They may be spending more time together on the practice court, but Nick Kyrgios doesn’t want to meet Lleyton Hewitt at Rod Laver Arena.

Kyrgios said it would be a “very, very bad thing” if he was pitted against his mentor in his final Australian Open.

“I think it’s going to be dangerous for anyone who does run into Lleyton,” Kyrgios told Melbourne radio station RSN on Wednesday.

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“I think he’s going to be playing some pretty inspired tennis.”

Hewitt has been advising the 20-year-old over the last year, a move which Kyrgios says has been a massive part of his development.

And Kyrgios hopes Hewitt can finish with a bang in his farewell grand slam.

“I think the crowd is going to be fully behind him whoever he plays,” Kyrgios said.

“If he plays another Aussie, the whole crowd will be going for him.”

Kyrgios is currently playing in the Hopman Cup, where he and Daria Gavrilova kicked off the tournament with a 3-0 win over Germany’s Sabine Lisicki and Alexander Zverev on Sunday.

He said after the Hopman Cup he will play Fast4 tennis in Sydney before heading to Melbourne for the Kooyong Classic.