By Michael Chammas
Nick Kyrgios has been rated a 50-50 chance of recovering from the hip injury that ended his US Open in time for Friday's Davis Cup play-off tie against Slovakia in Sydney.
Australian Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt got his first look at Kyrgios in a practice session with Bernard Tomic on the newly-laid grass court at Sydney Olympic Park on Monday, but will wait until Wednesday night before making a decision on the fitness of his No.1 player.
"It was a good hit-out for Nick today," Hewitt said ahead of the world group qualifier. "It's going to be management for the next three or four days with him. Hopefully the hip pulls up well but we just have to take it day by day and weigh up how much grass court practice he needs to be able to go out there and play as close to 100 per cent as possible come Friday. It was very encouraging today.
"I'll probably decide Wednesday night. I'll have something in my mind which way we'll go but I was a lot more positive today than I had been when he was in New York. It's probably still 50-50 in some ways. That he's here, though, and had his first hit on centre court and got used to it – as long as he doesn't wake up worse for tomorrow's hit."
Limbering up: Nick Kyrgios practises on Monday ahead of Australia's David Cup play-off against Slovakia. Credit: Peter Rae
Kyrgios was criticised by tennis legend John McEnroe before reacting to advice from Roger Rasheed on social media following his exit from the final grand slam of the season. However, Hewitt insists it's all water off a duck's back for the enigmatic 21-year-old.
"I don't think [it upsets him]. I think he handles it OK," Hewitt said. "He comes out here and does his thing. He's in his own little world a lot of the time as well. He doesn't worry about a lot of things that are going on outside. I think he's focused on coming here and getting the job done.
"He hasn't played a lot of Davis Cup in recent years. He wants to be here, he wants to play. And for me to have him at my disposal to hang out there as the No.1 player, it strengthens our team a lot."
This week's Davis Cup play-off is the first time the Australian team has come together since Tomic criticised Kyrgios for missing the tie against the United States through illness.
Abrupt end: Nick Kyrgios was forced to retire from his third-round match at the US Open due to a hip problem.Credit: Alex Goodlett
But Hewitt insists there is no tension between the pair. "They've been fine. I was with them in Indian Wells the week straight after," Hewitt said.
"It was obviously disappointing. We all would have loved to have had Nick out there at Kooyong and we would've been in with a pretty good shot at beating the States in that tie but it wasn't to be."
Kyrgios and Tomic have been at the centre of plenty of debate in recent months, particularly after Australian Olympic chef de mission Kitty Chiller lumped them into the same category when it came to selection for Rio.
"They are different guys and different personalities," Hewitt said. "They can bring a lot of different spectators to the sport of tennis by the way they do play the game and how different they are out on the court. Both of them are very different in themselves. You can't categorise those two as the same kind of players or personalities. They are learning to deal with being in the spotlight day in and day out at a pretty young age as well.
"But I think they can do great things for the sport, not just in Australia, but great things for the sport of tennis in general. You look at Nick, he's kind of that NBA basketball player playing tennis. That brings a lot of kids that want to play tennis. You have to use it in the right way, but I see these guys do a lot of kids clinics behind the scenes and they are fantastic."