Novak Djokovic will face a home challenge in his first match of the new season. The 37-year-old will begin his pursuit of a 100th tour-level title at the Brisbane International presented by Evie against Australian Rinky Hijikata. Djokovic will be appearing in the ATP 250 event for the first time since 2009. It will be his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting against Hijikata, the No. 73 player in the PIF ATP Rankings. Djokovic has not competed since reaching the Rolex Shanghai Masters final in October. The top seed could face former World No. 6 Gael Monfils in the second round. The Frenchman will begin his season against a qualifier.Nick Kyrgios will make his highly anticipated return against big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, the Most Improved Player of the Year in 2024 ATP Awards. It promises to be a showdown full of big serving between two of the best servers on the ATP Tour.
Kyrgios will be in tour-level action for the first time since Stuttgart in June 2023. The Australian won the Brisbane title in 2018 and most recently played the tournament in 2019. Defending champion Grigor Dimitrov, who also triumphed in Brisbane in 2017, is the second seed. The Bulgarian will open against a qualifier. A first-round match to watch will be home favourite Jordan Thompson, the eighth seed, taking on Matteo Berrettini. The Italian is fresh off a year in which he claimed Comeback Player of the Year honours. Berrettini won the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting at the 2019 US Open.
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