Nick Kyrgios has withdrawn from the Australian Open men's doubles to save himself for an all-out singles assault at Melbourne Park.
After cursing himself for his decision to play doubles in near-40-degree heat the day before his third-round win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Kyrgios has opted out of continuing with fellow Australian Matt Reid.
The pair were scheduled to play Frenchmen Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin in the second round on Saturday.
But the 17th seed will instead spare his energy for Sunday night's fourth-round showdown with world No.3 Grigor Dimitrov as he continues his bid to break Australia's 42-year men's title drought at the Open.
"Why the f*** am I playing doubles?" Kyrgios spouted towards his box during his hard-earned four-set win over Tsonga on Friday night.
"Hours in 50 degree heat ... really good management," he continued, sarcastically.
The 22-year-old later admitted he "felt heavy" on court.
"My legs felt a little bit heavy. Yesterday was hot," he said.
"It took a lot out of me.
"I think the adrenaline kicked in the third and fourth sets (against Tsonga). I had a couple (of) bananas, started to feel better, got a bit of a second wind."
Common sense finally prevailed after former world No.1 and two-time Open champion Jim Courier urged the Australian No.1 to ditch the doubles if he wants to progress deeper into the singles event.
"If Nick thinks he has a serious chance to win a major, he does need to stop playing doubles," the American told Channel Seven.
"It is a mistake to play ... (and) get stuck in a 40 degree day like he did yesterday.
"It is not like they are going to win the doubles ... all the players who think they have a serious chance to win majors in singles skip the doubles.
"They just do it because you can get caught out best of five and then you are backing that up."
Only two players ranked higher than Kyrgios, Sam Querrey and Pablo Carrena Busta, are in both the singles and doubles events.
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