After multiple false starts, Nick Kyrgios has Australian Open organisers believing he'll finally return to his home grand slam in January.
But Lleyton Hewitt believes tennis's showman faces arguably the biggest challenge of his rollercoaster career.
Kyrgios, who has been ravaged by wrist and knee injuries over the past two years, hasn't played at Melbourne Park since 2022.
The 29-year-old has played just one tour singles match since October 2022, spending more time commentating - but recently ramped up his training.
Kyrgios featured in marketing at Thursday's Open launch, indicating Tennis Australia's confidence in his latest comeback bid.
"We would love to have Nick back playing in 2025, we believe he will be," Open chief Craig Tiley said.
"He's out there practising, playing, been in touch with his team over the last couple days, and he's fully expecting to play, and we expect to see Nick on the court playing."
Tiley was adamant the Australian would be in the main draw, be it via protected ranking or wildcard.
"The confidence that we get about Nick playing is that in his preparation, we know he's doing more than he's done before," he said.
"We know that he wants to do it. We know that he's mentally preparing to get ready to play in January. He's got to be physically healthy to do that.
"No player wants to walk onto the court unless they know they can be in a position where they can win and Nick knows, as a team with Tennis Australia, we'd love to see him on the court.
"So we fully expect to see him."
Hewitt got a good look at Kyrgios in training at Wimbledon and the US Open.
"He's certainly been on the practice court playing more than I've seen in the last year and a half," Hewitt said.
"He's still got to get over the niggles obviously, and even when you start to up your practice and being able to push through those setbacks as well.
"He's certainly doing a lot more stuff, it's just whether the body can hold up."
Hewitt noted Kyrgios needed plenty of work under his belt to go deep in a best-of-five sets tournament.
He believed Kyrgios should be in the main draw if fit, but would take time to hit form.
"It's tough and probably the biggest challenge he's ever faced," he said.
"To have a setback, especially of that amount of time now as well, and the game keeps improving, the guys keep taking it to new levels as well.
"For him to come in and obviously try and play, there's a number of players in the draw which, if he goes out there and plays his best tennis, he'll be able to take care of in straight sets, but there's going to be a lot of guys that are going to be able to push him.
"And how he responds to that, obviously, by not doing it for the last couple of years - that's not only (tough) physically, it's a mental challenge as well."
Kyrgios is among the critics of world No.1 and defending champion Jannik Sinner.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recently appealed a decision to clear Sinner of wrongdoing following two positive tests for a banned anabolic steroid.
But Tiley backed the Italian.
"We fully expect, and I'm looking forward to welcoming Jannik in January and he too is expecting to play," Tiley said.
"He's here to defend his title. He's had a great year, and so that, we believe, will play out and we'll see him."
