Novak Djokovic and Nick Krygios fall in a tight doubles in Brisbane | ATP Tour

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Djokovic and Krygios fall in tight doubles in Brisbane

They lost to the main favorites Mektic and Venus

January 01, 2025

Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios were just two points away from extending their streak in the doubles draw in Brisbane this Wednesday, but a double fault in the super tie-break was decisive in tipping the balance in favor of Nikola Mektic and Michael Venus.

After recovering from a set down, Djokovic and Kyrgios seemed ready to advance to the quarterfinals. However, the former World No. 1 adjusted his second serve too much at 8/6, which marked the start of a streak of four consecutive points as Mektic and Venus ended up winning 6-2, 3-6, 10- 8.

“Being three points down [4/7] In the super tie-break it wasn’t the best, but we managed to be there and Mekta hit a great return on match point,” Venus noted.

Mektic, who is playing his first match of the season and his first with his new partner Venus after the retirement of Wesley Koolhof last year, acknowledged that playing with Kyrgios and Djokovic was a perfect and entertaining start to the year for him.

“I was happy when I saw that we could play them to start the year,” said Mektic, who is No. 6 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings. “We knew there would be points like that with great players like them. “It was a perfect first day of the year.”

Mektic is referencing the 31-exchange point in the second game of the match, in which Kyrgios took two between-the-legs shots and the match winners nearly collided mid-point (you can watch it below).

Mektic and Venus will play in the quarterfinals against the British Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool. This Thursday, for his part, Djokovic will have his individual second round match against Gael Monfils, on a day in which he will try to extend his Lexus ATP Head2Head to 20-0 against the Frenchman.

Kyrgios, who was playing his first tournament in 18 months, lost in the third set tie-break against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first singles round, after the Frenchman connected 36 aces according to Infosys ATP statistics.