After winning doubles at the 2022 Australian Open with Thanasi Kokkinakis, Nick Kyrgios will play doubles also at the 2022 Wimbledon.
Dubbed the 'Special K's, Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis will be the tenth-seeded at Wimbledon after their success in Melbourne earlier this year.
Following the draw, they now know they will be up against Soonwoo Kwon and Ajlaz Bedene, with the Australian overwhelming favourites to advance to the second round.
In recent years, doubles has received increased attention, not only from media but also tournament organisers and tennis bodies. In an attempt to reduce the time taken for matches, a lot of tournaments have firstly reduced the amount of sets to best of three, replaced the final set with a 'Championship Tie-Break', as well as 'sudden-death' deuces.
This is aimed at increasing the popularity of doubles discipline, which has historically been prone to long, extended games due to the serving-focused nature of the game.
Despite the changes, they have not been wholesale. The All England Club in Wimbledon have decided to keep the format as the best of five sets, much to Kyrgios' disdain:
“I think it’s the stupidest thing ever, to be brutally honest. I don’t know why it’s best-of-five sets. No one wants to play best-of-five sets doubles. No one wants to watch best-of-five sets doubles. I’m excited, but I’m also dreading the fact that if it’s one set all, I’m going to have to be playing three more sets of doubles. So I don’t know. That’s why I haven’t played it before. It doesn’t make sense.”
It comes as no surprise that Wimbledon wish to upheld longstanding traditions of the sport, with the club in SW19 being famous for their eagerness to continue with things which have happened for years on end.
One thing is for sure and that is that Wimbledon fans will be able to appreciate 'Special K' for longer at this year's tournament what with the tournament organisers continuing with the traditional best-of-five format.