Former Australian doubles star Todd Woodbridge believes Nick Kyrgios can only get better at singles by embracing his on-court partnership with Thanasi Kokkinakis.
The duo claimed a stunning men's doubles Australian Open title in January as they breathed live into doubles tennis.
While they could only make the second round at Indian Wells this month, Kyrgios seemed to benefit from it as he reached the quarter-finals of the men's singles draw.
The Aussie star looked in fine form before going down to Rafael Nadal 7-6 5-7 6-4 in a dramatic quarter-final clash.
Kyrgios struggled to deal with a vocal crowd during the match and copped a point penalty after swearing back at a fan.
Despite dropping down to world number 137 in the ATP rankings, the Australian clearly still has the potential to take on the best in the game and Woodbridge thinks doubles could keep him going in the right direction moving forward.
"Someone said, 'How do you make him better?' Well singles isn't going to do it because you go out on a singles court by yourself and it's you and that fella running around in your head. And that's where he has trouble," Woodbridge said on Channel Nine's Sports Sunday.
"The doubles court is brilliant for him. We saw that with Kokkinakis because he can't let his partner down and his partner can calm him down. They can verbalise to each other.
"That's been an interesting part of these last couple months for Nick.
"He's got confident again, but it's actually Thanasi and the dubs that have helped him get to that space and we'll see how long he can keep his singles going.
"That's going to be a real issue because he said he's not going to play the clay-court season, it's going to be a bit too long and ardous, so he's going to now hone in on the grass-court season."
Despite some questioning Kyrgios' antics during his Indian Wells exit, Nadal refused to criticise his opponent and instead focused on the Australian's positives after their quarter-final meeting.
“I think Nick had a great attitude during the whole match in terms of fighting spirit, and of course he has his personality, his character," Nadal said.
"Sometimes he does things I don’t like, but I respect because of a different character…different points of view.
“But the most important part, why we are coming here, is to try to play tennis in the best way possible. I think he did. He fought until the end. He played some great level tennis.
"And that’s the Nick Kyrgios that I probably want to see and the people like to see, no? Because that’s good for tennis."
Kyrgios is expected to return to the court later this month at the Miami Open.
