Nick Kyrgios won his first grand slam title with close friend Thanasi Kokkinakis in the men’s doubles at the Australian Open.
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis have enjoyed a memorable run at Melbourne Park and it culminated in a 7-5, 6-4 victory over fellow Australians Matt Ebden and Max Purcell in front of a packed crowd on Rod Laver Arena.
A backhand from Kokkinakis sealed the first break of the match in the 11th game and the duo closed out the opening set on their service game as the fans once again imitated Cristiano Ronaldo’s famous “Siuuu!” goal celebration to cheer the duo.
The duo then took a 4-3 lead in the second set after breaking to love before they had a match point denied by their opponents in the ninth game of the set.
But the pair finally wrapped up the match on their own serve, with Kyrgios emphatically hitting two aces and Kokkinakis putting away a volley to win the match in 95 minutes.
Kyrgios dropped his racket in disbelief before celebrating with a chest bump as they became the first all-Australian pair to win the title since Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde in 1997.
Kyrgios said: “This week has been a dream come true for me. I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else. I’m just super happy. I don’t even know how we’re doing it or what’s going on right now, to be brutally honest
“It’s been a rough couple of years, I had covid a week out from the Australian Open but my team and my beautiful girlfriend looked after me.”
“Nick, I love you, brother,” Kokkinakis added.
“I can honestly say we did not expect to even come close to this but with the help of you guys [crowd] all week, it has been unbelievable.”
In the closing stages of the match, three members of the audience were asked to leave the stadium after one of them called out during a point that drew the ire of the players.