Before the United Cup got underway on Friday, tournament director Stephen Farrow admitted that it was a challenge to promote the event.
“It’s true to say that from a promotional standpoint, it’s very easy if you’ve got Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal turning up,” Farrow told Reuters this month.
“With those guys moving on, it does make it a bit more difficult to promote and tell the story of the athletes playing the event.”
And, after what has been — aside from Alex de Minaur’s Australian side playing to a near-sold out Ken Rosewall Arena — a slightly soft start to the summer of tennis, that seems a fair statement.
Sport needs its stars. Its entertainers. Its box office drawcards.
It doesn’t help tennis that the nation’s sporting attention has been captured by a captivating Boxing Day Test that’s breaking attendance records left, right and centre.
Neither does it help that the tennis season has started earlier than ever — French author and journalist Bastien Fachan noted the gap between the last point of the NextGen ATP finals in Jeddah and the first of the United Cup was just four days, 7 hours, 31 minutes.
Perhaps it’s natural for people to only take a glancing interest in the pre-Australian Open fare on offer.
Perhaps it’s time to bring out the big guns.
Nick Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic formulated their doubles plan at Wimbledon. (Getty Images: PA Images/Mike Egerton)
Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios are the undoubted headline acts at the Brisbane International, and on Monday night they are going to take to the court. Together. Playing doubles.
It’s not a combination that needs much in the way of marketing.
Alexander Erler and Andreas Mies stand on the other side of the net, but in truth, the opposition doesn’t matter.
It’s an extraordinary combination — and not just because of the pair’s hostile past.
This was an idea that germinated at Wimbledon and has come to fruition in Brisbane as Kyrgios makes his long-awaited return to the sport following career-threatening injury.
“We practised several times as he was doing commentating, and we kind of joked around,” Djokovic said in Brisbane on Sunday.
“We said, when you come back on the Tour, I said we should play doubles.
“I didn’t expect it to be so early, already. It’s going to be his first tournament back after a while, but it’s great.
“It should be fun. Nick is quite a character.”
You’re telling us, Novak.
Of course, the 24-time grand slam winner knows all about Kyrgios.
“We have had quite an interesting history of relationship, him and I,” Djokovic said with a smile.
“From not that great at all to getting along really well, so it should be fun for us on the court and for everyone watching.”
Nick Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic are now firm friends. (Getty Images: Daniel Pockett)
Interesting probably covers it.
Prior to COVID-19, Kyrgios never tried to hide his disdain for Djokovic, describing him as “a tool” who was obsessed with being liked.
“I just feel like he has a sick obsession, wanting to be liked,” Kyrgios said on his podcast in 2019.
“He just wants to be liked so much that I just can’t stand him.”
Djokovic, in response, said he “doesn’t have much respect” for the Australian.
All that has changed dramatically, with Kyrgios an unlikely ally when the Serbian was deported from Australia during the pandemic.
The pair now enjoy something of a bromance, even backing each other up about the doping issues currently sending shock waves of discontent through the tour.
But that being said, Kyrgios is not going to be fawning over the former world number one.
“You’re acting like I’m not a decent tennis player,” Kyrgios said when asked what it would be like to play doubles with him.
“Like, I’ve beaten the guy twice.
“He’s an amazing player, the greatest ever to play the sport. I wouldn’t say I’m going out there and, ‘Oh, my God, Novak, you’re the best, please give me advice.’
“I’m not like that. I’m just going to go out there, have some fun.
“I think I actually help him more because he’s got to the point in his career he wants to obviously have a bit of fun.
Nick Kyrgios says Novak Djokovic just needs to enjoy his final years in tennis. (Getty Images: Anadolu/Stringer)
“You don’t get to a position like that and you don’t get to have a career like that without serious discipline day in, day out. Now he’s starting to have a bit of fun.
“Obviously, employing Andy Murray as his coach, he is looking for a change.
“He’s playing doubles with arguably the most controversial tennis players. He is, I think, to the point where he wants to have something fresh, have a bit of fun, remember that he can reward himself at the end of the day. It doesn’t always have to be super, super straightforward, no fun at all.”
He was not overly confident that the pair were going to be successful, either, making Monday’s appearance something of a unique moment.
“I don’t know. I don’t know how it’s going to be. We might get absolutely snipped,” Kyrgios said.
“We’ve never played doubles before. We might not win. Everybody thinks we’re going to mesh [but we are] two completely different personalities.
“See how it goes.”
Djokovic, meanwhile, was fully leaning into the fun aspect.
“I saw him yesterday, he came into the gym and he started saying ‘Hajdemo nole’ [Let’s go] in my language, ‘I can’t wait to say that after a good point on the court’,” Djokovic said.
“So it should be fun.”
So it should.
Because, as close as tennis gets to its new generation, the fewer chances it has to capitalise on its greatest assets.
And whether you love them or hate them, both Djokovic and Kyrgios provide exceptional box office appeal.
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