Nick Kyrgios' return to the Australian Open is over after he and Thanasi Kokkinakis stopped playing while trailing in the second set of their first-round doubles on Thursday night.
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis, the men's doubles champions at Melbourne Park in 2022, retired while down 7-5, 3-2 against another Australian team, James Duckworth and Aleksandar Vukic.
Both Kyrgios (strained abdominal muscle) and Kokkinakis (right shoulder trouble) came into the match dealing with physical issues after losses in singles.
Kyrgios, the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up to Novak Djokovic, played a total of one singles match across 2023 and 2024, and had wrist and knee operations. His most recent Grand Slam tournament until this week was the 2022 U.S. Open.
And after losing to unseeded Jacob Fearnley 7-6 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (2) on Monday night, Kyrgios said: “I mean, realistically, I can’t really see myself probably playing singles again here."
Kokkinakis went out in the second round of singles against No. 15 Jack Draper on Wednesday night by a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 score.
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