Nick Kyrgios draws on mixed doubles experience with Serena Williams & Venus Williams, calls for format to be introduced to Masters events
Nick Kyrgios recently expressed his desire to play mixed doubles with Venus Williams, Serena Williams, and Ashleigh Barty. Kyrgios' admission stemmed from his idea of seeing mixed doubles competition at Masters 1000 events.
As things stand, Masters 1000 events exclusively consist of men's singles and doubles categories. In terms of significance based on ranking points and prize money, Masters 1000s rank just below the Grand Slams, making them one of the most prestigious events in men's tennis.
However, recently, former World No. 13 Nick Kyrgios suggested that Masters 1000 tournaments should feature mixed doubles rather than men's doubles. According to the Australian, this would allow fans to watch their favorite men's and women's tennis players in action together. Kyrgios voiced this suggestion on a recent episode of The AO Show podcast.
"I would do mixed doubles at Masters events, because in what other sport can you get your favorite female athlete and your favorite male athlete competing on the same side of the net for good prize money? It's not not possible. You don't see it in any other sport. So Masters events, instead of men's doubles or women's doubles, there should be mixed doubles," Nick Kyrgios said (at 24:44).
The 2022 Wimbledon finalist soon proceeded to say that he would like to team up with the likes of former WTA World No. 1s Venus Williams, Serena Williams, and Ashleigh Barty. Kyrgios has played mixed doubles with the legendary Williams sisters before. He was Serena Williams' partner at the 2014 International Premier Tennis League and paired up with Venus Williams to play mixed doubles at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships.
"There's plenty of good players I'd love to play with, past and present. I've had the honor of playing with Serena and Venus. I would have liked to play with them. I would have loved to have played with Ash Barty at some stage. I think she, by far, was one of the most talented female players to ever play the game. I think we would have done some damage on the court," Kyrgios added (at 25:08).
In the same podcast episode, the Australian opined that if he could, he would make men's singles matches at Grand Slams best-of-three-set affairs until the quarterfinals.
Nick Kyrgios suggests drastic change for men's singles matches at Majors
During his recent appearance on The AO Show podcast, Nick Kyrgios also touched upon the existing best-of-five-sets format of men's singles matches at the Majors. He believes that they should be best-of-three-sets matches until the quarterfinals for the sake of avoiding scheduling issues. The Australian also suggested that such a change would also give lower-ranked players a chance to muster deep runs at Grand Slams.
"I would make Grand Slams best of three (sets) up until the quarterfinals. I think it would save us a lot of effort on scheduling. You know the first week's scheduling gets out of control with both the men's side and the women's side playing best of five and sometimes the women's matches go long, best of three. I mean, men's matches finishing till 2-3 AM, it's just not sustainable," Kyrgios said.
"I think if you made it best of three until the quarterfinals, you'd see some guys break through to the quarterfinals. Obviously then the better players would end up winning best of five anyway," he added later.
Having spent almost two years out of the ATP Tour with injuries and subsequent surgeries, Nick Kyrgios is inching closer to his comeback. He is set to return to competitive action at the 2025 Brisbane International.