By Murray Wenzel in Brisbane

Nick Kyrgios insists he’ll play doubles despite a “throbbing” wrist to show for his unsuccessful, heavy duty singles return at the Brisbane International.

The Australian was left pondering how long his comeback from long-term wrist and knee injuries will last after big-serving French ace Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard bested him 7-6 (7-2) 6-7 (7-4) 7-6 (7-3) on Tuesday night.

Neither player managed a break of serve, Kyrgios in remarkable touch against one of the game’s rising stars considering he had played just one singles match in two-and-a-half years.

The 29-year-old, slated to partner Novak Djokovic in the second round of the men’s doubles on Wednesday at Pat Rafter Arena, was pleased with his form and temperament but unable to hide the concern as he nursed his wounds.

“I’ve got six holes in my hand and one in my arm (from surgery); not one tennis player has ever had this surgery and come back and tried to play again,” he said.

“It’s all really an experimental (process) … no real protocol of how it’s going to be or how it’s going to pull up.

“It’s very sore at the moment. We were expecting that. I’m going to do all the right things, and I’ll be playing doubles, for sure.”

Kyrgios was proudly minimal in his preparations before the injury but admits things have changed in his second-coming that will continue at the Australian Open, where he’ll again use his injury-protected ranking to earn a berth.

“I used to abuse being youthful in this sport and not doing any cool down or anything like that, so I guess it’s biting me in the arse right now,” he said.

“I wouldn’t change it. I had a lot of fun when I was a young one.”

There was frustration on Tuesday as the French talent continually bombed huge first and second serves past the Australian in a two-and-a-half hour serving masterclass.

But he mostly kept his cool, preferring to instead enjoy the moment and not look beyond Melbourne Park.

“There is a lot of positives. But again, it’s how much do I want to take of the trauma on the body, the pain?,” he said.

“The majority of my career, I was playing pretty much pain-free.

“You go out there for two, three hours, you’d enjoy the battle and you would just focus. Where now, there’s just constant pain in that wrist.

“I’ll definitely keep battling for a little bit, but yeah, it was definitely cool to be back out there.”

Australian wildcards Kimberly Birrell and Aleksandar Vukic will play the women’s and men’s second seeds Emma Navarro and Grigor Dimitrov respectively.

Maya Joint plays two-time Brisbane International champion Victoria Azarenka before in-form Jordan Thompson faces Alex Michelsen in the night session.