–

BRISBANE, Australia – The wait is over for Aussie Nick Kyrgios, who returns to action after a long injury absence in Brisbane this week.

On the plus side, he didn’t draw Novak Djokovic in the first round.

On the intriguing side, he gets a huge-serving Frenchman who emerged during his absence – 6-foot-8 Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

Should be a pretty fascinating season opener.

The top quarter of the Brisbane 250 draw is loaded.

Djokovic plays Aussie wild card Rinky Hijikata. And if he wins, he could play veteran Gaël Monfils.

And if he wins that, he could be looking at a quarterfinal clash with the Aussie who took him out at the US Open – Alexei Popyrin.

And that’s if Popyrin gets past a potential match with another returning player – American Reilly Opelka.

There’s also Holger Rune v Jiri Lehecka as an opener.

Here’s the full men’s draw.

Women have a 48-player draw

The women’s draw, even though it’s a 500-le vel tournament, is a litle more challening in the early rounds because the top 16 eeds have byes.

But Veronika Kudermetova vs. Peyton Stearms could be a good one. And after that it gets pretty good.

If the seeds work out, the third-rounders could include Aryna Sabalenka v Yulia Putintseva, Jelena Ostapenko vs. Vicoria Azarenka, Diana Shnaider vs. Marta Kostyuk, and Linda Noskova vs. Mirra Andreeva.

The top half of the draw looks like the tougher one.

Jabeur is back!!!!

Ons Jabeur, who hasn’t played since losing to Naomi Osaka in the first round of the National Bank Open in early August, is back.

She was ranked No. 16 then; she’s down to No. 42 now – down from No. 6 a year ago at the Australian Open. But if she is healthy, she can make up some ground; Jabeur lost to Mirra Andreeva in the second round of the Australian Open last January. She didn’t play any leadups.

Jabeur looked to be moving well in practice Friday in Brisbane. But she also looked as though it was not “Minister of Happiness” time, not one bit.