Playing on a protected ranking of No.21, Kyrgios makes his grand slam comeback after more than two years on the sidelines at Melbourne Park on Monday.
The 2022 Wimbledon runner-up always shaped as the most dangerous unseeded floater in the 128-man draw, prompting Fearnley to batten down the hatches almost from the minute he was pitted against Kyrgios on Thursday.
Nick Kyrgios presents a unique first-round challenge for Jacob Fearnley. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)
"I actually deleted Instagram. I was getting a lot of messages. Â I wanted to try and stay as centred as possible," Fearnley said.Â
While he will still be a big underdog against an underdone Kyrgios, the 23-year-old Fearnley is certainly no tennis mug.
The world No.86 made his grand slam debut as a Wimbledon wildcard last year, advancing to the second round and taking a set off the great Novak Djokovic.
Novak Djokovic and Jacob Fearnley combined to create a Centre Court classic 😲— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) Today's Play of the Day, presented by @BarclaysUK#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/GsayyiXfSJJuly 4, 2024
But he knows he will have hit his work cut out playing the home favourite on his beloved John Cain Arena.
"It's not a match you want to see in Australia," he said.
"I know that the crowd's going to be against me. Obviously there was a lot of excitement as well (about the draw) because it's not a common match.
"I've been to some pretty hostile environments. Probably not as many people as are going to be watching on Monday.
"I've definitely had some nasty things thrown in my direction. You just have to ignore it and move on.
"I think the best thing I can do is just try to enjoy it as best as I can.
"Obviously focusing on myself is one thing. I understand that's going to be very difficult to do. It's still pretty early in my career. To have an opportunity and an experience like this is really cool."
Having been hindered by an abdominal strain, Kyrgios has no great expectations ahead of his first grand slam appearance since making the 2022 US Open quarter-finals, then requiring three rounds of wrist and knee surgeries.
"I'm taking it day by day," he said.
"Just enjoying all the moments again, being a part of the tournament, going through the hallways, the locker room, seeing everyone again.
"It's been an emotional time for me the last couple of weeks. I'm just enjoying being back."
Kyrgios is among a dozen Australians in action on day two.
His doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis, 27th seed Jordan Thompson, rising women's star Maya Joint and three-time grand slam quarter-finalist Ajla Tomljanovic are also up.
Men's eighth seed Alex de Minaur opens his campaign on Tuesday against big-hitting Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp.
AUSSIES IN ACTION ON DAY ONE OF THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN ON MONDAY:
Men's singles, first round:
Nick Kyrgios v Jacob Fearnley (GBR)
27-Jordan Thompson v Dominik Koepfer (GER)
Chris O'Connell v 12-Tommy Paul (USA)
Thanasi Kokkinakis v Roman Safiullan (RUS)
James Duckworth v Dominic Stricker (SUI)
Tristan Schoolkate v Taro Daniel (JPN)
James McCabe v Martin Landaluce (ESP)Women's singles:
Ajla Tomljanovic v Ashlyn Krueger (USA)
Maya Joint v 7-Jessica Pegula (USA)
Talia Gibson v Zeynep Sonmez (TUR)
Destanee Aiava v Greet Minnen (BEL)
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