Daria Gavrilova to play at Hopman Cup

Newly adopted rising star Daria Gavrilova hopes to learn a few tennis tricks off Nick Kyrgios after becoming the final piece of the puzzle in the 2016 Hopman Cup field.

Russian-born Gavrilova will team up with Kyrgios to represent Australia Green at the mixed-teams event, with Lleyton Hewitt and Casey Dellacqua paired together for Australia Gold.

It’s the first time Australia will be represented by two separate teams at the tournament.

World No.1 Serena Williams and world No.2 Andy Murray headline the strong field, which also includes world No.9 Lucie Safarova and French star Gael Monfils.

Gavrilova rocketed from 233rd in the world up to 36th this year after producing a standout campaign.

The 21-year-old Melburnian beat Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, and Safarova in 2015, and the Hopman Cup will be the first time she gets to represent Australia at a teams event after officially switching allegiances earlier this year.

“I’m sure it’s going to be really fun,” Gavrilova said.

“Nick is going to teach me a lot of his tricks I hope. I’ve known him for a long time, we’re pretty good friends.”

Gavrilova won the US Open juniors in 2010 and at one stage was the No.1 ranked player in juniors.

Kyrgios became a human headline in 2015 following a series of verbal outbursts, with his sledge against Swiss star Stan Wawrinka the most serious offence.

The 20-year-old will trigger a 28-day ban if he incurs $5,000 in fines before next February.

The Hopman Cup runs from January 3-9 at Perth Arena.

HOPMAN CUP FIELD (rankings in brackets)

*Australia Green: Nick Kyrgios (30th) and Daria Gavrilova (36) *Australia Gold: Casey Dellacqua (115) and Lleyton Hewitt (305)

*Czech Republic: Lucie Safarova (9) and Jiri Vesely (41)

*France: Gael Monfils (24) and Caroline Garcia (34)

*Germany: Sabine Lisicki (32) and Alexander Zverev (83)

*Great Britain: Andy Murray (2) and Heather Watson (55)

*Ukraine: Elina Svitolina (19) and Alexandr Dolgopolov (36)

*USA: Serena Williams (1) and Jack Sock (26)

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