Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios was in the news once again as he was omitted from the Australian Davis Cup team that is set to face Hungary. While there were questions regarding Kyrgios’ omission the Aussie star’s friend Thanasi Kokkinakis revealed that Kyrgios was selected at first but the big man voluntarily refused to be a part of the Davis Cup.
Recently Kyrgios created history as he partnered with Kokkinakis and won the Australian Open Men’s Doubles beating Mathew Ebden and Max Purcell in the finals in an all Australian clash.
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis became the first Australian duo to win the Men’s Doubles at the Australian Open since Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde in 1997.
The Aussie duo were sublime on the court and their camaraderie meant that they made up for each other. They kept on beating seeded Doubles pairings to reach the finals and eventually won the Grand Slam. So tennis fans were confused why Kyrgios ws not picked in the Davis Cup team.
The Australian Davis Cup team was recently announced which will be led by veteran Lleyton Hewitt. The squad also includes Alex de Minaur, Alexei Popyrin, John Peers, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Luke Saville.
But recently Kokkinakis revealed that his doubles partner was not snubbed from Australia’s Davis Cup squad, despite what several news reports suggesting the same. The 26-year-old apparently has a lot of things going on hence he voluntarily decided to not be a part of the Davis Cup team.
“He definitely was asked to play,” Kokkinakis said. “He has a few things on so he wasn’t able to play but he definitely didn’t get snubbed or anything – I saw those headlines and he didn’t get snubbed at all. Hopefully, we can team up again in the future.”
Kokkinakis highlighted how much Kyrgios enjoys and takes pride in featuring for Australia. He even opined that Kyrgios’ presence would have only strengthened the Aussies in the Davis Cup.
“I think Nick has shown he always loves playing for Australia,” Kokkinakis said. “I’m not sure exactly what he has on, but he obviously has something pretty important. He’s obviously in our strongest team. He was definitely asked, and I think he and Lleyton have a good relationship, but he just wasn’t available for this time.”
Australia will face Hungary in the qualifying round of this year’s Davis Cup. The Hungarian team includes players like Marton Fucsovics, Fabian Maroszan, Zsombor Piros, Mate Valkusz and Peter Fajta.
