could query her motives, I do not consider that any main hurt has been finished.”

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