Nick Kyrgios clapped a hand over his mouth. Kyrgios is not easily shocked, but shocked he was. The poor kid he had accidentally cleaned up with a smash travelling around 200kmh was pretty stunned too. The young boy, sat a few rows from the front, winced. The umpire took the unusual step of climbing down from her chair and asking his mother if he was OK.
No one really knew what to do, which was astonishing in itself given the raucous scenes at this doubles match and every other Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis have played at this Australian Open. Eventually Kyrgios shook himself conscious and jogged over to his bag, pulled out a fresh racket and ran it over to the boy. He smiled. Everyone else in Kia Arena wanted to get hit with a ball and go home with a souvenir.
This was always going to be a headline from this latest chapter of the Special Ks chronicles – well, until Kokkinakis told the crowd, on live TV, to “sink piss and come here” – but it fails to properly account for the rest of the show. And it was wild. Ticket-holders had snaked around the arena hoping to snag a seat to watch the Special Ks win a quarter-final most would not have even predicted them to be playing.
The all-Australian wildcard pairing had already dumped top seeds Mate Pavić and Nikola Mektić out in straight sets. Now they set about unpicking this duo of New Zealander Michael Venus and German Tim Pütz in a to-and-fro contest that finished 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
It happened in front of what was, in every sense, an Australian crowd. Singleted, boisterous, irreverent and, frankly, histrionic. The cheers, chants and whistles could be heard from well outside the stadium.
If Craig Tiley had been worried about ‘Where is Peng Shuai?’ T-shirt wearers adopting a mob mentality he needed look no further than this cacophony. Quite what their semi-final opponents, Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, have made of all of it is anyone’s guess.
“Unreal scenes,” Kyrgios said afterwards, before adding: “I’m not finished, I wanna win this.”
The dreaded siuuus were audible but mixed with a fair bit of the more traditional “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi” interspersed with Seven Nation Army and “Yeah the Kokk”. Flags were everywhere. Many were Australian. One was Greek.
Home support can do many things for athletes. It had Kyrgios and Kokkinakis full of beans, riffing off each other, bumping chests and egging on the crowd. Every time they wanted more they got it. An ace elicited a standing ovation. A no-look drop shot brought four men in the front row to their knees in genuflection.
Such ardent support can also affect the opponent. They were cheered, but only when they lost points. Venus had the misfortune of an errant ball toss, which meant his serve was sometimes accompanied by a wobbly “wayyyyyyyy”. By the end of the second set he was clearly irritated and complaining to the umpire about Kyrgios, who on his own serve tossed the ball up several times in jest before completing the full motion.
Heated exchanges between the quartet ensued, but with every point the locals won the crowd offered the same immediate, euphoric reception. Australia might well have won the World Cup 30 times over within two hours and 16 minutes.
Not since the Woodies has the doubles scene been this big. TV ratings have been off the hook, up there with the tournament’s main singles drawcards. The match was not initially given a slot on one the Nine Network’s main channels. Midway through the match the host broadcaster bumped Rafael Nadal v Denis Shapovalov off to make way.
Kyrgios said that was “unexpected” but reasoned “the level of entertainment is different, I think”. Kokkinakis felt it was down to being able to “feed off each other – we can just talk rubbish in between points”.
“I feel like we are just relatable,” Kyrgios continued. “I think that’s what’s the best thing about it. They go out and get behind their mates. Most of the guys in the crowd are our mates. We’ve got our team members that have been through injuries.
“In Thanasi’s case and me, [we] have been around in some dark times. I guess tennis has always had personalities, and they have just really struggled to understand that there are different ways to go about it. You’ve got Roger Federer and these guys that are just once-in-a-generation athletes. I can’t be like that. We’re not like that. I feel it has to be people that are, I guess a little bit more relatable.”
The pair have not planned past this tournament. As Kokkinakis pointed out, “we’re not doubles specialists”. Nothing about this was by design, and they may never be a team again. For now, though, they are rolling with it.
“When we walk through that tunnel there’s no feeling like it,” Kokkinakis said. “We’re seeing these stands packed … we don’t want anything else, this is perfect. I haven’t played in a doubles match or even a singles match with an atmosphere like this. Hopefully Craig [Tiley] is watching and keeps us on this court. The rowdier the better from everyone, honestly. Sink piss and come here.”
• This article was amended on 26 January 2022 to correct the match result.
