Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis’ run at the Australian Open ended in dramatic fashion on Thursday.

The pair, who were hoping to win their first match at the tournament since lifting the trophy in 2022, lost 6-4, 4-6, 10-7 to fellow Australians Marc Polmans and Jason Kubler.

It was clear both players were struggling physically throughout the match. Kokkinakis was seen holding his shoulder several times, while Kyrgios appeared to be limping.

There were also a couple of key moments that stirred up some controversy. In the deciding tiebreak, a let was called on Kokkinakis’ serve even though it looked like the ball had cleared the net.

Soon after, video review ruled that Kokkinakis had hit a shot from over the net, giving another important point to Polmans and Kubler. Kyrgios was especially unhappy with the let call after the match.

Nick Kyrgios criticises the let call during Australian Open match

After the match, Nick Kyrgios didn’t hold back in his criticism of the umpire’s decision to call a let.

He said: “You know what the issue is. How can you review a ball that’s been hit over the net, but you can’t review a serve over the net?

“Doesn’t make any f–––––– sense. Like, that’s why I’m p––––– off. Like, we’re playing for millions of dollars. We’ve been both injured, both trying to get to this stage. Some of these rules are just so, so, so dumb.

“They don’t make sense. Yeah, so how can you not review a let? How can you not review that? How can you not just watch a ball just go over the net? How dumb does that sound?”

Kyrgios didn’t stop there and later in the press conference continued to criticise officiating in tennis.

“It sucks. For me personally, I put in a lot of work,” he began.

“I’m probably in some of the best shape I’ve been in for a while. It just p––––– me off that we go out there and compete, and some of these rules are just so ‘gray area-ed.’

“In my opinion, like, he’s trying to serve what he’s [Kokkinakis] got left and he hits a great serve to start the tiebreak.

Kyrgios continued: “It’s a horrendous call by the referee, horrendous.” No let all that – we do so much hard work to get out there.”

Kyrgios made it clear though that he was not blaming his defeat on those calls by saying:

Kubler’s take on the controversial call

At 2-1 in the tiebreak, Kubler and Polmans made use of a video review, which turned out to be a pivotal moment in the match.

Kokkinakis had volleyed what initially appeared to be a clean winner, but replays showed he had crossed onto his opponents’ side of the net before making contact with the ball.

The decision gave Kubler and Polmans a 3-1 lead in the tiebreak, which they eventually took 10-7.

Speaking after the match, Kubler discussed their decision to challenge.

“Well, to be honest, I wasn’t 100% sure if he did reach over,” he said.

“It was just one of those situations where we had the replay. I was like we may as well use it, you know. At the end it just worked out for us that he did actually reach over the net.”

“It’s not like I knew that he did that or anything. But then, yeah, once we would see the review, it showed that he reached over. Yeah, our point.”