Nick Kyrgios is a Grand Slam champion, of course, not in singles but in doubles, which is still one of his best tennis memories.
Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis paired up for their home Slam in 2022, and they actually went all the way. It was a crazy run that coincided with some of the best tennis atmosphere we've ever seen at the Australian Open in doubles, and it's just one of the fondest memories Kyrgios has.
The way the whole thing came together was very chaotic, as they didn't really practice or plan on playing. It was a spontaneous decision, but the bond they shared as good mates certainly helped them overcome any rustiness playing as a pairing.
The Australian talked about it during his recent appearance on the Tennis Channel, as he's doing match commentary during the 2023 ATP Finals.
The things I had that it would be a doubles Grand Slam. Especially to do it in Melbourne in our backyard. Thanasi has been living there for a while, and I've lived there before. But, I think we've won like one match prior in like five years, we've had the worst concentration, we couldn't play together, it was just a trainwreck.
And then, he sent me a WhatsApp, saying, 'Do you want to play?', and I said let's play, and we ended up winning the title. It was one of the most out of the blue things ever. To do it with him, I wouldn't have wanted to do it with anyone else.
While their getting together ended up being chaotic, both were really committed to it. Kyrgios shared some of the things he was doing to get ready for matches, and it wasn't the norm for him. Everybody that knows Kyrgios knows that his preparation is somewhat lackluster most of the time.
He was having a good time. I was doing ice baths in the morning, I was getting up at 7, doing chip returns, I was like 'What am I doing here?' People would thing it would be the reverse.
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