Tennis: 'It's what you dream of' - Michael Venus ready for Nick Kyrgios showdown at Australian Open

Michael Venus is preparing for one of the biggest doubles matches of his career. Photo / Getty

Michael Venus has played bigger matches in his tennis doubles career. But other than his French Open title win and run to the Wimbledon final, none have garnered anywhere near the interest of his match tomorrow at the Australian Open.

The Kiwi and German partner Tim Puetz have established themselves as one of the best doubles combinations in the world. They are the sixth seeds in Melbourne and tomorrow play for a place in the semifinals at the year's first Grand Slam.

It's a big match regardless of the opponent, but the fact Venus and Puetz are up against Australian wildcards Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis has added plenty of spice to the encounter.

"These are the situations that you train for that you want to be in, that you look forward to being in," Venus said. "It's what you dream about."

Kyrgios in particular is box-office material. He draws in fans to the sport who otherwise wouldn't be interested. He is unpredictable, explosive, funny at times and unbelievably good.

Venus and Puetz will hope to use their doubles experience, nous and understanding of each other's games against what is effectively a rookie combination. But that makes the Australians dangerous, taking a care-free approach to their matches.

Venus acknowledges the clash will be unlike most other matches he's experienced.

"There's no question what firepower they have - you just watch them in singles and see what they can do out there," he said. "So that's going to be one aspect of it, figuring out the ways to try and get into their service games and try and get points started.

"The other bit is going to be the atmosphere in the crowd and being prepared for that as much as we can."

Venus and Puetz tried to watch Kyrgios and Kokkinakis in their third-round doubles match but it proved impossible such was the demand.

"It seems like the atmosphere on those courts have almost gone to a next level," the Kiwi said. "We tried to go out and prepare for the match by watching them yesterday and we couldn't even get into the court because there were no seats.

"You could see the lines of people trying to get in so it's going to be a great atmosphere and we are just going to have to deal with it."

Kyrgios has been vocal in his calls for tennis to embrace more fan engagement and allow fans to make noise during points, moving the sport away from the traditional silence while the ball is in play.

Venus tends to agree that tennis has been slow to acknowledge its role in the entertainment business and says perhaps the players need to adapt.

"Pretty much every other sport other than golf you have the fans really getting stuck in and saying things and cheering when the other people are doing their thing. Tennis has never really been quite like that and maybe we need to adapt and be ready for it."

Kyrgios and Kokkinakis knocked out Olympic doubles champions and the world's top-ranked pair Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the second round before beating the 15th seeds to make the quarter-finals, leaving Venus expecting an epic contest.

"They're going to hit some unbelievable shots out there, and there's going to be nothing we can do," he said. "It's tough to play when guys are that free and swinging because they don't play with a pattern.

"Sometimes the tactics will come into play but they'll also go out the window, and you just have to play tennis and react to what is coming and play the right shot off it.

"We just need to be switched on, play every point and be really mentally tough."