"We couldn’t really believe it, it was a bit awkward" - Kokkinakis on playing Kyrgios in US Open

Thanasi Kokkinakis will have to play his good mate Nick Kyrgios in the opening round of the US Open and he hopes to put on a good show.

Kokkinakis and Kyrgios wll face each other for the first time on the ATP Tour and will play together in the doubles as well. Finding out was a bit awkward according to Kokkinakis who practiced next to Kyrgios shortly before finding out that he will face him:

"We were practising, not with each other, but next to each other on the next courts. I just got a tweet, and I was like, ‘I think we play each other?’ I was like, surely not, we’ve got less than one per cent chance. And then we look at it and we’re like, ‘Yeah, it’s true’. We couldn’t really believe it, it was a bit awkward. We just said, ‘Let’s have some fun and go out there’.”

Playing one of his best friends will be interesting to Kokkinakis who remarked:

“It will be interesting; obviously he’s got an unbelievable serve and he’s playing some great tennis right now, but I know on my day I can match it with anyone. It’s gonna be fireworks hopefully… and we’ll have some good fun."