Former world No.1 Mats Wilander believes Nick Kyrgios’ condemnation of Jannik Sinner could rattle the Italian during his title defence at the Australian Open.

Aussie firebrand Kyrgios will make his return to the court next month having only managed one match in the last two years due to repeated injuries.

Kyrgios has been one of the loudest critics of Sinner in light of the fallout from the Italian’s doping case.

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Appearing on the Nothing Major Podcast this week, Kyrgios said that if the pair were to meet at next month’s Australian Open, he would encourage the crowd to “get on him” and create an “absolute riot”.

Kyrgios is the ultimate entertainer on the tennis court. Put him in front of a home crowd, with every stadium-goer on his side, and you have a spectacle to behold.

Wilander credits Kyrgios with being one of the few players on tour who combines skill and charisma and uses it to his advantage.

“I think Nick has revolutionised the sport in many ways,” he told Eurosport.

“Players are actually using part of his arsenal or his repertoire. If Nick goes out and he plays his absolute best tennis, and if he wins the grand slam, I believe maybe for the first time ever, a single player would have ticked every single box that you can tick.

“He is competitive, the level is high, the mental attitude is brilliant, the repertoire and the variety of crazy shot-making and the jokes he cracks, no one has ever done it all.

“Nick Kyrgios has a chance to do it all.”

Kyrgios will kick off his 2025 campaign at the Brisbane International before making his highly-anticipated return to Melbourne Park with a protected ranking of 21 — his average ranking in the first three months of his injury.

Having called for Sinner to be handed a lengthy ban after returning two positive doping tests for an anabolic steroid before imagining a match-up, Wilander is intrigued if Sinner could hold his nerve against Kyrgios.

“Nick Kyrgios says he wants to disrupt and antagonise if he plays,” Wilander said.

“He’s disrupting matches at the best of times against any player, but in a way, I believe Jannik Sinner is completely innocent.

“There’s no chance that he was trying to do something illegal, and it was not his fault whatsoever. It would be interesting to see if Jannik Sinner could hold and keep his cool if he played someone like Nick Kyrgios on, let’s say, the old Vodafone, John Cain Arena.

“They let all the ground pass holders at the Australian Open come in, so the average age in the crowd goes from 60 years old down to 16 years old or maybe 20 and some of them are having a few beers too many.

“That atmosphere would be interesting to see if Sinner could keep his cool if Nick Kyrgios really gets on top of him.”