Novak Djokovic Victorious In 2025 Debut; Kyrgios Falls

Novak Djokovic made a strong start to his 2025 season Tuesday night in Brisbane easing past Australia’s Rinky Hijikata in Brisbane 6-3, 6-3.

“I think the match was really solid,” Djokovic said after the win. “Hijikata played well. After he was Love-3 down he started to raise his game. I started off extremely well and pretty much the whole match kept the level except a few moments. I had a few dips here and there.

“It was a good start, good start of the season, no doubt.”

Djokovic, who enjoyed some doubles fun yesterday with Kyrgios will have doubles tonight and then Thursday return for singles to face Gael Monfils.

“I really want to try to go far in this tournament,” he said. “A lot of people that come and watch me play and pay tickets, they don’t want to come and watch me practice. They want to watch me compete and try to win.”

“I go with that kind of attitude out on the court, but it is true that the kind of a big goal is Melbourne, trying to iron out my shots and make sure that I am at my best for the first match in Melbourne.”

Djokovic added his New Year’s even plans which have already happened.

“We will definitely celebrate the new year, we have some plans. My family is here,” said Djokovic, whose match point celebration included mimicking playing a violin, perhaps a reference to the instrument his daughter Tara is learning. “My kids are excited to go past their bedtime. We are going to watch I guess one of many fireworks displays tonight here in Brisbane.”

Earlier, Nick Kyrgios fell in three tiebreakers to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. Playing his first match in 18 months, Kyrgios was decent and the right wrist held up, but the young Frenchman’s serve was too powerful behind 36 aces. There were no breaks in the match.

“I obviously went into the match understanding how he played,” said Kyrgios to the ATP. “I already knew that he liked to hit two first serves, but props to him, he’s found what works for his game style and he’s committed to that. He’s going to do some damage, for sure. He’s going to have a long career.

“He’s got an easy action on his serve. There were no real dips in speed or anything like that,” he added. “Props to him. He’s a hell of a player. I have played Karlovic, Isner, Raonic, all the big servers, and he’s got the biggest serve by far. Yeah, that was interesting. And it sucked.”

The wrist, though, for Kyrgios remains an issue. He said afterward it was “throbbing”.

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