Kyrgios shrugs off lingering wrist pain in tight doubles loss with Djokovic

A fluent and upbeat Nick Kyrgios shrugged off the pain in his surgically repaired wrist as his Brisbane International comeback ended in a tight doubles loss.

The Australian fulfilled his promise to play alongside Novak Djokovic in the second-round men’s doubles after a taxing three-set loss to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on Tuesday night. Such was the battering he took from the big-serving French star, Kyrgios had forecast a rough day for his serving arm and even suggested his scheduled Australian Open return later this month was in doubt.

But the 29-year-old, aside from occasionally grabbing at his right biceps, looked comfortable as he hit serves upwards of 200km/h and again showed touch, agility and reflexes that belied two-and-a-half years of virtually no tour-level tennis. The all-star pair lost 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 to the top seeds, Michael Venus and Nikola Mektic.

Behind some spirited Kyrgios returning and deadly kick serves they had the match on their racket. But a Djokovic double fault at 8-6 was disastrous as the duo lost the last four points of the match tie-break but still walked off smiling.

“Incredible,” Mektic told the sold-out crowd. “I was very happy when I saw them, 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, seeking his 100th ATP title, will probably play his second-round singles match on Thursday against Gaël Monfils. Kyrgios is keen to return to Canberra to rest before contemplating a Melbourne Park assault. That Kyrgios even walked on to Pat Rafter Arena on Wednesday was a positive, after he was equal parts encouraged and sobered by his absorbing 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3) battle.

“I’ve got six holes in my hand and one in my arm [from surgery]; not one tennis player has ever had this surgery and come back and tried to play again,” he said on Tuesday night. “It’s all really an experimental [process] … no real protocol of how it’s going to be or how it’s going to pull up.

“It’s very sore at the moment. I used to abuse being youthful in this sport and not doing any cool down or anything like that, so I guess it’s biting me in the arse right now.”

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Elsewhere, the in-form Australian Aleksandar Vukic played impressively to hand the defending champion, Grigor Dimitrov, a 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) loss. Jordan Thompson will play Alex Michelsen in the late match for the right to face Dimitrov in the quarter-finals.

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