Nick Kyrgios drops a HUGE hint about whether he’ll play at the Australian Open – as he drags Roger Federer into his beef with Andy Roddick

Drawcard Nick Kyrgios is keen to play at the Australian Open after visions emerged of the star having a practice session at Melbourne Park on Thursday.

The development comes as Kyrgios, 29, struggles with an abdominal injury that threatened to keep him out of the grand slam.

Kyrgios was due to line up alongside Novak Djokovic in an exhibition event on Thursday evening after the pair dazzled fans at the Pat Rafter Arena during the Brisbane International in doubles last week.

The polarizing Australian said after undergoing an ultrasound, doctors confirmed he was suffering from first-degree abdominal pain.

Although fears over his fitness have increased, Kyrgios has since given fans hope he will feature at Melbourne Park.

On Thursday afternoon during the official draw of the Australian Open, Kyrgios was used in the first round against the British Jacob Fearnley.

“I mean, look, I still have five days ahead of me,” Kyrgios told 7News on Wednesday.

‘I probably shouldn’t serve in the next few days, I have a few training sessions planned and I will do everything I can.

‘It’s not that serious…’I’m just taking it day by day and giving myself the best chance.

‘It’s clear that playing a match, a set, with Novak is probably not the best preparation for me to force that.

“I’m just going to handle it accordingly. I know my body.’

Meanwhile, the 29-year-old tennis icon has dragged Federer into his war of words with Andy Roddick.

Kyrgios has spoken out about doping, particularly lashing out at world number one Jannik Sinner, who failed two tests for the steroid clostebol in March last year.

Sinner subsequently avoided a ban as the International Tennis Integrity Agency determined he was not responsible for the violation.

Last week, Kyrgios took aim at Cruz Hewitt when the 16-year-old posted a photo of himself training with Sinner, with the comments “I love ya Cruz but this is wild,” “thought we were boys” and “cooked post” with a needle emoji.

That prompted Roddick to shoot an ace towards Kyrgios through his own Served podcast.

“Right now he (Kyrgios) is a tennis influencer. He lives for likes, he lives in the comments section,” Roddick said Wednesday.

“What I have a problem with is the hypocrisy with which he judges others, while also wanting you to realize the context of his comments – most recently to Cruz Hewitt, who practiced with Jannik Sinner.

‘Kyrgios was Jannik Sinner’s most outspoken critic after his failed doping test. Cruz Hewitt is therefore 16 years old, son of Lleyton. He will have to deal with a man who is number one in the world at the Australian Open. That’s a big problem.

‘Imagine that, as an almost thirty-year-old man, you respond to the comments of a sixteen-year-old who is the best player in the world.

“To just post a picture and then have this guy go into the comments and make it all about himself. “I thought we were brothers.”

“The defense was that it was a joke. The lack of awareness is ridiculous.”

Roddick – who won the US Open in 2003 – wasn’t done yet, referring to Kyrgios pleading guilty to assaulting his ex-girlfriend Chiara Passari in 2021 after a heated argument.

In a subsequent guilty plea, a criminal conviction was not recorded.

“When you have moments in your life that aren’t the best,” Roddick said, referring to the Canberra-raised star.

“If you’ve pleaded guilty to physically assaulting your girlfriend, but you want people to understand the context.

“You wanted people to understand your moment in time and life, which didn’t make this acceptable, but maybe at least say, ‘this is not who I am, this is not what I do – I am not an abuser, even though I plead guilty to abuse.”

Roddick went on to say that Kyrgios has complained of mental health issues and online bullying, but he doesn’t seem to realize that he is engaging in similar behavior with his behavior online.

‘It’s just hypocritical. It is purely hypocritical,” he said.

Roddick has a different take on the transgressions of Sinner and former women’s world number 1 Iga Swiatek, stating “it’s not even about doping, it’s just contaminants and testing on billionths of a gram.”

“Some players [are] chirping about these champions who will be Hall of Famers when they’ve never had two good days together at the same time in their lives.”

After Roddick’s powerful words went viral, Kyrgios responded to Xasking Thursday: ‘Does Roddick have anything to say about Federer?

The tweet – which also included a series of crying emojis – was a reference to the Swiss maestro saying last year that he “understands the frustration” when it comes to Sinner escaping a ban.

“It’s not something we want to see in our sport, regardless of whether he did anything or not. Or any player. It’s just noise we don’t want,’ Federer said that in September.

‘I understand the frustration of: has he (sinner) been treated the same as others?

“And I think this is what it comes down to. We all kind of trust that he didn’t do anything in the end.

“But the possible inconsistency that he didn’t have to wait when they weren’t 100 percent sure what was going on — I think that’s the question that needs to be answered.”