Nick Kyrgios is booked to fly to Brisbane for his tournament title defence after reportedly spending a few hours at a Canberra hospital over the Christmas period to have a spider bite on a foot treated.

Kyrgios revealed to his Instagram followers: “Got a spider bite on my foot.’’
He posted a picture of him sitting with what looks like an intravenous drip hooked up with his left arm which he captioned, “This spider bite outta contro’’.

“Christmas different every year,” added Kyrgios, who has a playful sense of humour with his social media followers.

Brisbane International tournament bosses did not respond to requests for comment about the severity of the bite, but it is known the Canberran has a flight booked to Brisbane today, even though he does not have a court booked for practice.

Kyrgios is seeded eighth for the Brisbane International, which is the only title he won in 2018 and which starts on Monday to launch his Australian Open campaign.

The Australian No.2, ranked 35th in the world, ended his 2018 season early after an elbow injury recurred in October, forcing his withdrawal in the second round of a Moscow tournament.