Nick Kyrgios forges special Novak Djokovic partnership to kickstart 2025 season at Brisbane International comeback

Nick Kyrgios has announced that he will team up with Novak Djokovic to compete in the men's doubles category at the 2025 Brisbane International. Kyrgios and Djokovic are also set to feature in singles at the ATP 250 event. The Australian entered the main draw on his protected ranking of 21. Meanwhile, the Serb will be seeded at the tournament courtesy of his current ranking of World No. 7.

On Monday, December 16, Kyrgios confirmed the development via an Instagram Story. The post featured a picture of the Australian walking out onto the iconic Wimbledon Center Court with the former World No. 1 behind him ahead of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships gentlemen's singles final, which the Serb won. Kyrgios captioned the post:

"Doubles at Brisbane. See y'all there"

The 2025 Brisbane International will mark the return of Nick Kyrgios to the ATP Tour. The often-controversial, yet entertaining Australian only managed to play one competitive match across the last two seasons due to a combination of injuries and surgeries.

Meanwhile, the ATP 250 event is also slated to get Novak Djokovic's 2025 season going. The former World No. 1 and 24-time Major winner had an underwhelming 2024, during which he did not win a single ATP Tour-level title or a Grand Slam. The Serb's only success this year came at the Paris Olympics, where he came out on top against Carlos Alcaraz to clinch his maiden men's singles gold medal at the prestigious Games.

Kyrgios and Djokovic once had a strained relationship. However, things seemingly changed in the buildup to the 2022 Australian Open, when the Australian voiced his support for the Serb amid the latter's COVID-19 vaccination controversy. Earlier this year, Kyrgios spoke up on how his relationship with the 24-time Grand Slam champion underwent an evolution.

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"Novak Djokovic and I text each other, we send ridiculous memes" - Nick Kyrgios

Novak Djokovic (L) and Nick Kyrgios (R) (Source: Getty)

In September 2024, Nick Kyrgios featured as a guest on an episode of the Tennis Insider Club podcast. During his appearance on the podcast, Kyrgios was asked how his relationship with the Serb has evolved over the years. The former World No. 1 had once lauded the Australian's tennis but expressed his lack of respect for him off the court.

Kyrgios said that the relationship between the two is drastically different these days. The former World No. 13 said:

"Yeah, it's crazy. I never thought that I'd be really good friends with Novak Djokovic at all, and it's not just on the courts. It's like, we text each other, we send ridiculous memes and all this stuff on Instagram."

Kyrgios also interviewed the Serb at the 2024 Australian Open, where the former was covering the event as an analyst and commentator for Eurosport, discovery+ and ESPN.