Shock Australian Open doubles champions Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis are rekindling their partnership at Indian Wells and could renew hostilities with the world No.1s in round two.
The high-octane Australian combination will return as a tandem at this week’s Masters 1000 tournament in the Californian desert after scoring a wildcard into the draw.
They defeated countrymen Max Purcell and Matt Ebden in the final to claim the Australian Open title in January.
Kyrgios also received an Indian Wells singles wildcard, while Kokkinakis – fresh from securing Australia’s Davis Cup finals berth on Saturday night – beat Canada’s Vasek Pospisil on Thursday to also move into the main draw.
But there will be plenty of interest in whether their entertaining, and unlikely, Melbourne Park heroics continue abroad without the home-crowd support.
The ‘Special Ks’ whipped fans into a frenzy, with some opponents and commentators believing they took it too far, whereas others revelled in their rock-star approach.
Two rivals who took exception were Croatia’s top-ranked duo Nikola Mektić and Mate Pavić, with their fitness trainer even approaching Kyrgios and Kokkinakis afterwards to air his grievances.
Kyrgios said the trainer threatened to fight him, while Kokkinakis alleged he smashed a foam roller against a pole as he walked up to them then accused them of “showboating”.
“They’ve won their fair share of tournaments, so I thought they’d handle losing a little better than that,” Kokkinakis said.
“At the end of the day, we’re just trying to entertain the crowd. We didn’t mean anything disrespxjmtzywectful; we’re trying to get ourselves and our energy up.
“It was a little aggressive on his part though, for sure.”
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis must first negotiate their first-round opponents, Marcelo Melo and Ivan Dodig, to set up the showdown with No.1 seeds Mektić and Pavić.
Another sparring partner, New Zealand’s Michael Venus, who labelled Kyrgios “an absolute knob” after his and Tim Puetz’s quarter-final loss to the Australians, potentially awaits in the last eight.
Many of the world’s best singles players annually compete in the Indian Wells doubles, with Alex Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Hubert Hurkacz, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz also in the draw.
