It was a tough day for the locals at the Brisbane International with four of Australia's top male talents sent packing in the opening round.
Aussies Alexei Popyrin, Adam Walton, Nick Kyrios and Rinky Hijikata were all defeated by their respective opponents on New Year's Eve, heavily restricting their run-ins to the Australian Open in a few weeks.
First up, seventh seed Popyrin was stunned in a straight-sets loss to Italy's Matteo Arnaldi.
Alexei Popyrin looks on during his match against Matteo Arnaldi. Chris Hyde via Getty Images
The 25-year-old will be seeded at the Australian Open for the first time after a career-best year in 2024 which included an ATP Masters 1000 title in Canada and an upset win over Novak Djokovic in the third round at the US Open.
But the world No.24 succumbed to Arnaldi 6-3, 6-2 at the warm-up tournament.
With Arnaldi ranked No.38, the result was not a huge upset but would be disheartening for Popyrin ahead of his home slam.
Walton then came up against American Frances Tiafoe.
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The hometown hero pushed Tiafoe in the opening set to force a first-to-seven-point tiebreak where he had two set points but could not convert.
The wildcard then ran out of steam to lose 7-6(5), 6-3 as the fourth seed progressed.
Kyrgios' return to the singles court was dealt a blow after he was defeated by world No.31 Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.
In a battle of the big servers, tiebreakers decided the winner in all three sets as Mpetshi Perricard triumphed 7-6(2), 6(4)-7, 7-6(3).
Finally, Hijikata had the unfortunate match-up of Novak Djokovic, who returns to the River City for the first time since 2009.
Djokovic was clinical, breaking Hijikata in both sets to set up a 6-3, 6-3 win in a swift one hour and 14 minutes.
Speaking post-match, Djokovic was full of praise for his first-time rival.
"Hijikata deserves a great round of applause for his performance tonight," he said on Nine.
"He was really, really good [and] he definitely made me work for the win."
Djokovic and Kyrgios will team up again on Wednesday as their doubles campaign continues.
All four Aussie hopes will contest the Australian Open men's singles main draw.