"Don't be jealous we are earning bread": Nick Kyrgios comes out to defend doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis after criticism from Todd Woodbridge

Australia’s Nick Kyrgios has come out in defence of his doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis after recent comments from former doubles world number one Todd Woodbridge. The 53-year-old, who is often regarded as one of the greatest doubles players in the history of tennis, has recently criticised the performances of Kokkinakis, who, according to him, has not lived up to his talent.

Woodbridge also questioned why Kokkinakis decided to play in exhibition events, which, according to him, does not let him prepare well for the big events. "Scheduling is a really interesting thing with him," said Woodbridge while talking at the Wide World of Sports' The Morning Serve. "At the back end of the year he's played Challengers and then he went and played exhibition matches that he didn't need to do. Yes, the money's great and we all love putting that in our pocket and that's exactly what he did, but that schedule hurts to start the year."

Those comments did not go down well with Kokkinankis, who responded to them during a press talk where he stated that he is just trying to ‘make a living’. “That’s why he is trying to host every game show under the sun," said Kokkinankis while responding to Woodbridge ahead of his second-round contest against Britian’s Jack Draper during the Australian Open. "We’re trying to make a living as much as he is."

Kyrgios, who will be the partner of Kokkinankis in the doubles category in the Australian Open 2025, backed his partner and stated that they are doing something wrong. The former world number 13, who suffered a defeat in the first round of the first Grand Slam of the year, stated that ‘older heads’ are jealous of the younger players who are earning much more than what they earned during their career.

"Facts. We out here earning 6-7 figures at these [exhibition matches] – we have every right to go and get that money," wrote Kyrgios in a post while sharing the comments. “The game is much more physical now than when some of these older heads played. 'Don't be jealous we are earning bread. They would have done the same thing … thing is they were not getting six figures to show up for a couple days.”