By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, January 22, 2026Photo credit: Brisbane International Facebook
Nick Kyrgios sparred with a heckler and ripped the rulebook in his Australian Open return
The Special Ks—Kyrgios and buddy Thanasi Kokkinakis—suffered a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6((4) AO first-round doubles defeat to fellow Aussies Jason Kubler and Mark Polmans.
Throughout the entertaining two hour, 47-minute match on Kia Arena, Kyrgios delivered his brand of fireworks.
The man who partnered Kokkinakis to the 2022 AO doubles title hit the underarm serve, spiked his racquet and verbally sparred with a heckler shooting back “You f–king paid to watch me, bro.”
After the match, Kyrgios let loose on the let rule questioning why players can’t challenge lets like other calls.
“How can you review a ball that’s been hit over the net, but you can’t review a serve over the net?” Kyrgios said in his post-match presser. “Doesn’t make any f–king sense. Like, that’s why I’m pissed off.
“Like, we’re playing for millions of dollars. We’ve been both injured, both trying to get to this stage. Some of these rules are just so, so, so dumb. They don’t make sense.
“Yeah, so how can you not review a let? How can you not review that? How can you not just watch a ball just go over the net? How dumb does that sound.”
