Thanasi Kokkinakis concedes his debilitating pectoral muscle injury will likely force him to pull out of his hotly-anticipated 'Special Ks' doubles reunion with Nick Kyrgios.
While Alex De Minaur will headline the Australians in action on Thursday, there had also been much anticipation surrounding the doubles action pencilled in for the night session.
Kokkinakis and Kyrgios, the 2022 champions, were scheduled to play countrymen Aleksandar Vukic and James Duckworth in their first-round match on Thursday night.
Both had previously publicly stated their commitment to seeing through a doubles return after capturing the nation's attention on their blistering, fun-loving run to the title.
"Yeah, me and Thanasi, I think we owe it to each other to go out there and play," Kyrgios had said after his singles first-round exit.
But unfortunately, reality is about to get in the way again.
While Kyrgios's injuries were the problem over the past two years, this time it's Kokkinakis set to pull the pin.
Kokkinakis battled with his pectoral trouble during his marathon second-round loss to No. 15 seed Jack Draper and later confirmed it was a long-standing issue that had him going through "mental torture and physical torture".
He conceded he would probably have to pull out of doubles as another long stint on the sidelines awaits.
"I feel like I'm letting him (Kyrgios) down, I'm letting people down but yeah, I don't know," Kokkinakis said on Wednesday night.
"I won't be able to lift my arm tomorrow. So we'll see.
"Unless we're both playing with underarm serves, it's looking pretty unlikely."
In an emotional press conference, Kokkinakis said he took a "million painkillers" to play at his home slam after pulling out of the Adelaide International last week due to a "crazy amount" of scar tissue in his pec.
"I knew after (the Open) I had some serious decisions to make, and I'm going to miss some time," he said.
"I just tried to kind of empty the tank for this week and see what I can do.
"I've tried to sort it out for years manually, without surgery, just trying to do what I can.
"It's the reason why I can't back up big matches.
"My whole body is fine. It's just the same injury that I worked so hard on to try to get right."
Kokkinakis admitted this loss stung more than any other because he doesn't have "forever left".
"There's no guarantees with surgery," he said.
"I got told my shoulder surgery ... I'd be healed up in three months. Ended up taking me a year and a half to get back.
"One thing is for sure: I can't keep doing what I'm doing. It's mental torture and physical torture."
At the end of the match, Draper consoled Kokkinakis at the net, knowing his rival was in intense pain.
"I had steam coming out of my ears," Kokkinakis said.
"Nothing against him. I just knew my future was looking bleak."
If he had won, Kokkinakis would have played Aleksandar Vukic, who had a heart-filled win over Sebastian Korda, in the third round.
For his part, Vukic has no plans of pulling the pin, despite his first trip to the final 32 of a grand slam.
"Me? No, no. I just talked to my partner, Duckworth," Vukic said.
"We were like: 'We good? We're good. Let's go.'
"So no chance."