Nick Kyrgios is in doubt for the Australian Open after pulling out of a pre-tournament exhibition match against Novak Djokovic.

“Unfortunately won’t be able to play my good friend [Novak Djokovic] this Thursday on the 9th as I’ve had an ultrasound on my abdominal and have a grade 1 strain,” Kyrgios wrote on Instagram.

“Will be resting and doing everything I can to be OK by the AusOpen.”

The draw for the Australian Open takes place on Thursday, with Kyrgios listed under a protected ranking of 21.

Kyrgios has not played at the Australian Open since 2022, when he reached the second round in the singles competition and won the doubles title with Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Later that year he reached his first singles grand slam final, losing to Djokovic at Wimbledon.

Kyrgios played three matches at the Brisbane International last week, two of them doubles, alongside Djokovic, his first matches on the ATP Tour since June 2023.

Since then, Kyrgios has undergone multiple surgeries on his wrist in a bid to save his career and has said it will take “a miracle” for the wrist to hold up to the rigours of a grand slam.

The 29-year-old was knocked out of the Brisbane International singles tournament by big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard following a brutal, two-and-a-half-hour ordeal in the first round.

After that clash, Kyrgios said his body had felt “really good” aside from his injured wrist.

“I felt relatively pretty good physically,” Kyrgios said in Brisbane.

“My legs and my body felt really good. I felt fit and I’m in great shape, but obviously felt some discomfort with the wrist.”

Kyrgios said that there was “constant pain” in his wrist and it was “throbbing” following the match.

He added that the length of his career would come down to how much pain he was willing to tolerate.

“It’s how much do I want to take of the trauma on the body, the pain,” he said.

“I guess, you know, when I played the majority of my career, I was playing pretty much pain-free. You go out there for two, three hours, you’d enjoy the battle and you would just focus.

“Where now, there’s just constant pain in that wrist. Look, I’ll definitely keep battling for a little bit, but yeah, it was definitely cool to be back out there.”

He added that he “used to abuse being youthful” and he knew now that he needed to work on his overall pre- and post-match activations to stay fit, telling reporters in Brisbane that he did “three to four hours of physiotherapy a day”.