Mixed doubles presents the former Grand Slam singles finalists an additional opportunity to leave the Happy Slam, well happy. Fernandez went down in her singles and doubles openers, while Kyrgios—who decided ahead of the tournament that he wasn’t ready for best-of-five sets in singles—lost a tight doubles match with injured tour bestie Thansai Kokkinakis.
“I have obviously played some amazing matches at AO, but that's got to be one of my favorite ones,” declared Kyrgios. “Like, 9-6 down, 7-3, realistically, tennis players, you don't always believe you can come back. But I was like, ‘Look, if we're just one at a time, maybe we can do it.’”
The idea of joining forces initially came up in the opening week of the 2026 season when Fernandez and her father were having a light-hearted conversation.
“We said, ‘Wouldn't it be cool if Nick and I, we played doubles together?’ We were just talking like that, jokingly a little bit. And I feel like my dad took the initiative.
“Nick was nice enough to say, yes. I immediately sent the message, and it was just kind of started off that way. Great that it worked out.”
