Brisbane International 2025: Enemies turned friends Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios team up for thrilling doubles win

Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios have gone from being enemies to having one of the biggest bromances in tennis and that certainly came full circle on Monday as they teamed up to defeat the team of Andreas Mies and Alexander Erler at the 2025 Brisbane International.

Djokovic and Kyrgios both start their singles campaigns heading into the New Year as they will play Rinky Hijikata and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard both again likely in headline slots but it provides in particular the latter a chance to scope out where his game is at.

It has been a long and arduous road for the tennis showman or bad boy depending on which position you take on Kyrgios. He went from losing to Novak Djokovic in that Wimbledon final which captivated the tennis world to injury hell. It has seen him off the court in particular with his knee since June 2023.

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He seemingly rushed back too in order to play that match as he lost to Yibing Wu and looked injured then. But since then, it has been a long road and one that even he wasn't sure he'd master. He turned to punditry and commentary and most recently was perhaps clouded more in controversy than excitement about his return after being the main proponent of the fight against doping after Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner fell fowl.

He has reiterated that this week and has been heavily backed up by his new doubles partner. But Kyrgios showed why he has been missed in this match. His filthy tweener in the sixth game that sent the crowd into raptures proved that as Djokovic wheeled around the court as excited as his partner.

Nick Kyrgios is back for the first time since June 2023.

It also wasn't easy as despite being quality operators, neither play doubles all that often. But Kyrgios too will be getting preparation in to resume his Special K's tandem with Thanasi Kokkinakis who he won the Australian Open with.

What a way to do that if he could win a title with the great Novak Djokovic and head into that full of confidence. It was a tight tussle with Erler and Mies who gave little away. But neither did Djokovic and Kyrgios who finally broke to win the opener 6-4.

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They missed two break points at 2-2 and were punished similarly as they didn't get another chance. They were taken to a tie-break and Erler and Mies prevailed. It was another wobble as Kyrgios and Djokovic went 7-4 up. But in the race to ten, they saw their lead momentarily eroded. As they missed three match points before finally falling over the line. Next up gets harder as they will face Nikola Mektic and Michael Venus, the top seeds.

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