Nick Kyrgios was beaten on his singles comeback in Brisbane, casting doubt on his Australian Open hopes, but Novak Djokovic sent a positive message to new coach Andy Murray with a comfortable win.

Murray will join his old rival for the Australian Open next month and Djokovic revealed the Scot is following his progress on the ski slopes after beating Australia’s Rinky Hijikata 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the Brisbane International had defeated.

“He’s actually skiing at the moment,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview.

“I send my love to the entire Murray family. I hope he doesn’t get injured skiing before he comes to Melbourne.

“We spoke before the game, we communicate every day. I am of course happy to have him on my team and at my side. He’s been on the other side of the net for over 20 years, this is the first time he’s been on the same side of the pitch, so it should be fun in Melbourne.”

Djokovic teamed up with Kyrgios for a crowd-pleasing double victory on Monday and he looked good against Hijikata, not having a break point during the encounter.

It was his first singles match since mid-October and Djokovic added: “I always expect myself to do well on the court. Starting the new season with a win is very important.”

Kyrgios had played just one singles match since October 2022 following knee and wrist operations, but was narrowly defeated in a battle for big serves against the up-and-coming young Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

There were no breaks of serve in three sets, but Mpetshi Perricard won two of the three tiebreaks to triumph 7-6 (2), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3).

However, Kyrgios was positive about his performance, saying: “Honestly it was a great game considering I haven’t played for 18 months.

“And it was exciting to put myself in a winning position. It was just nice to be back out there and say that I can still play on a level playing field against someone like him who is having the best year of his career and is getting better and more confident and I come back and have that asked question, and he just played a few big points better than me.”

The 29-year-old used his protected ranking of 21 from before his injury problems to take part in the Australian Open, but admitted he is still unsure whether he will play in Melbourne.

“It’s about how much of the trauma to the body and the pain I want to endure,” he said.

“When I played most of my career, I played largely pain-free. You go out there for two or three hours, enjoy the fight and just concentrate. Where now there is just constant pain in my wrist.

“I think I almost need a miracle and I need to align the stars so that my wrist can definitely withstand a Grand Slam.

“If it were a Grand Slam today, we might still be on the court, and I don’t know how I would be the next day or the day after. That’s kind of the reality that’s emerging.”