Melbourne, Dec 09, 2023, IANS

Melbourne, Jan 9 (IANS) The nine-time Australian Open champion, Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios will play a practice match ahead of this year's first Grand Slam here at Rod Laver Arena on Friday.

"Get set for explosive action as tennis' most famous frenemies come together on RLA for an exciting practice match before #AO2023," tournament organisers tweeted on Monday.

It will be their first meeting since their epic Wimbledon final last year and Djokovic's first match in Melbourne since claiming the Australian Open 2021 title. The Australian has not been in action since October. He also pulled out of the United Cup due to an ankle injury.

Kyrgios leads their head-to-head record 2-1, winning both of their previous hard-court meetings.

The Arena Showdown is the finale of the Australian Open's Perfect Practice series, which takes place at Rod Laver Arena each afternoon this week.

Perfect Practice will be played under match conditions, with umpires, ball kids and electronic line calling.

Rafael Nadal, Daniil Medvedev, Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari, Jessica Pegula, Taylor Fritz, Alexander Zverev and more are all looking forward to hitting Rod Laver Arena to play under match conditions before the Australian Open main draw starts January 16.