Nick Kyrgios looms as the most dangerous unseeded floater in the Australian Open draw after leaving the great Novak Djokovic gushing over his game after the superstar duo's dazzling doubles display in Brisbane.
Playing only his second tour match in almost two-and-a-half years, Kyrgios looked back to his captivating best during a 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 10-8 victory over Alexander Erler and Andreas Mies on Monday night.
Few could have predicted such a polished showing, laced with tweeners, supersonic serving and remarkable movement, as the 29-year-old displayed no signs of the wrist and knee issues that threatened to prematurely end his tumultuous career.
"Hopefully Nick can stay healthy because, with this game, he can beat anybody on any surface, so it's great and exciting news for all the tennis world seeing him back on the court," Djokovic said.
"It's hopefully a great start of the season for both of us and we can keep it going in singles and see how far we can go."
Kyrgios makes his much-anticipated singles comeback on Tuesday against towering Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard but is warning fans against expecting miracles so soon in his return to the game.
"I don't know how much I'm going to do in my match," said the 2018 Brisbane International champion.
"This guy's got the biggest serve on tour, so I'm glad I played a bit of doubles, got used to the court, but love playing in Brisbane.
"I have some great memories here. I also have some family here so it's a special place for me to play.
"So I'm just keen to come out here and just have some fun.
"My comeback, you know, this injury's been brutal for me, so I wasn't taking any of this for granted. I don't know how many Aussie summers I've got left."
Top-seeded Djokovic takes on Australian wildcard Rinky Hijikata in his own comeback of sorts on Tuesday, having not played since early October.
The 37-year-old skipped the ATP Finals after a rollercoaster season featuring knee surgery, Olympic gold-medal glory in Paris, a second straight Wimbledon finals loss to Carlos Alcaraz and no tour titles for the first time since 2005.
But the 10-time Australian Open champion is adamant he can claim an unprecedented 25th grand slam crown in 2025.
"I feel great, cannot ask for a better start of the season sharing the court with Nick for the first time," said the super Serb.
"Winning the match, getting a little bit of a feel for for the court.
"I look forward to obviously singles, a completely different, different match, different feeling on the court I'm going to have to do - much more running, but I'm ready for it.
"I played my last competitive tournament a few months ago, ended my season quite early, just wanted to, yeah, get my things together, physically recover and work really on perfecting my game as much as I can.
"There's a lot of great players, really quick players, dynamic powerful players nowadays, youngsters that you know I have to have to keep up with."
