Christmas came early for Australian fans, with the news that Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis will make their singles returns during the Australian summer of tennis after each experienced lengthy stints on the sidelines with injury.
While Kyrgios returns to the Brisbane International, Kokkinakis will compete at the Adelaide International. Each tournament has provided a happy hunting ground for the duo in recent years.
Kyrgios, the 2018 Brisbane International champion, begins his season in Brisbane for the second straight year. In his most recent trip to the Queensland Tennis Centre, the 30-year-old made his ATP Tour return, competing in his first competitive singles match since Stuttgart in June 2023.
“I’ve had some amazing memories [in Brisbane], obviously a previous winner, I’ve had some amazing Davis Cup moments here with the other Australian players,” Kyrgios said in November 2024. “Brisbane was an easy choice for me.”
His comeback proved short-lived, however, as he played only five singles matches in 2025, with his season curtailed after the Miami Masters in March..
After concerns that injury could prematurely end his career, Kyrgios says he is fit and firing for the upcoming summer.
"I don't know whether to call it a miracle or anything, but my knee feels like it's gotten younger by a couple of years," he said.
"I really didn't have hope to be able to play AO or just ever get back to that point of where I felt comfortable and competing and really letting my body go, but something in the last month, I don't know what it is. I was with my masseuse and physio last night, and something really has changed with my knee.”
Kokkinakis, a longtime friend of Kyrgios, is also hoping to excel in his singles return at the Adelaide International, where he claimed his first ATP singles title in 2022.
It will end an 11-month absence for the former champion, after he underwent surgery on a torn pectoral muscle following AO 2025, where he competed alongside Kyrgios in the men’s doubles.
Kokkinakis will compete at his home ATP tournament for the seventh time.
“Walking out here kind of gets me emotional, to be honest. It’s crazy,” Kokkinakis commented in January. “It's pretty surreal to think a place where you grew up playing and training so many hours, you come out here, and all these people are coming to watch you.”
While his singles return date has been slated for the beginning of the Adelaide International, he will partner Kyrgios in doubles in Brisbane.
The duo will aim to recapture their AO 2022 title-winning form in time for the first major of the season.