'He lives in the chaos' - Thanasi Kokkinakis on facing and partnering with fellow 'Special K' Nick Kyrgios at US Open

When Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios squared off in the Australian Open junior final back in 2013, and won the Wimbledon boys’ doubles title together a few months later, no one would have expected they would have to wait another nine years before they played each other in a tour-level match. The Aussie duo are good friends and have formed a formidable doubles partnership this season, which saw them clinch the Australian Open crown in January, along with the title in Atlanta last month. Ad They haven’t been on opposite sides of the net on a match court since a Challenger meeting Kyrgios won in 2014, but that will change on Monday night in New York when they face off on Arthur Ashe stadium in a highly-anticipated US Open first round.

US Open‘The best Kyrgios we have ever seen’ – Corretja says Australian will be ‘dangerous’A DAY AGO Kokkinakis and Kyrgios were both practicing when they found out they were drawn to play each other and were understandably disappointed to learn only one of them will be advancing to the second round in the closing Grand Slam of the season. “I was definitely surprised and then a little disappointed for sure. We wanted each other to do well and go on a run,” Kokkinakis told Eurosport in New York on Friday.

“We were talking to each other and Nick was saying like, it's annoying that this is a first round because we could have played hopefully later if we had the right draw and could have made a good run, but it is what it is. “It's going to be fun. It'll be interesting out there; he just said, let's have some fun and play some good tennis, and yeah, it'll be interesting.

I think the atmosphere will be good. It's a weird dynamic. We haven't played each other since the juniors and that was weird