Briton Jacob Fearnley might be forgiven for having a sinking feeling after seeing his name bracketed with Nick Kyrgios in the first round of the Australian Open.

Nick Kyrgios returns to the Australian Open and plays Britain’s Jacob Fearnley in his first match at the tournament in three years. The controversial Australian has been sidelined for most of the past two years following knee and wrist surgeries - and claims the sport has been “mundane” in his absence.

Mats Wilander believes Nick Kyrgios has the capability of causing a 'big upset' in the Australian Open, but has raised concerns about the Aussie star's fitness. Kyrgios' first-round match against Jacob Fearnley next week will be his first match in a major tournament in over two years.

The podcast included salacious suggestions from Wertheim that Kyrgios’ views about Sinner are personal and surround Sinner’s current girlfriend — Anna Kalinskaya. The Russian, who is ranked No. 14 on the WTA Tour rankings, was previously in a relationship with Kyrgios.

Some images have been circulated on social media in which it can be seen that Anna and Nick completely ignore each other after accidentally meeting in the locker room. Kalinskaya doesn't even deserve a glance at her ex-boyfriend, before Nick starts talking very friendly with 4-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz.

Nick Kyrgios has been a vocal critic of Jannik Sinner since the Italian was cleared of fault after twice testing positive for a banned substance last March