In doubles we got Nick Kyrgios the entertainer. In singles, we got Nick the player

Nick Kyrgios could not have done much more.

In his first singles match back on the main tour since July 2023, he went two-and-a-half gruelling hours against big serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

His 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 defeat was a disappointing way for his return to action to end, but the appreciation of his efforts will surely spur him on, as the crowd rose to applaud him and he acknowledged them back with a raised arm.

The New Year's Eve crowd had been entertained, even if the result had not gone their way, but in a very different fashion to what they saw the day prior.

On Monday night we saw Kyrgios the entertainer playing alongside Novak Djokovic in an enormously entertaining doubles clash.

On Tuesday evening, it needed to be Kyrgios the player for him to have a chance.

Nick Kyrgios needed to be on top of his game just to compete. (AAP Image: Jono Searle)

And for the most part, that's exactly what we got.

Sure, there were the moments of showmanship that mark Kyrgios out, but to cut that from his game is just not in his DNA.

The Djokovic-Kyrgios debut was a delight Photo shows Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios chest bump Nick Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic's doubles debut at the Brisbane International felt like a mix between an exhibition and a final. In the end, it didn't matter … it was just tremendously entertaining.

Even accounting for the occasional theatrics, the Kyrgios that took to the court on New Year's Eve was as focused and sharp as anyone could have hoped for against a brutally hard first round opponent.

The 21-year-old Mpetshi Perricard is ranked 31 in the world, but is surely destined for higher in the future.

The Lyonnaise right-hander has all the attributes to excel in the power game of men's tennis — a lean 203cm frame through which he unleashes thunderbolt serves regularly exceeding 220 kilometres per hour.

He hit 36 aces against Kyrgios — an astonishing if not entirely unexpected return. Almost 20 per cent of all the serves he hit were an ace.

Not that Kyrgios, as big a server as they come, was simply offering paddle-pops back at the Frenchman. He hit 15 himself: "If I didn't feel like I could serve at a high level and as well as I did today, I probably wouldn't even bother trying to come back," Kyrgios said.

Yet even accounting for all that, and despite all Kyrgios's talent, for all his skill and for all the desire he has proven to get himself back from career-threatening surgery, what chance should we have given him?

Nick Kyrgios won just eight points off Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard's first serve. (Getty Images: Bradley Kanaris)

"For me, honestly, it was a great match, considering I hadn't played in 18 months," Kyrgios said.

"And to put myself in a winning position was exciting.

"It was just good to be back out there and to say that, you know, I can still play a level against someone like that who is coming off the best year of their career and only getting better and confident.

"He just played a couple big points better than I did."

The early exchanges were like two heavyweights slugging themselves to a standstill.

Kyrgios, the injured veteran unleashing 200kph bombs like a Dark Knight Rises era Batman against arch nemesis Bane, who simply thundered back his own shots at an even greater intensity.

The pressure of hitting those shots, regularly pushing the ball down at over 200kph was enough for Kyrgios to call for the trainer for treatment on his right arm after the first set.

It was either a result of having to serve so powerfully to stay in the game, or simply to send the cannon balls that were fired at him back over the net.

Sport has sometimes been described as war minus the shooting, but perhaps that phrase needs to be reassessed considering the bullets being launched from either end of the court.

Kyrgios in particular had to take evasive action more than once, fending rib-ticklers away as Mpetshi Perricard unleashed body serves like an enraged, French Mitchell Starc at a hapless tail ender.

Kyrgios, as focused as he was though, could see the funny side.

"Oh my god," Kyrgios smiled in exasperation as the 18th ace of the match sailed past him — a pattern that was repeated throughout.

"He's a hell of a player. I have played, you know, Ivo Karlović, John Isner, Milos Raonic, all the big servers, and he's got the biggest serve by far," Kyrgios said.

"Yeah, that was interesting. And it sucked."

Occasionally grimacing, sometimes grinning, and every so often smiling and giving his opponent the thumbs up as the French-hit balls flew past him — unreturnable.

Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard regularly served over 220kph. (Getty Images: Bradley Kanaris)

The umpire's call for new balls felt like mercy for those poor projectiles, massacred from either end of the packed Pat Rafter Arena court.

Even under heavy fire Kyrgios appeared to keep his humour though.

He may have resisted the calls alongside Djokovic, but today out came the under arm serve in the ninth game of the second set.

He's an entertainer. He just can't help it.

That under arm serve may have been the equivalent to bringing a slingshot to a fight between heavy artillery, but it was still pleasingly effective — he won the point to hold.

A typically talkative individual, Kyrgios was able to mutter and chat to members of the crowd courtside, exacting chuckles of laughter even as late as 5-5 in the deciding set.

There was some of that combativity though, too.

Nick Kyrgios was superb, in what was his first singles match since July 2023. (Getty Images: Bradley Kanaris)

As the match reached its climax, an incredibly tight ace from Mpetshi Perricard was greeted with calls of, "no, no, no," before Kyrgios came forward to argue his point with the umpire.

That conversation continued, threatening to derail a match that, up until then had been so desperately poised.

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Just as well Hawkeye, the software that controls the automatic line calling in use throughout the ATP Tour, is a computer, or it would have got a lashing too.

It didn't matter, or unduly distract him though — Kyrgios served out to love to send the match to a deciding tie break.

An indication as to just how tight this match was comes from the fact that just four break points had been allowed across 36 games of tennis, two from either man.

None had been taken.

At the vital point, Kyrgios faltered though.

Against such a monstrous serve, any error was terminal in a tie break, and so it proved — when Kyrgios fell 4-1 down the match was as good as over.

"Only a couple points in it. Could have easily been me in the second round," Kyrgios said.

"But that's just tennis.

"I'm not going to let it bother my mood over two or three points with someone that's so confident and me coming back. It was overall a pretty good performance."

After the match Kyrgios admitted he would need "a miracle" to survive the rigours of a grand slam, and that even after his doubles clash his body felt like it had been "hit by a bus".

But even if winning a slam is beyond him, fans can be pleased that he is giving his all to be there at all.

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