By Joel Gould in Brisbane

Nick Kyrgios will make his long-awaited return to competitive tennis at the Brisbane International when he takes on 21-year-old Frenchman Giovanni Perricard.

It will be the first tour-level appearance by Kyrgios since the Stuttgart Open in June, 2023.

The 29-year-old has been mostly sidelined with career-threatening wrist and knee injuries since the 2022 US Open quarter-finals.

His first-round opponent Perricard, the world No.31, will be no pushover according to former Australian tennis star John Millman.

“I think everyone is excited to see Nick back in action,” Millman said.

“He is up against the young Frenchman Giovanni Perricard who had his breakthrough in Basel where he won the 500 at the end of the year.

“They were different conditions in the indoor (to Brisbane) but if you haven’t seen Giovanni play he has an absolute rocket of a serve. We know Nick does but Perricard does also. That is going to be a feature match.”

Kyrgios, who won the Brisbane International in 2018, will partner superstar Novak Djokovic in the doubles.

While at Wimbledon this year working in commentary, Kyrgios hit with former world No.1 Djokovic with the record-setting Serb proving an unlikely source of inspiration.

“I was hitting with Novak and when he said to me, ‘It doesn’t look like you’ve had surgery’, and that was a big motivation to say like maybe I’m actually making some inroads and some progress into getting back because I didn’t really know.

“That was a big drive for me … so, if he didn’t say that, I don’t know if I would have been motivated and if I would have kept pushing on the thought, but that was definitely a big part of the journey when he said that to me.”

Djokovic is the No.1 seed at the Brisbane International and will play Australia’s Rinky Hijikata in the opening round.

Kyrgios and Djokovic are in the top half of the draw and are not slated to play each other until the semi-finals should they both win through.

Australia’s Jordan Thompson, the No.26 in the world, has a tough opening draw against Italy’s Matteo Berrettini.

“Yeah it’s a tough one. He’s been playing great tennis. He broke our hearts at Davis Cup against Thanasi (Kokkinakis),” Thompson said.

“He’s got a big game and is a Wimbledon finalist and US Open semi-finalist

“When you play tennis you have to beat whoever is in front of you to win the tournament anyway.”